What is the Univeral Declaration of Animal Welfare?
The Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare, or UDAW, is a declaration intending to improve animal welfare internationally. The writers of UDAW hope that the United Nations will adopt the declaration, which states that animal welfare is important and should be respected, and that it will inspire nations to do what they can to improve how animals are treated.
A nonprofit animal welfare group called World Animal Protection, or WAP, wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare in 2000. WAP was hoping to present it to the United Nations around 2020, or when they believed they had enough pre-emptive support from signing nations, but they have not yet presented it. If enacted, countries would agree to consider animal welfare in their policy making, and to make an effort to improve the state of animal care in their countries.
What is the point of a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare?
“[WAP] had this idea that we should be pushing for a declaration in the same sense of what you have for a declaration of human rights, the declaration of child protection issues, [declarations with] that type of ambitious view,” said Ricardo Fajardo, head of external affairs at WAP. “There isn’t, as we stand today, an international instrument for animal protection, so that’s exactly what we wanted with…
