Below are some suggested letters to lobby your National or Local Government, the United Nations, Council of Europe and European Union for constitutional protection for animals.

United Nations
Council of Europe
European Union
National
Regional/State

United Nations

Director General
UNESCO
7 Place de Fontenoy
F-75352 Paris
07-SP France
Fax: 33 (1) 45 67 16 90

[ENTER DATE]

Dear Director General,

Animal Protection at UN Level

I am writing on behalf of [ADD SOCIETY NAME AND INFO] in the context of World Animal Net's Constitution Project, which has launched an international movement in favor of placing animals in constitutions.

We are concerned to learn that UNESCO does not envisage any initiatives on animal protection in its activities in the near future. The animal protection community had hoped that the establishment of your 'Bioethics Unit' indicated that - at last - a forum had been created that would give animal protection the full consideration it deserved within UNESCO. But these hopes appear to be ill founded, as the Bioethics Committee itself has indicated that it has no plans to deal with animal protection matters in the foreseeable future.

Amongst the whole family of UN bodies, that consider a wide-ranging and diverse array of subjects, there appears to be none that consider animal protection matters per se (in the sense of animal welfare, as opposed to species conservation as is considered by CITES/UNEP). This is a tremendous void in UN' activities given the wide remit in its founding Charter, and the growing political importance of animal protection matters.

World Animal Net has been in contact with the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU), and the UN appears to be unique in continuing to deny the need for action in this area. The CoE has five animal welfare conventions, and the EU has recently agreed an animal welfare Protocol to its founding Treaty (as well as having many animal protection measures already on its statute book). This is a crucial time for animal protection when - with the increased influence of GATT/WTO - national and regional measures to protect animals are being eroded on the 'altar of free trade'. Only international measures can now prevent the dismantling of all animal protection measures affected by global trade.

We do hope that you will reflect upon your position, and give favorable consideration to incorporating animal protection within the practical sphere of UN activities. This would elevate the consideration of animals globally and provide moral leadership to the UN's member nations.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Council of Europe

Secretary-General
Council of Europe
Palais de l'Europe
F-6075 Strasbourg
France
(Fax: + 33 3 88 41 27 81/82/83)

[ENTER DATE]

Dear Secretary-General,

I am writing on behalf of [ADD SOCIETY NAME AND INFO] with regard to the Council of Europe's coverage of animal protection matters. Firstly, we would like to express our appreciation at the steps that the Council of Europe has already taken in the field of animal protection. In particular, its elaboration of five conventions for the protection of animals, covering farm animals, transport, slaughter, animal experimentation and pet animals. We also note that the Council of Europe has recognized that man has a moral obligation to respect all animals.

We are approaching you now in the context of World Animal Net's Constitution Project, which has launched an international movement in favor of placing animals in constitutions. We would be grateful for the Council of Europe's views on the importance of animal protection and the need to include this in country constitutions. We would also ask you to consider the introduction of a general (umbrella) convention on animal ethics and protection. This would elevate the consideration of animals within the Council of Europe and provide moral leadership to its member nations.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Yours Sincerely,

European Union

Secretary General
European Commission
Rue de la Loi 200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
(Fax: + 32 2 295 0122/23/24)

[ENTER DATE]

Dear Secretary General,

Animal Welfare Protocol to the Treaty: Practical Application

I am writing on behalf of [ADD SOCIETY NAME AND INFO] with regard to the application of the Animal Welfare Protocol to the Treaty.

We welcomed the introduction of this Protocol on animal welfare, which was agreed at the Amsterdam European Council on 16 June 1997. As you know, this Protocol was introduced following strong pressure from the public (as was the animal welfare declaration that it superseded).

The Protocol introduces clear, legal obligation for the Community institutions (Commission, Parliament and Council) to pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals in formulating and implementing the Community's agriculture, transport, internal market and research policies. The institutions are obliged to give comprehensive consideration to animal welfare requirements and take these into account in each of the specified areas.

As the protocol is now in force, practical measures need to be developed urgently to ensure that EU institutions are able to meet this legal obligation. It appears doubtful that this can be done in practice without a systematic mechanism for scrutinizing EU policy and draft legislation for animal welfare implications. We believe that such a mechanism is necessary to ensure that full regard is paid to animal welfare requirements both in the formulation of policies and directives:

• Which are directly concerned with animal welfare; and
• Which are primarily concerned with other areas, but which may nonetheless impact upon the welfare of animals.

In the latter case, at present there appears to be a distinct lack of consideration or awareness of potential implications for animal welfare.

A practical example of this is in the field of animal experimentation: There is a target to reduce the numbers of vertebrate animals used for experiments by 50% in the EU's Fifth Environmental Action Programme (recently underlined by Decision Number 2179/98/EEC of the EP and Council). Yet despite this, measures are being passed that increase animal testing - sometimes with no consideration for this target and with little regard for animal welfare. The EU's own funding for animal research has increased, and ethical review procedures have not covered all-important areas of animal ethics/welfare.

The directive on the placing of biocidal products on the market will also have increased the number of animal experiments enormously, and is a good example of how directives outside the normal sphere of animal experimentation can be passed without extensive consideration of animal ethics and welfare - despite having a significant impact in these areas. Similarly, when Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) initiatives are formulated, little or no attention is given to their likely impact on the welfare of farm animals.

Similar problems were identified when the European Union first introduced environmental obligations. This was dealt with by the introduction of an automatic/procedural device whereby EU legislation was accompanied by an 'Environmental Impact Assessment' to ensure correct and full consideration of environmental implications. We would like to propose that an 'animal welfare impact assessment' is also introduced to ensure that animal welfare implications are identified and dealt with in accordance with the Treaty Protocol.

We hope that you will give this proposition your full consideration, and look forward to your response. In the meantime, we would be pleased to provide any further information or advice.

Yours Sincerely

National

[ENTER NAME & ADDRESS OF RECIPIENT - include government departments and Ministers likely to be sympathetic]

[ENTER DATE]

Dear [NAME],

I am writing on behalf of [ADD SOCIETY NAME AND INFO] to request your support for an initiative to include animal protection principles in [COUNTRY NAME]'s constitution.

We are approaching you in the context of World Animal Net's Constitution Project, which has launched an international movement in favor of placing animals in constitutions. We would be grateful for your views on the importance of animal protection and the feasibility of including this in our own country's constitution.

It is our view that action to take full and proper account of animal protection in our constitution is long overdue. Animal protection is an important ethical and political question commanding major public support, and we feel that it is time to rectify this omission.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Yours Sincerely,

Regional/State

[ENTER NAME & ADDRESS OF RECIPIENT - include local government departments and Councilors/Ministers likely to be sympathetic]

[ENTER DATE]

Dear [NAME],

I am writing on behalf of [ADD SOCIETY NAME AND INFO] to request your support for an initiative to include animal protection principles in the [REGION/STATE NAME]'s constitution.

We are approaching you in the context of World Animal Net's Constitution Project, which has launched an international movement in favor of placing animals in constitutions. We would be grateful for your views on the importance of animal protection and the feasibility of including this in our REGIONAL/STATE constitution.

It is our view that action to take full and proper account of animal protection in our constitution is long overdue. Animal protection is an important ethical and political question commanding major public support, and we feel that the time to rectify this omission is long overdue.

We look forward to receiving your response.

Yours Sincerely,