About the photo: These majestic elephants have only one animal to fear, humans. Despite legal protections, poachers hunt and kill elephants for their ivory tusks, which are used to make “collectibles,” figurines and trinkets that are coveted by certain affluent collectors.
The illegal wildlife trade has become a highly profitable organized criminal enterprise, one of the main sources of transnational criminal revenue, along with the illicit trafficking of humans, drugs, and arms*. Working to stop Illegal wildlife trafficking through international law is just one initiative of the Animal Law Commission Working Group. But it is an important one, with far-reaching implications for people and the planet.
The broad reach of illegal wildlife trafficking to human concerns also highlights the fact that animal law isn’t just about animals. Each law about animals is a law about humans. Regulations that control the slaughter and transport of farmed animals are about basic protections for animals from pain and suffering, but also about human health and safety, food security, and economics. Animal cruelty laws are about an animal’s right not to be tortured, but also about the moral fabric of society, human behavior, and the criminal justice system. Every law protecting an endangered species is about that animal’s continued existence, but also about biodiversity – the various animals, plants, and even microorganisms that make up an ecosystem – the very health and environmental stability of the planet.
Animal law touches almost every issue and crisis facing the world today. The Animal Law Commission Working Group comprises a group of experienced animal lawyers, academics, and interested lawyers who understand how animals fit into the global legal landscape and their relevance to our future.
Join the Animal Law Commission Working Group!
*Transnational Crime, Glob. Fin. Integrity, https://gfintegrity.org/issue/transnational-crime/ (accessed March 28, 2023).
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