Chairs
Amy P. Wilson amywilson@animallawreform.org
Eva Bernet Kempers eva.bernetkempers@uantwerpen.be
Yaffa Epstein yaffa.epstein@jur.uu.se

Increasingly, jurisdictions around the world are passing legislation and interpreting constitutions, laws and policies to expand legal protection to nonhuman animals. This raises the question whether, and in what way, sustainable constitutionalism must consider the effects of the law not only on humans but also on other living beings who share this planet with us.

Various approaches have been suggested and criticised – for instance utilising environmental human rights and rights of Nature; the doctrine of habeas corpus; as well as notions of sentience, dignity, equality and intrinsic value, among others. Elevating animal protection to a constitutional level has involved significant conceptual developments; yet, there remains a gap between these ideals and the reality of unremitting human exploitation of and serious cruelty towards many nonhuman animals.

This workshop will explore the growing area of constitutionalism and nonhuman animals from the perspective of sustainable constitutionalism, assessing how courts, policymakers, politicians and other stakeholders are grappling with their inclusion and exclusion in current constitutional systems. It will investigate the necessity and practicalities of expanding the realm of constitutionalism beyond the Homo sapiens species, posing the question whether sustainability is an appropriate framing, particularly in the context of converging socio-ecological crises and technological and other developments.