Nonhuman Rights Research Articles

Rights of nature, an ornamental legal framework: water extractivism and backbone rivers with rights in Colombia

ABSTRACT Rivers have been at the centre of judicialization processes that have forged post-human legal experiments, gaining new rights, personhood, and legal agency. This article interrogates river rights jurisprudence through discourse analysis and using my engagement as situated researcher, revealing the positionality of rivers in the configuration of extractive regimes and contributing to the conceptualization of ‘water extractivism’. I argue that the enshrinement of rights to watercourses has become an ornamental legal framework that doesn't dismantle the private law ‘legal arrangements’ that provide stability and fluidity to extractive projects and interests that still take precedence over human and non-human rights.

An inconvenient reflection on human rights: Comments on Choi-Fitzpatrick’s article, “Disruption and Emergence”

In response to Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick’s essay on the impending critical juncture for human rights, this essay contends that we are already experiencing this transformative moment. It critiques the current state of human rights scholarship for its shortsighted focus on present abuses, neglecting future challenges. The essay reframes his characterization of existential threats in terms of democratic backsliding, nonhuman rights, and emerging technologies, driven by unmet human rights promises, environmental harms, and technological advancements. It argues for a broader, pluralistic, and anti-anthropocentric approach to rights, encompassing humans and nonhumans alike. The essay challenges traditional human rights theory’s neglect of foundational questions about rights bearers, advocating for an inclusive, system-oriented perspective that decouples human supremacy from moral consideration. It calls for radically rethinking human rights scholarship to ensure its relevance and effectiveness in addressing 21st-century challenges.

Anthropogenic impacts of mining on indigenous peoples in Western Australia: Divergent values

The Anthropocene epoch is known as the time when the actions of humans began to impact the planet in unprecedented ways. There is consensus that the “golden spike” coincided with the advent of colonialism and especially settler colonialism. Indigenous Peoples have been impacted by what has been called contemporary colonialism or new colonialism. This has had implications, not only for their local environment, but also for their cultures, languages, health, economies, and political self-determination. Our study is framed by theories of contemporary and new colonialism as well as cultural colonialism and how this is manifested in the discourses of mining companies as they trivialise or ignore community and fuse Indigenous futures with extractive industries, also failing to recognise the non-human rights of the land and post-humanist/new materialist perspectives. The auto-ethnographic yarn (knowledge sharing) told in this article is the voice of an Indigenous Aboriginal Yawuru man living in Western Australia. Through thematic analysis of his, and other Aboriginal people’s yarns, we reveal Indigenous values and beliefs of permanence, community care, and the ensoulment of nature. Thematic analysis of the scripted narratives of the value statements of two mining companies operating in Western Australia uncovers a notion of community care discordant with that of Aboriginal people as well as a focus on courage and curiosity. The occlusion of any traditional, bottom-up understandings of human/non-human relationships in the values statements of the mining companies contrast with the way that Indigenous People’s narratives point towards ecological, social and economic sustainability in an Anthropocene dystopian future.

Living kindness: Re-imagining kinship for a more humane future

As environmental change and mass extinctions underline an urgent need to establish more humane relationships with non-human beings, there is a creative opportunity to reimagine concepts of kinship to promote the collective well-being of all living kinds. Anthropology draws on culturally diverse interspecies relations: some locate human and other species within distinctive and hierarchical categories, while others have more fluid and egalitarian notions of personhood. Engagements with non-human species therefore range from objectifying and exploiting them, to their acceptance as kin, as persons, and as reciprocal co-creative partners in the composition of shared lifeworlds. Though the concept of kinship is conventionally used to illuminate inter-human relations, this article suggests that it has further potential to raise key questions about how societies engage with non-human beings, and our ethical responsibilities towards them. These questions might usefully inform contemporary debates about non-human rights, and how these might be upheld by state and/or international legislation.

A Non-Human Theory of Rights from Latin America

Abstract This paper contributes to the ongoing construction of non-human rights. I will argue that international law should move towards the recognition of animals and nature as subjects of rights (positive and negative). I will propose to combine two paths that show ways out of the anthropocentrism of international human rights law. The first is the capabilities approach of Martha Nussbaum that, while remaining indebted to Rawlsian liberalism, can provide a framework for the protection of non-humans in human rights practice through an understanding of rights as basic capabilities to flourish. The second path is the Earth Constitutionalism and jurisprudence in Latin America. Heavily influenced by indigenous legal philosophies, Latin American jurisprudence highlights ways in which we could move beyond the thin social goods of liberalism and promote human rights as a harmonizer force that protects nature as having worth by itself. These approaches combined pave the way for a postliberal approach to rights in which we move from the rationality-autonomy-freedom justification of rights towards a capabilities-harmony-sustainability approach to rights.

Virtual wildlife tourism: an ideal form of ecotourism?

ABSTRACT Wildlife populations are plummeting worldwide and captivity, of at least some, species is increasingly being challenged from an ethical perspective. When captivity serves human entertainment, poor treatment as well as unequal power-relationships are problematic. Particularly for wildlife ecotourism then, we ask: is the future virtual? Taking a posthumanist approach, this conceptual manuscript considers whether presenting technologically created images to tourists can equitably foreground non-human rights, welfare, and agency. We highlight examples of tourism involving wildlife in virtual settings to explore possible advantages and disadvantages of this type of experience for human and non-human stakeholders. This enables us to explore how the virtual experience fits with the concept of ecotourism. The argument is made that the ideals of wildlife ecotourism can best, and perhaps only, be met virtually – but only if we use images of non-human animals who are represented with dignity and respect.

Environmental Autonomy

Abstract This article aims to get a new brand start to the autonomy debate by examining environmental autonomy (ea) as a new concept under international law (il). In this respect, firstly, it focuses on establishing why such a notion is needed, where the idea comes from, so, on which basis the article’s analysis has been built. Secondly, to conceptualise ea in legal terms, it makes research on two sub-debates involving the principle of self-determination and nonhuman rights approach. Finally, it concludes that although there is no tangible certain legal basis to apply such a concept under current il other than the terms of indigenous rights; developments in recent decades show that, ea debate, testing the boundaries of law, might truly have the potential to the development of literature beyond the anthropocentric paradigms; but also underlines the need for further work on its potential legal framework under il.

The Basis for an Amicus Brief for ‘Happy’ the Captive Elephant: Theology That Drives One to Animal Rights

Based on an Amicus Brief (a legal document submitted to the court relating to a case brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project on behalf of Happy the Elephant), this paper holds that the treatment of Happy the captive elephant is contrary to Christian ethics and the teaching of the Anglican/Episcopal Church. Seven considerations are enumerated concluding that since God has the right to have creatures treated with respect, denying Happy her natural bodily life and integrity is a sin against God. While we have drawn on Anglican sources for this essay, our arguments are strong enough and important enough to be considered by all Christians.

Human Rights, Non-Human Rights, and Multinational Corporation in the Global Age: H Rights Paper 2022 No.3

Abstract In the age of globalization few elements of the legal atmosphere are viewed with such universal public favor as is the guarantee of Human Rights. The advent of such guarantees is almost uniformly viewed as a mark of human progress, as conferring a positive benefit, as providing necessary relief from want or redress for wrongs of oppression. However, there are multiple ways to view the substance and employment of the Human Right as a source of legal remedy and as instrument of legal oversight. In a general way the idea of Human Rights follows on a long history of rights variously conceived, a history that extends back to the medieval or even the ancient period of the Western tradition. But the instrument employed today is, in fact, a modern innovation of very recent origin. In nascent form it first began to emerge in the interwar period within the British system when it was changing from an imperial to a commonwealth structure of legal oversight. Very soon it was also employed as the legal basis for British entry into the European War of 1939 against Germany. It re-emerged on a worldwide scale after the Allied Victory in World War II, especially at the Nuremberg Trials. it then became integral to a post-war program to construct a stable system of world order--as it was enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Examining the historical context in which Human Rights were first conceived helps in understanding their original composition. Viewing them in relation to the multinational corporation makes it possible to understand their global importance in a twenty-first century Rule of Law.

Writs of Habeas Corpus for Nonhuman Primates in the United States and the Nonhuman Rights Project: Legal Processes and Arguments Used to Secure Nonhuman Animal Rights

Questions concerning (nonhuman) animal rights have been increasingly addressed within the criminological literature due to growing interest in green criminology. Often within criminology, animal rights issues have been primarily addressed from philosophical standpoints, which omit how animal rights are addressed in more concrete terms through the legal system. This philosophical orientation toward animal rights, while important, has led to a neglect of the ways in which animal rights might be promoted through legal means. This article addresses that latter point by exploring the use of writs of habeas corpus for animals promoted by Steven Wise and the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) in the US. Much of the NhRP’s efforts have been devoted to nonhuman primates, and consistent with that approach, this assessment focuses attention on legal efforts to protect nonhuman primates’ rights. In addition to NhRP efforts, other possibilities for using the law to obtain rights for animals in the US are examined. While this article focuses on circumstances in the US, several nations employ such writs or similar legal mechanisms.

A Tale of Many Battles: Arguing Legal Personhood for Animals in the United States and India

In this article, I focus on how the issue of considering animals as legal persons has been argued in court by the Nonhuman Rights Project led by Steven Wise in the United States and how this project was recently adopted and reinterpreted by an animal rights organisation in India in preparation for their own court battle. In turn, Indian cases raising the question of the legal personhood of animals and rivers have been used by Wise as examples to argue his case in court. The comparison will raise the question of how legal ideas and strategies regarding so-called ‘rights of nature’ travel around the world, giving rise to reciprocal appropriations and possible idealisations.

Introduction to the Special Section.

Introduction to the Special Section Franklin G. Miller Happy is a female elephant who has been confined at the Bronx Zoo for over 40 years. In 2018 the Nonhuman Rights Project sued the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the zoo, seeking habeas corpus for Happy in order to release her to an elephant sanctuary. Numerous amicus curiae briefs were filed in favor and against the petition on behalf of Happy. The case reached the highest court in New York State, which denied the petition of the plaintiff in June 2022. This special section includes views on the case of Happy by David DeGrazia, Martha Nussbaum, and Christine Korsgaard, three distinguished moral philosophers who have made significant contributions to animal ethics. The essays by Martha Nussbaum and Christine Korsgaard are drawn from the amicus briefs that they filed in the legal proceedings, which they agreed could be published here. Professor Nussbaum applies her "capabilities approach" as a foundation for promoting wellbeing and recognizing rights to Happy and to elephants in general. She argues that Happy is a being with a meaningful life and is entitled to be treated with respect and dignity, which is incompatible with her conditions of confinement at the zoo. Professor Korsgaard applies her understanding of the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant to the case of Happy—a "cognitively sophisticated [End Page 1] animal" which, like human beings, should be treated as an end in herself and not merely as a means to the purposes of human beings. Professor DeGrazia, in an invited essay, analyzes the meanings of "person" and examines the pertinent characteristics of elephants that make them at least "borderline persons," with the moral status of possessing basic rights. While Happy remains confined at the Bronx Zoo, these three incisive contributions challenge readers to reflect on the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, especially those with complex and rich capacities of intelligence and emotion. [End Page 2] Franklin G. Miller Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press ...

Movie Minorities: Transnational Rights Advocacy and South Korean Cinema

Movie Minorities: Transnational Rights Advocacy and South Korean Cinema

The “Bundle” or “Cluster” Theory of Legal Personhood in Its Active and Passive “Incidents”: What Might It Mean for Nonhuman Animals?

Abstract In this article, I review A Theory of Legal Personhood, explaining what I see as its key contributions to animal law scholarship, while situating it against wider jurisprudential contributions that may be of interest to philosophers and legal scholars grappling with the oft-thorny idea of legal personhood, not just for nonhuman animals but for corporations, artificially intelligent machines, and late-term fetuses. The article will explain Kurki's “bundle” theory of legal personhood as a “cluster” concept and analyze the extremely helpful parsing his theory provides in terms of the active and passive “incidents” of legal personhood. I focus much of the piece on Kurki's view of legal “nonpersons” who nonetheless have some rights or incidents of personhood in order to help clarify the challenge Kurki's theory raises for Steven M. Wise and the Nonhuman Rights Project, as the issues surrounding those litigation efforts will likely be familiar to readers here, who will be wondering how this theory interacts with what Wise seeks to achieve.

Economic sanctions, repression capacity, and human rights

What is the relationship between economic sanctions and the human rights conditions of target countries? We suggest a two-stage mechanism to explain how sanctions deteriorate the human rights condition in the target country. In the repressive capacity stage, sanctions increase the capacity the target government can use for political repression. We introduce the concepts of political corruption, judicial dependence, and the government's media censorship as political repression tools of target governments. In the violation stage, the increased capacity to repress leads to worsening the target’s human rights condition. We also find that, while human rights sanctions are not likely to increase political repression in the target country, non-human rights sanctions are more likely to increase the political repression therein. Furthermore, such increased capacity for repression, specifically political corruption and judiciary dependence, in the target country adversely affected the human rights condition.

Poetry, protest, and environment: human and nonhuman rights in Nigerian literature

ABSTRACT Since its inception, Nigerian poetry in English has always been characterized by protest in nature. Beyond its aesthetic scope, it has been critical of socio-political and environmental problems that have bedevilled the nation. This paper is concerned with such literary instrumentalism; the use of poetry by Nigerian writers, living in Nigeria, as an instrument against abuses of human and environmental rights. The theoretical framework that is employed is drawn from the notions of protest writing in Africa and ideas of postcolonial ecocriticism. This will provide a context that brings the fate of humans and nonhumans together under the weight of a failed home government and multinational capitalism in contemporary Nigeria. This study will trace the development of literary and political events in Nigeria, followed by a textual analysis of selected poems. Attention will also be paid to the growth of environmental legislation in Nigeria since the colonial period. This article concludes by arguing that in the absence of an effective or practical legal framework, poetry remains one of the most significant instruments for highlighting the violation of human and environmental rights. As such, the study benefits contemporary scholarship by drawing attention to the social dimension of poetry – and the arts generally – as well as the role literature plays in foregrounding environmental crises in postcolonial societies.

Constitutional Court of Ecuador, Case No. 253-20-JH, Amicus Curiae Submitted by Harvard Law School Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program and the Nonhuman Rights Project

Constitutional Court of Ecuador, Case No. 253-20-JH, Amicus Curiae Submitted by Harvard Law School Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program and the Nonhuman Rights Project

Gender and Pan-Species Democracy in the Anthropocene

There are diverse historical trajectories in human societies’ relationships with the non-human world. While many small place-based groups have tried to retain egalitarian partnerships with other species and ecosystems, larger societies have made major transitions. In religious terms, they have moved from worshipping female, male or androgynous non-human deities, to valorising pantheons of deities that, over time, became semi-human and then human in form. Reflecting Durkheimian changes in social and political arrangements, movements towards patriarchy led to declining importance in female deities, and the eventual primacy of single male Gods. With these changes came dualistic beliefs separating Culture from Nature, gendering these as male and female, and asserting male dominion over both Nature and women. These beliefs supported activities that have led to the current environmental crisis: unrestrained growth; hegemonic expansion; colonialism, and unsustainable exploitation of the non-human world. These are essentially issues of inequality: between genders, between human groups, and between human societies and other living kinds. This paper draws on a series of ethnographic research projects (since 1992) exploring human-environmental relationships, primarily in Australia, the UK, and New Zealand, and on a larger comparative study, over many years, of a range of ethnographic, archaeological, theological, and historical material from around the world. It considers contemporary debates challenging Nature-Culture dualism and promoting ‘rights for Nature’ or—rejecting anthropocentricity to recognize an indivisible world—for the non-human communities with whom we co-inhabit ecosystems. Proposing new ways to configure ethical debates, it suggests that non-human rights are, like women’s rights, fundamentally concerned with power relations, social status, and access to material resources, to the extent that the achievement of ‘pan-species democracy’ and greater equality between living kinds goes hand-in-hand with social, political and religious equality between genders.

The beast and the sovereign in ‘Circe’: human and animal rights in Joyce studies

ABSTRACT My article will seek to interpret Bloom’s trials and tribulations in the ‘Circe’ episode through Derrida’s insight that ‘between sovereign, criminal and beast, [there exists] a sort of obscure and fascinating complicity’, as a way of considering consider what Joyce teaches us about the interplay between human and nonhuman rights in the episode and across Ulysses (B&S, 17). An analysis of these intertwined categories of being in the episode will reveal how ‘Circe’ emerges from Joyce’s earlier work, such as ‘Ireland at the Bar’ (1907), in exploring how the sensational violence of colonialism violates both human and animal bodies and reflecting Derrida’s sense ‘that the animal is already political’ (B&S, 14-15, my italics). Moving beyond ‘Circe’, my essay will function as a case study through which we might address the value of contemporary animal studies approaches to the politics of Joyce’s Ulysses, often alongside and sometimes in contrast with a tradition of postcolonial modes of thought, ahead of its centenary.

Business and Human Rights: Alternative Approaches to Transnational Regulation

In recent years, various approaches to transnational regulation of business conduct have evolved as an alternative to the command-and-control model focusing on conduct of domestic businesses and the soft law approach of international human rights law to regulate corporations. On reviewing the potential of five such approaches (i.e., polycentric governance, extraterritorial regulation, proposed international treaty, reform of corporate laws, and rebalancing of trade-investment agreements), this article makes two arguments. First, although polycentric governance is critical to fill regulatory deficits of state-based regulation, this approach should not ignore or weaken further the role and relevance of states in regulating businesses, given the dynamic relation between state-based and other regulatory approaches. Second, greater attention should be paid to nonhuman rights regulatory regimes to change the corporate culture, which tends to externalize human rights issues. The increasing focus on the role of corporate laws and trade-investment agreements should be seen in this context.