[News] Human Rights For Non-Human Hominid Apes.

Dario · 26th June 2008, 9:46pm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008....animalwelfare

The Spanish parliament has approved a resolution stating that great apes should have the same basic standard of liberty as those afforded to us by human rights laws.

A sad day for circus performers whose acts included smoking chimps dressed in business suits, driving tiny automobiles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Great apes should have the right to life and freedom, according to a resolution passed in the Spanish parliament, in what could become landmark legislation to enshrine human rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos.

The environmental committee in the Spanish parliament has approved resolutions urging the country to comply with the Great Apes Project, founded in 1993, which argues that "non-human hominids" should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

The project was started by the philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri, who argued that the ape is the closest genetic relative to humans – that it displays emotions such as love, fear, anxiety and jealousy – and should be protected by similar laws.

The resolutions have cross-party support and it is thought they will become law, meaning that potential experiments on apes in Spain will be banned within a year, according to a Reuters report.

Here is the mission statement from the founders of the Great Ape Project:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Great Ape Project

We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans.

The community of equals is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following:

1. The Right to Life
The lives of members of the community of equals are to be protected. Members of the community of equals may not be killed except in very strictly defined circumstances, for example, self-defense.

2. The Protection of Individual Liberty
Members of the community of equals are not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty; if they should be imprisoned without due legal process, they have the right to immediate release. The detention of those who havenot been convicted of any crime, or of those who are not criminally liable, should be allowed only where it can be shown to be for their own good, or necessary to protect the public from a member of the community who wouldclearly be a danger to others if at liberty. In such cases, members of the community of equals must have the right to appeal, either directly or, if they lack the relevant capacity, through an advocate, to a judicial tribunal.

3. The Prohibition of Torture
The deliberate infliction of severe pain on a member of the community of equals, either wantonly or for an alleged benefit to others, is regarded as torture, and is wrong.

This is how it starts. We give these apes a little bit of leeway, and before you know it, they're ruling over us with a stumpy iron fist, making us toil in their perilous banana mines and construct outrageously extravagant temples in their honour! I see what you're up to, you fiendish primate bastards!

Stop the planet of the apes, I want to get off!