Seychelles puts animal welfare in focus at UN |12 November 2008

The briefing was given by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) at the UN in New York on Monday.

Seychelles’ permanent representative to the UN Ronny Jumeau said in his opening remarks: “Seychelles believes that instilling care and concern for the animals in your home, in your backyard, on the farm and in the wild promotes a better understanding of the need to protect and preserve the environment and deeper respect for the property, wellbeing and lives of your fellow citizens.”

The two-hour briefing – titled Animal welfare as a tool to advance sustainable development – was held in one of the main conference halls at the UN, and Mr Jumeau said that while animal welfare was not a subject often mentioned in such places, “it nonetheless is gaining prominence in discussions on, and the planning of, food production and security, sustainable development, the battles against poverty and disease and to save the environment, and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals”.

WSPA (pronounced Wispa) has been promoting animal welfare around the world for more than 25 years. Its vision is of a “world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty ends”.

The world’s largest alliance of animal welfare organisations, WSPA has more than 900 member societies in more than 150 countries, including the Seychelles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

WSPA’s director of UN affairs Larry Roeder gave a presentation on protecting animals from disasters as a tool for disaster recovery and sustainable development. He also introduced a proposed Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (Udaw) as an intergovernmental instrument to ease the link between the animal welfare and humanitarian agendas for mutual advantage.

Andrea Parrilla, head of the Animal Welfare Commission in Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, spoke on animal welfare as it relates to farm animals, while Antonio Silva, WSPA’s regional director for Brazil, looked at the positive trade and economic aspects of animal welfare. 

One concern that mission representatives raised was the fear of an international agreement on animal welfare being used as a protectionist trade barrier by rich consumer nations against the export of livestock and livestock products by developing countries.

The G-77 briefing was the result of a letter from WSPA director-general Maj-Gen Peter Davies to Foreign Minister Patrick Pillay in April this year congratulating Seychelles for supporting Udaw.

Maj-Gen Davies sought to establish contact between Seychelles’ mission in New York and WSPA’s UN affairs director Larry Roeder, among other things. This led to Seychelles’ request for the briefing of G-77 and China.
G-77 comprises the 130 developing member states of the UN, making it the largest intergovernmental body in the organisation. It is named after its 77 original members when it was formed in 1964, and its membership grew as more developing nations became independent.

It provides developing countries with the means to articulate and promote their collective economic interests, enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues within the UN system, and promote South-South cooperation for development.