Fundamental rights for primates: Cantonal popular initiative from Sentience Politics

Abstract

Non-human primates, closely related to humans, are highly intelligent and capable of suffering, empathy, and planning for the future. However, current animal protection legislation and practices in Switzerland disregard their fundamental interests. This initiative aims to grant fundamental rights to life and mental and physical integrity for non-human primates in the canton of Basel-Stadt, potentially setting a precedent for extending similar rights to other animals and challenging speciesism. The initiative is backed by arguments from philosophy, biology, and law and has garnered significant support from the public, with a majority disapproving of animal testing on primates. – AI-generated abstract.