By CHRIS GRAEME chris.graeme@theresidentgroup.com
The Portuguese Animal Rights League is stepping up its fight to get a change in the way animals are termed under Portuguese law.
Under the terms of the current Civil Code (Código Civil), an animal is referred to as a ‘thing’ rather than an ‘animal’.
But Maria de Céu Sampaio, President of the Liga Portuguesa dos Direitos dos Animais (LPDA), says that this means that in the law an animal is not only considered the property of an owner but also an ‘object’ or ‘thing’ and, therefore, it is difficult to prosecute owners for cruelty, mistreatment, neglect and the killing of animals.
“Of all the animal welfare groups ours has contributed the most towards fighting for this detail in the law to be changed, by lobbying MPs in Parliament, by seeking advice from legal and constitutional experts,” she told the Algarve Resident.
In the spring of 2008, the Ministry of Justice began consulting vets, biologists, legal experts and associations to change the legal term of ‘thing’ (coisa) that animals presently have in the Civil Code.
Following consultations, a proposal was made to change the term to ‘animal’ which has been dragging through the ministry for two years without a final decision.
One of the ‘legal beagles’ involved in the case, Miguel Romão, says that the proposal is not “revolutionary” but “seemed to us that it would make Portuguese law with regards to animals closer in terms of social conscience and practice to that which applies to people”.
It is something that Maria Céu Sampaio agrees with: “In Civil Law animals are treated as ‘things’ and because of this language they are not under the law regarded as living, feeling beings but rather objects which has obvious implications over mistreatment since you cannot hurt an object.
“This has been a huge struggle for us and is a watershed case because the day that the wording gets changed people will have to show more respect and care in the way that they treat animals even though they will continue to remain personal property.”
It is a view shared by Miguel Romão, who is also a professor of law at Lisbon University’s Law Faculty: “If the animal stops being a ‘thing’ it still is the property of an owner, but has specific rights resulting from its being termed as an ‘animal’.”
The left wing party Bloco Esquerda (BE) has already questioned the Ministry of Justice twice over the proposed alteration’s progress, in November 2009 and February 2010.
BE MP Rita Calvário told the Lusa news agency that the “Justice Ministry has been evaluating the situation since 2008 but has not moved forward with it or given any answers about the case.”
Rita Silva from the group ANIMAL told the Algarve Resident: “We too were originally consulted and sent our proposals to the Ministry of Justice showing our agreement to the changes in the law, but after a lot of time no one replied to us. “Then we began two e-mail campaigns which equally fell on deaf ears at the Government.”
Maria Céu Sampaio added: “It’s now an urgent priority that the Ministry of Justice gets things moving, because although there is some animal protection legislation it very often is ineffective when it comes to the courts precisely because animals are seen as ‘things’ and ‘property’.”
Do you have a view on this story? Please email Editor Inês Lopes at ines.lopes@theresidentgroup.com
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