Interview with Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal

Please welcome Nicolás Escrig, the Legal Director of Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal.

Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal is a Chilean organization of animal lawyers dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of animals through the law. It is one of the Chilean animal organizations that joined the Alliance for Animal Law of Asia, an international campaign initiated by the Institute of Animal Law of Asia.

Through this interview, we would like to introduce our members to the public and our audience. We are excited to learn more about the Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal!

Part I: Introduction

IALA: Nicolás, could you please tell us more about your organization? Your organization is working on achieving regulatory changes that improve the lives of non-human animals, especially animals used in the livestock industry, what was the major drive for you to found this organization? What specifically does your work include? 

Nicolás: Our organization has been working since 2014 on the development of Animal Law in Chile, we have three areas of work, Academic, Legal, and Legislative.

Our legislative team works towards achieving changes in national legislation. Thus, for example, we have presented and supported bills that seek to modify the legal status of non-human animals and since 2019 we have been actively working in a campaign to incorporate animals in the constitution, achieving the inclusion of animals in the two projects of the new constitution that have been presented to a plebiscite in our country.

IALA: What animal law issues does your organization address and what regions does it cover? Do you focus on entire Chile, some parts of the country, or also some other Latin American regions? 

Nicolás: Our interest is to help all animals throughout our country. What facilitates this goal is that we live in a unitary country, so Congress passes laws that affect all regions of Chile. 

We also do more focused work with local governments, especially training and support in animal abuse cases. Since the pandemic, our work has been facilitated in logistics, as people were forced to use more online platforms and it is something that has been maintained in our society, which allows contact with the most distant regions, without the cost associated with travel.

IALA: What are the challenges and difficulties you have ever faced during your animal advocacy work?

Nicolás: We have different types of challenges and difficulties. First of all, the idiosyncrasy of our country. Although there has been a boom in recent years in the concern for animals, in general, it is about pets, people feel very strongly about the cases of mistreatment, especially of dogs and cats. On the other hand, in more rural localities, we have the misnamed "Creole sports" in which animals are used for entertainment, such as rodeo and dog racing, among others, which has been mixed with foreign customs, such as coleo. Furthermore, in these sectors, part of their economy is based on the exploitation of animals, either for food, shelter, or as work tools.

Despite the above, we have noticed the change in people's perception and we work to make visible the problems of animals. Thus, in our last campaigns for the inclusion of animals in the constitutional text, we received a good response from the public to such an extent that our popular initiative for the norm "Chile for the animals" was the most voted initiative during the period of citizen participation.

From the academic side, we have been slowly advancing, since in Chile, Animal Law was an unknown area. The vast majority of our members are graduates of the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, which had its first memory workshop in animal law, thanks to the efforts we made in 2016. We have also been laying the foundation for the existence of courses at the University of Chile and some of our members have even taught at other universities, as well as sharing with colleagues interested in the subject who have also managed the existence of instances of discussion around Animal Law in their respective houses of studies. This change in the academic world, allowed us to launch the first Journal of Animal Law in Latin America, which currently has already published 3 volumes and is managing its fourth volume to be published before the end of 2023.

IALA: Do you have anything to share about the plans of Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal that it intends to accomplish during 2024?

Nicolás: In the coming year, our goal is to advocate for animals in the municipal elections, which will take place in October 2024. In this election, mayors and councilors will be elected, who are authorities that play a fundamental role in the development of regulations at the local level. We intend to work with the candidates so that they incorporate measures in favor of animals in their campaign programs.

Part II: Chilean Animal Law Issues

IALA: What do you think are the most important and pressing animal law issues that exist in Chile? In many countries around the world, regulations concerning animals may exist but lack enforcement. What is the situation in Chile, and how do you think animal protection can be improved?

Nicolás: Since 2020, Chile has been undergoing a process to draft a new Constitution. In that sense, one of the most important demands of the animal movement is the incorporation of a rule that protects animals in the new Constitution. This milestone would represent a giant step forward in the protection of animals in our country. Currently, some laws protect them, however, they have proven to be insufficient. Therefore, the incorporation of an animal protection principle at the constitutional level would serve to strengthen all existing legislation.

IALA: What is the attitude of the government and the public towards the legal protection of animals, animal law movements, animal welfare, and animal rights activism in Chile?

Nicolás: As for the government, during his campaign, the current President Gabriel Boric signed a commitment to include measures in favor of animals in his government program. However, after two years, this promise has not yet been fulfilled. On the other hand, there is significant support from the public for the animal protection movement. The results of the last CADEM survey, the main survey agency in Chile, carried out in November 2023, revealed that 75% of citizens feel identified with the cause of animal rights.

Part III: International Cooperation

IALA: What animal law issues do you think Chile and Asian countries might have in common? How can both regions cooperate in the animal advocacy work?

Nicolás: Chile has signed free trade agreements with several Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Thailand. We are also part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). These international instruments are very important for the Chilean economy. However, they contain little or no provisions regarding animal welfare. In that sense, a challenge that both regions have in common is to update these treaties to include provisions that are beneficial to animals. In this regard, we believe that a model to follow is the free trade agreement between Chile and the European Union, which contains several provisions on animal welfare, which have served to strengthen Chilean legislation in this area.

IALA: What goals would you like to achieve through the Alliance for Animal Law of Asia? In which ways do you think Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal could help the animal advocacy field within the Alliance for Animal Law of Asia?

Nicolás: Our objective is to meet other organizations dedicated to Animal Law around the world, to share experiences, support each other in our projects, and, eventually, develop joint projects in the future. We believe that our experience can be enriching for other organizations that want to carry out projects similar to the ones we have developed.

IALA: Are you seeking any global participation in developing animal law through your organization and participation in the Alliance? Do you collaborate or intend to collaborate with other countries/regions to improve the protection of animals in Chile?

Nicolás: One of our objectives to deepen the professionalization of our organization is to start having an international presence. We deeply believe that collaboration with organizations from other countries has a positive impact on the work for animals, as it allows us to share experiences, discuss the problems that affect animals, and seek common ground on how to address them, especially since we live in a globalized world, where there are cross-cutting issues, for example, the transport of animals in the livestock industry between different locations in the world, the search for a fair and sustainable food system or improve animal welfare globally.

IALA: Do you have any experience or suggestions to share with our members on how to advocate for animals more effectively?

Nicolás: Based on our experience in the constituent processes of our country, it is necessary to create ties with all the political forces involved in an issue. We may have more affinity with some sectors, but the important thing here is to improve the conditions of animals, so it is a necessary effort to convince the sectors that we already know that they will vote in favor of a pro-animal initiative. It is best to put the efforts in the undecided sectors or those less inclined to vote in favor since they are the ones who give the necessary votes to approve the initiatives. It is essential to make a correct and deep political analysis of the intervening parties, to develop the work methodology more efficiently, and to put efforts in the areas where they are certainly needed.

We are always happy to connect with other organizations and people working for animals. If you would like to know more about us or just chat about any topic, please do not hesitate to contact us through our email contacto@dydanimal.com.

IALA: Thank you very much for taking the time for this interview. We enjoyed talking with you and discussing animal law issues that we can solve together at the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (IALA) and Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal within the Alliance for Animal Law of Asia.