New Publication: Emerging Animal Rights
My newest piece on Emerging Animal Rights and Their Anthropo-, Zoo- and Ecocentric Justifications was just published on EJIL:Talk!. In it, I argue that the recognition of animal rights in the real world is only partially motivated by (intrinsic, ethical) concern for animals, and concurrently catalysed by instrumental concern for a variety of human interests and environmental considerations. It is this interplay of anthropocentric, zoocentric, and ecocentric rationales that is driving the emergence of animal rights alongside human rights and environmental rights.
 | heidelberg-declaration.pdf (201.16KB) |
| heidelberg-declaration.pdf (201.16KB) |
January 2025
The Defund Meat Conference took place at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg) from 15-17 January 2025.
The Vegconomist featured a conference report.
Stay tuned for updates and outputs.
| Report in Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung RNZ 21.01.25 Defund meat conference.pdf (547.38KB) |
| RNZ 21.01.25 Defund meat conference.pdf (547.38KB) |
New review of my book "One Rights"
November 2024
Dr. Vera Christopeit has reviewed my book "One Rights: Human and Animal Rights in the Anthropocene" on Tierrechtsblog.
"Warum Tiere (Menschen-)Rechte benötigen und wie sich etablierte Theorien für ihre Conclusio nutzbar machen lassen, erklärt die Autorin in vier Kapiteln auf gerade einmal 102 Seiten der auf Springer Briefs in Law erschienenen Publikation. Diese ist im Open Access abrufbar; die Lektüre ist uneingeschränkt zu empfehlen."
One Health Governance in the European Union: Scientific Advice
November 2024
On 15 November, the Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission has released new recommendations on the One Health approach in the EU. Top scientists urge the European Commission to adopt integrated health policies, connecting the health of humans, animals, and the environment.
As part of the working group on One Health Governance in the EU, I contributed to the Evidence Review Report.
See here for the full Scientific Advice.
Defund Meat Conference (15-17 January 2025)
From 15-17 January 2025, I'm organizing the Defund Meat Conference in Heidelberg, Germany (with Anne Peters) .
The conference revisits the ‘meat question’ in the contemporary social, political, and legal context. Meat is an embodied symbol of the mounting and interrelated environmental and public health crises that have become characteristic of our era (which may be best described as the Anthropocene and One Health era): climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, pandemics, food insecurity, unhealthy and unsustainable diets, and institutionalised animal suffering. While (not) eating meat has long been cast as a private choice, it is increasingly turning into a public and political issue, as the social, ecological, and ethical costs of industrialised meat production are becoming more visible and prominent. Overwhelming scientific evidence indicates the need for sustainable food transformations and, concomitantly, a dietary transition away from animal-based foods. In consequence, the idea of a new – a transformative – meat governance with the aim of reducing overall meat production and consumption is gaining traction.
Nevertheless, meat remains the elephant in the room – or the sacred cow – especially when it comes to climate change and global public health strategies. Moreover, meat-reduction policies have not yet been instituted as integral part of the sustainable food transformation. While buzzwords such as the ‘decarbonisation’ of the economy and ‘fossil fuel divestment’ have become mainstream, comparable calls for a ‘deanimalisation’ of agriculture or for ‘defunding meat’ remain marginal. Considering livestock’s ‘long shadow’, it is time to drop the taboo: we need to talk about meat.
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to move the meat question from the margins into the spotlight of the ongoing debates on One Health, sustainability, climate change, food security, and public health. The objective is to launch a multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective scholarly debate about meat in the Anthropocene that also contributes to the public debates in society. We seek to understand better the impacts of meat production and consumption on humans, animals, and the environment, to scrutinise traditional regulatory approaches, and to envision the future shape and instruments of a transformative meat governance.
For more information, and to view the stellar program and speakers, visit the conference website.
New positions in Switzerland
October 2024
After more than eight years at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg (and two years at Harvard Law School in between), I recently started a new position at the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland) as a Senior Lecturer in Public Law. I also started a position as Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zürich. I look forward to being part of these new academic communities - and to interacting with students!
Review of my article "Animal Warfare Law and the Need for an Animal Law of Peace"
November 2023
My article "Animal Warfare Law and the Need for an Animal Law of Peace: A Comparative Reconstruction" (American Journal of Comparative Law) was reviewed by Prof Kristen Stilt (Harvard Law School) for the Journal Jotwell.
"It is a rare event to begin reading an article and soon realize that the approach the author is taking is so novel, so creative, so analytically precise, and indeed so brilliant that it should redirect and reshape an entire field of study. I am pleased to jot about an article that does just that: Saskia Stucki’s Animal Warfare Law and the Need for an Animal Law of Peace: A Comparative Reconstruction."