Information for Donors

ALC as a research centre focuses on legal research in the Movement for Animals while engaging with multiple stakeholders across the folds of socio-political structures. Our involvement with major actors in the movement such as the state agencies, academia, civil society etc. has been fruitful and an enriching experience. We believe we have been able to carve a niche for ourselves within the movement while working as a mediator for the different disciplines of the movement.

We have been grateful recipient of trust in our potential from organizations such as Humane Society International, Blue Cross, Animal Charity Evaluator, Harvard Law School, Ahimsa Fellowship etc. in the past.

We submit a humble call for support from society and those who believe in a cruelty free world for all. Your support will be instrumental in our transition from an actor to a catalyst in this movement. We believe that equipped with your support, our organization has great potential to create a difference by providing nuanced orientation to the cause of animals.

To make a difference by supporting us, please contact us at alc@nalsar.ac.in

Immediate areas of interests in which ALC seeks funding:

THE 1st SOUTH ASIAN ANIMAL LAW CONFERENCE ON “INITIATING A SERIOUS CONVERSATION ON ANIMALS IN TRADE"

Humanity is still struggling to emerge from the global pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has been conceived as a wake-up call for not just all nations to re-conceptualize the “animal question” but for the whole of humanity to reconsider the use of animals at an unprecedented scale. While on one hand, a convincing argument for the better integration of animal welfare in public health issues (example: one health) has been made as a response to the pandemic, on the other, farmed animals have failed to inspire an interest in those who engage with the constitutional legal questions relating to personhood and the rights of animals. The contribution of those who seek to make incremental improvements in the lives of animals in trade by introducing new laws and policies or amending the existing ones should not be undermined or underestimated. A strong appeal to conscience is often made by scholars who remind us that every 3 in 4 infectious diseases are zoonotic in nature and the time is now to act. They remind us that the consequences of the lack of international coordination and national regulation are unforgettable lessons from the pandemic. Addressing such large-scale issues need global consensus on the matter of animals in trade and standard practices need to be devised in spheres where the animals are in close contact with human.

However, a radical transformation in the way animals in trade are conceived and in turn, treated is lacking. While animals are legislated, litigated and theorized around the world, albeit at a slower pace than desired, the focus is concentrated on certain privileged categories of animals. Constitutions are being amended in some countries, the rights of animals are being debated in courts and intellectual circles in others and law schools around the world are increasingly teaching animal laws with a focus on “sentient and intelligent” animals. The reluctance in challenging the property status of farmed animals who are subject to widespread trade is evident from the desolate engagement with the question of “animals in trade” beyond activist circles and within academic circles. Truly interdisciplinary engagement with the pool of data collected by activists from the field who are working for farmed animals in South Asia is lacking. We are interested in creating a platform through the conference to promote activists conducting ethnographic, multi-specie, trans- disciplinary research and social scientists showing interest in the problems that arise from reducing animal lives to numbers in the economies of scale. Mindful of the fact that South Asia is a hub for trading animals: farmed, wildlife or pets etc., this conference aims to initiate a serious conversation on animals in trade with the following themes, but not limited to:

1. Slaughterhouses: The Harsh Reality
2. Battery Cage and Anticipated Reforms
3. Wildlife Trade: Thinking Beyond CITES
4. The Dark Sunrise Industry: Pet Shops and Animal Welfare
5. The Difficult Question of Personhood of Farmed Animals
6. Pandemics in Making: Zoonotic Diseases and Animals in Trade
7. International Law and the Protection of Animal Health
8. Strategizing Social Justice Movements for Farmed Animals of the Global South
9. Rule of Law for Farmed Animals
10. Rethinking the Categorization of Animals into Farmed, Companion, Wildlife in Law and Practice

The NALSAR Animals’ Endowment Fund

The Centre aims to strengthen its capacity-building initiatives, which has seen a stagnancy in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the fund provides a stable source of income for the Centre to conduct an Annual Animal Law Conference, as well as publish an Annual Animal Law Journal. To the same end, the fund will support the building of a well-represented, holistic network of stakeholders to address the pertinent issues faced in animal protection laws, from academic, judicial and legal perspectives.
The detailed proposal can be found here.

Cruelty Free World for All Animals

The consideration for animals in legal instruments in itself is rather scarce and often when these are enacted, the focus is kept limited to a lesser number of animals. We believe in the intrinsic dignity of life for all animals to live in a cruelty free world. We attempt to advance arguments for inclusivity of maximum possible animals while designing the tools for species-based approach. This goal has led us to partner with actors sharing the same vision such the Fish Welfare Initiative, where we combine our efforts to create better standards and practices for fisheries.

The Cause of Companion Animals

It often comes as a surprise how our most proximate animals have comparatively least regulation to eliminate cruelty. The pet and community animals are often at the receiving end of multiple forms of cruel practices due to increased frequency of the interaction with humans. Our centre in the past has been involved with Analysis of the Pet Shop Industry, Drafting of Animal Policies for specific institutions etc.

We are committed to continue our efforts to ease the coexistence of animals and humans within the spheres of the same society.

Constitutional Protection to Animals

The highest form of protection granted by law often comes from the text of the constitution. Provided that constitutional form of government today has become a universal phenomenon while having internal variations, one of the promising approaches for the animal welfare should be inclusion of the animals into the text of the constitution in a way suitable to the country while ensuring maximum benefits to the animals. Thus, this remains our underlying direction for the majority of the endeavours.

Animals in Trade

Many animals have been subject of trade as commodities for a long time. The Capitalistic orientation of market inflicts unnecessary pain and suffering on these animals in the greed of generating more profit. Inclusion of cruel process to reduce the capital investment in a business violates the very tenet of conscience. We are driven to make the trade practices more transparent, providing the stakeholders with a choice to opt for cruelty-free processes and products.

We have been engaged in scrutinizing the Poultry Industry, particularly egg production, in the past from multiple angles. We are currently working on strategizing the transition to cage-free systems with least friction in India. We intend to expand our efforts to other industries and trades to eliminate the cruelty caused by non-transparent

Interdisciplinary Studies

The addressal of issues related to animals transcends the boundaries of legal theory in its scope, and it equally rooted in other disciplines such as Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy etc. It is not desirable or necessary to confine animal laws as a discipline to the bounds of one or few subjects.

The relation of a society’s treatment of animals to the concept of deviation has our immediate attention, where we are attempting to make a wholesome contribution. We are also venturing into the Criminological aspect of an individual’s behaviour towards animals as a gateway crime. Additionally, we are also preparing grounds to analyze the concept of violence and the undesirable practice of categorizing it.

We are keen to learn and collaborate with other movements like Feminist Movement, Disability Rights Movement, Civil Rights Movement etc. We are excited to contribute to creating of a vibrant atmosphere of mutual learning amongst all the movements

Creating International Norms

International law can be an effective tool of persuasion because it has an embedded connection to International Relations. Any movement can benefit from the development of international norms which can be then advocated for by the civil society and/or serve as a reference of essential practices for the governments while formulating domestic laws. It has been observed that when such norms exist even if as a non-enforceable instrument, the scope for judicial incorporation is wider.

We attempt to advocate for the creation of these norms by the global community to give a better footing to the movement. For our vision of these practical, sustainable and impactful norms, we are much obliged to pledge our consensus with the Four Pillared approach of Global Animal Law. We are excited to take this vision forward by integrating our own ideas to spearhead the development of these norms.