The European Court of Human Rights will consider the case of chimpanzees
Human rights have descended to a monkeyThe case of chimpanzees is being studied in Strasbourg
Fedor Serebryansky, "Time of News", 23.05.2008
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recently received an unprecedented complaint. An Austrian animal rights group has appealed to Strasbourg, demanding to consider the case of a biological relative of Homo Sapiens – a chimpanzee named Matthew. Friends of the monkey demand to partially equalize Matthew, who now lives in Austria, in rights with other citizens of this Alpine state and recognize him as a full-fledged person. "We have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights because everyone deserves fair justice, even chimpanzees," said Martin Ballack, the leader of the animal rights group. In an interview with the British newspaper Daily Telegraph, he expressed the hope that the court would agree to recognize the monkey as a person, for example, based on the significant similarity of human and primate DNA.
The 26-year-old Matthew himself is hardly ambitious enough to certainly seek consideration of his case in the ECHR – his desires are governed not by legal circulars, but by instincts. But just so that the chimpanzee could satisfy his desires regularly, animal defenders had to bring the situation to the point of absurdity and demand at least partial recognition of his human rights.
Fame fell on the monkey in difficult days for her. A native of Sierra Leone, Matthew was forced to leave his homeland as an infant – in 1982, poachers tried to smuggle a batch of African chimpanzees to Europe in order to sell them to some medical and biological laboratory for experiments. However, this not too humane plan was solved by the Austrian customs officers, the smugglers' operation was thwarted, and the live cargo was transferred to the zoo nurseries. In one of these shelters, located in the town of Fezendorf near Vienna, Matthew lived for more than 20 years. However, in February last year, the shelter was forced to declare bankruptcy, refusing at the same time to be responsible for the fate of the remaining pets – Matthew, another chimpanzee Rosie and crocodile. Social activists, led by an Englishwoman living in Austria, Paula Stibbe, were forced to take up the preservation of their lives and daily bread. And for this, publicity was required, and not so much in order to start raising funds for the maintenance of animals, as in order that these funds could be disposed of in the interests of monkeys.
According to Ms. Stibbe herself, the maintenance of Matthew and Rosie in the enclosures of the bankrupt shelter costs 4 thousand pounds a month. But money, according to her, is not a problem – some businessmen volunteered to take on such expenses. However, Austrian legislation requires maximum transparency in the spending of charitable funds. To clarify the legal status of a pet of a bankrupt zoo, a 36-year–old British woman volunteered to formalize guardianship over him and immediately came across other legislative obstacles - in Austria, animals cannot be the subject of guardianship. And then Paula Stibbe started a legal fight, which was supported by Austrian animal advocates. She herself, however, claims that she does not seek recognition of Matthew as an equal person, but insists that he be recognized as a person. "Everyone who knows him sees him as a person," Ms. Stibbe told the Evening Standard. A British woman teaching in Vienna emphasizes that in the African jungle, a chimpanzee, of course, could do without guardians. But since people have disrupted the natural course of the monkey's life, they should also be responsible for its salvation in the stone jungle.
However, these arguments did not convince the Austrian judges. Having gone through all the instances up to the Supreme Court of the country, animal rights activists could not achieve the identity status for Matthew, because for obvious reasons the monkey could not express his consent to the registration of custody. At the same time, it is Austria with its humane legislation towards animals that Paula Stibbe considers the optimal place for chimpanzees to live. Therefore, she decided to fight to the end and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. It is noteworthy that in Strasbourg the complaint was not immediately rejected, but promised to consider it in full compliance with the regulations for compliance with the jurisdiction of the ECHR. And in itself, this fact can be considered a precedent, believes the legal consultant of animal rights activists Eberhart Thayer. At the same time, he argues that it is not even Matthew's fate that is being decided, but the fundamental question – to what limits the European Charter of Human Rights can be expanded and who of those living on planet Earth is the bearer of human rights.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru23.05.2008