Gaia calls for constitutional protection for animals in Belgium

Animal rights organisation Gaia wishes to see animal rights included in the Belgian Constitution, the NGO reported on Monday, ahead of today's World Animal Day.

"Animals are a particularly vulnerable category of living beings with welfare needs and requirements. That deserves to be taken seriously," explains Gaia president Michel Vandenbosch in Het Nieuwsblad.

Gaia takes its inspiration from neighbouring countries Germany and Luxembourg, where animal rights are protected under the constitution since 2002 and 2007, respectively.

Gaia specifically wants to see the so-called 'Five Freedoms' included in the Belgian Constitution, the five aspects of animal welfare under human control. These include freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from pain and suffering and freedom to express normal, natural behaviour.

The animal rights organisation has therefore launched the online petition Animaux dans la constitution/Dieren in de grondwet in order to “gain support from as many citizens as possible and to elicit a parliamentary debate.”