Human rights for apes in Spain

Spain is becoming a haven for monkeys. The Environment Committee of the Spanish parliament passed a resolution demanding the right to life and freedom for great apes.

The resolution has its roots in great apes. Started in 1993 by philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri, the project argues that "non-human hominids", ie chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos, should have the right to life and liberty and must be protected from torture. Known scientists and activists, including Jane Goodall and Richard Dawkins have given their support to the project.

The Spanish resolution is not the first attempt to give human rights to apes. In January 2008, animal rights activists in Austria was not able to guarantee the rights of a chimp called Matthew Hiasl Pan as the Austrian Supreme Court held that a monkey could be a person.

The attempt to elevate the status of the monkeys is based on evolutionary belief that humans and apes are genetically closely related and share a common ancestor. Natural history museums often made the difference in DNA between humans and chimpanzees at 1-2 percent, although some recent studies have suggested that a more correct figure would be at least four or five per cent.

While it is certainly ethical to treat animals well, a worrying phenomenon is happening in some European Union (EU) and in fact weakens the rights of human beings. Promoters of Darwinian evolution have generally been reticent about it.

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands since 1984. Dutch doctors have the right to witness the killing of patients. In his recently published book The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific claims, philosopher and mathematician David Berlinski sees the Dutch experiment as very worrying. He refers to The Journal of Medical Ethics, which reported that by 1995 three percent of all Dutch deaths were assisted suicides, and a quarter of those involuntary. Doctor Berlinski asks: "How many scientific atheists, I wonder, I propose to spend their retirement in the Netherlands?"

Spain has not a very good reputation for its treatment of bulls, and therefore an improvement of animal welfare is a positive development. However, seen in the context of the rights of weakening for the sick and elderly in the Netherlands, in particular the right to life, the Spanish resolution seems rather strange. The animals may soon have more rights in the EU and humans....