What’s Next in the Law? The Unalienable Rights of Chimps

Spain’s parliament recently passed a resolution granting legal rights to apes. Reaction has been mixed. Peter Singer, a Princeton University bioethics professor and animal liberation activist, declared the vote to be of “world historical significance.” The comedian Stephen Colbert — flashing a photo of a performing chimpanzee — insisted that the new law had better not give apes “the right to not wear a tuxedo and roller skates.”

In fact, it will likely do just that. A nonbinding resolution in Spain, which the Parliament now has to flesh out with more specific laws, allows apes to be kept in zoos but not used in circuses or other kinds of performances. It calls for banning research that harms apes.

With the resolution, Spain becomes the world leader in protecting the rights of apes, but perhaps not for long. Austrian animal rights activists are fighting to have a chimp named Matthew Hiasl Pan declared a person. They have lost so far, but are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.

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Tagged as: Animal Activists, Animal Liberation, Animal Rights, Animals, Apes, Austria, Bioethics, Chimpanzees, Chimps, Circuses, European Court of Human Rights, Princeton University, Spain, Stephen Colbert, Zoos