The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law will officially be launched on 26 April 2019

Why animal rights law? The welfare of animals has been on moral, social, and legal agenda since the 19th century, and many countries have made significant progress in passing animal welfare legislation. The concept of animal rights as such has also existed for many years but has received less attention for a variety of reasons, including its fundamental challenge to the view of animals as property. Perhaps as a result there is relatively little solid legal work on the understanding and promotion of animal rights—what they might look like, and how to deal with the social and economic consequences. Our Centre wants to remedy this situation. Once launched, the Centre will:

• research and publish in the field of animal rights law, exploring and developing the key themes;
• teach Animal Rights Law and other courses to students, so that future leaders among our students will understand the issues and solutions;
• offer talks for lay audiences;
• support law faculties at other universities internationally to assist them in offering their own courses, so that Animal Rights Law becomes a mainstream course within law degrees;
• hold conferences and workshops for legal academics and decision-makers, to encourage awareness of animal rights;
• build national and global significance in influencing public policy on animal rights law, providing information and support to governments and courts internationally, so that animal welfare continues to improve and animal rights becomes a reality.