Wildlife

Russia’s withdrawal from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands didn’t make global headlines—but it probably should have. At first glance, a wetlands convention may seem an unlikely casualty of war. Yet, when Contracting Parties, at their fourteenth meeting, voted to pass a resolution in response to Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, they might have unwittingly (or not?) paved…

On June 11, Japan expanded its whale hunt to include 59 fin whales. Yet, Japan did not communicate and consult with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and any of the other range States of the fin whale or assessed the potential impacts of hunting a shared resource. As a result, Japan has breached its duty to cooperate and…

My instinctive reaction to this question is: “No, that does not make sense! International criminal law (ICL) is mainly about the protection of human dignity in specific contexts of crisis that usually threaten peace and security. The contribution of this branch of international law to the safeguarding of non-human interests should, at best, be minimal and incidental.”…

On 21 May 2020, the Islamabad High Court issued a remarkable judgment in the case of Kaavan the elephant (among other “inmates” [8] of the Marghazar Zoo), affirming “without any hesitation” that “animals have legal rights” [59]. Chief Justice Athar Minallah held that the “pain and suffering of Kaavan must come to an end”, and ordered his…