December 7, 2022

Animal Law Section Scholarship Circle with Marcia Condoy Truyenque

Description

Please join the AALS Animal Law Section as we welcome Marcia Condoy Truyenque as our next presenter in our Scholarship Circle. Marcia will be presenting a draft of her article entitled "From Welfarism/Abolitionism to Labor Rights for Animals."

"I argue that an animal labor approach could be the alternative path to the unnecessary division of abolitionism and welfarism. Regardless of their differences, abolitionism and welfarism share a rhetoric in which animal agency is not considered. All attention is put on human acts, and animals are illustrated as voiceless. Nevertheless, animals are more than machines and raw materials; they are not voiceless in the production process. Rather, animals are living beings with cognitive capacities and active agency, and their participation in the production process can be considered as -voluntary or involuntary- work. This is, we can consider animals as workers. For instance, horses use their body strength when used for transportation. Even in meat production, animals work using their metabolic processes. It can be argued that most animal use is immoral and exploitative, but this does not preclude that their activity could not be considered work. Under this scheme, I present an animal labor approach that includes the pragmatism of welfarism and the rights recognition of abolitionism. I claim that animals deserve improvement in their working conditions, not through welfare regulations but rather through labor rights. These labor rights will grow in quality and quantity based on the principles of progressiveness and non-regression that characterizes social and economic human rights. The approach presented has a legal structure composed of three elements to identify the animal labor that shall be regulated under this framework, a set of legal principles as interpretation guidelines, and a numerus-apertus list of animal labor rights."

ZOOM: Wednesday, December 7 at 10-11:30 AM PT/1-2:30 PM ET.

Marcia will present her piece for about 20 minutes, followed by audience comments, questions, and discussion. You will receive Marcia's work-in-progress at the email address you provide when you register. A description of the paper and Marcia's bio are below.1

Keynote

Marcia Condoy Truyenque is a Peruvian Animal Law LLM graduate with honors at Lewis & Clark Law School with work experience in Labor Law and Constitutional Law and investigative experience in International Law, International Human Rights Law, and Animal Law. Currently, she directs Derecho Animal en Perú [Animal Law in Peru], an organization to promote animal law in Peru and Latin America. Also, she directs the Animal Law area of Preston+ Law Firm, the first law firm in Peru with a specialized area in Animal Law. Marcia has been a Junior Fellow at Global Research Network Animals & Biodiversity Think Tank and in Ankawa International Human Rights Organization, where she also was Director of the Center for Research and Defense of Vulnerable Populations in 2020. Marcia is a correspondent in Peru for the AFADA Argentina Organization. Her research focuses on animal dignity, the relationship between human rights and animal rights, and labor rights for animals.