SPANISH PARLIAMENT MOVES TO EXTEND RIGHTS TO LIFE AND FREEDOM TO GREAT APES

An interesting story from Spain. The Spanish Parliament has passed resolutions which will recognize the rights of our evolutionary "cousins", the Great Apes.

The resolutions, expected to become law, will require Spain to comply with the Great Ape Declaration. The Great Ape Declaration provides as follows:


We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans.

The community of equals is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following:

1. The Right to Life
The lives of members of the community of equals are to be protected. Members of the community of equals may not be killed except in very strictly defined circumstances, for example, self-defense.

2. The Protection of Individual Liberty
Members of the community of equals are not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty; if they should be imprisoned without due legal process, they have the right to immediate release. The detention of those who have not been convicted of any crime, or of those who are not criminally liable, should be allowed only where it can be shown to be for their own good, or necessary to protect the public from a member of the community who would clearly be a danger to others if at liberty. In such cases, members of the community of equals must have the right to appeal, either directly or, if they lack the relevant capacity, through an advocate, to a judicial tribunal.

3. The Prohibition of Torture
The deliberate infliction of severe pain on a member of the community of equals, either wantonly or for an alleged benefit to others, is regarded as torture, and is wrong.

Great apes, which include human beings, gorillas, orang-utans, chimpanzees and bonobos, descended from a common ancestor. That evolutionary line split into orangs and the line that includes chimps, gorillas and humans about 15 million years ago.

The line that includes humans and chimps split from gorilla ancestors approximately 9million years ago. Humans and chimps then split from their common ancestor about 5-6 million years ago.

The Author has long believed that Great Apes deserve rights similar to human beings. He considers the killing of great apes murder, actions that destroy or appropriate their living space or resources genocide, and the consumption of their flesh cannibalism.

The Author does not believe the extension of such rights to Great Apes will be in any sense a denigration or limitation of human rights. It is to be done because it is the right thing to do.

THE DESERT OF THE REAL COMPLIES IN ALL RESPECTS WITH THE GREAT APE DECLARATION!