Definition of Animal Rights

From the civilization Roman it is considered that human beings have rights. Throughout history, a series of rights have been gradually conquered and in this sense there is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights, a reference document according to which all people have a series of recognized rights, such as the freedom of expression, that of a decent job, the right to property, to freely practice religious beliefs or the right not to be discriminated against for reasons of sex, ethnicity or social condition.

In recent years some human values ​​and their corresponding legal recognition have been projected into the world of animals and This is why we talk about the rights of the animal, whose fundamental idea consists of explicitly recognizing that animals deserve a I respect, some care and protection. This vision was specified in a document in 1977 that serves as a proposal and as a reference, known as the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights. As is logical, this proposal has defenders and detractors and each one of them presents their arguments.

Arguments in favor

Those who defend the rights of the animal world affirm that its foundation is that all animals must be respected by human beings

This basically means that animals must not be abused under any circumstances. Therefore, it is not about animals having rights per se as humans have, but that they are treated in a dignified way (for For example, that working animals are not subjected to excessive activity and that the death of a large number of animals is considered a genocide).

Animal rights defenders argue that their approach should be understood as a obligationmoral from humans to animals. In other words, the fact that animals are different from humans does not make them inferior. Remember that when the slavery In most countries, slaves had no rights and it is now considered an ethical advance that slavery does not exist. In this way, humans would advance from the ethical point of view if we recognized animal rights.

The movements in favor of the legal protection of animals emphasize issues such as the minimum attention they should receive, the protection of fauna in danger of extinction or the legal conditions that must be applied in the sale of animals.

Stances against

Those who oppose animal rights consider that the problem is badly posed

Animals must be treated with respect and according to a series of rules, but it is wrong to talk about animal rights. Rights necessarily imply responsibilities and this idea is not applicable to animals, since they lack free will and decision-making capacity. In other words, if an animal cannot differentiate between good and evil, it makes no sense that it has rights.

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