Legal and constitutional aspect of the
Romanian animal and human rights crisis
by Andrzej Szczepanek - It is extremely important to consider the legal and constitutional implications resulting from any extermination practices approved and executed by the authorities in Romania in regard to animal rights abuses.
The question of animal rights and welfare is an integral part of the whole legal system encompassing such issues as human, constitutional and children’s rights. If we allow any aspect of the legal system to be violated, we violate the system as a whole undermining its credibility in the eyes of the public. In this way, we send a message to the public that the law itself can be breached and defied all the more because such a message is being sent by the authorities supposed to be the guardians of law and legal order.
This is the case in Romania.
Therefore, such authorities deserve to be accused of corruption, abuse of power, and unforgivable irresponsibility because they show contempt for such universal values as social stability and the consistency of legal and social order without which no society can operate properly.
The violation of animal rights inevitably means the violation of constitutional rights necessary for the whole non-governmental movement to act and operate in the public’s interest and on the society’s behalf. Any autonomous association’s legal and social position, the statute of which is the result of the constitutional right to associate freely and pursue its statutory objectives in terms of human, children’s and animal rights, is automatically and irreversibly downgraded and its statute invalidated by the introduction of any state-backed extermination policy. Under these circumstances, such an independent organization can not follow its statutory and constitutional goals within the field of human, animal and children’s rights.
From the legal perspective, the imposition of the animal extermination legislation accepted by the Romanian parliament contradicts the constitutional concept of the right to associate freely for the welfare of the society and it undermines the legal and social position of the whole non-governmental and autonomous movement which best voices the public opinion’s expectations and aspirations.
What sense does it make for a non-governmental organization to implement its goals within the domains of human, animal, constitutional and children’s rights once the organization’s constitutional rights have been denied by the animal extermination practices sponsored by the state?
The Romanian policy cancels the very concept of the whole non-governmental movement operating within the constitutional framework. By implication, it undermines the coherence of the constitution itself thus creating a legal and social vacuum for lawless, criminal acts of violence. Not only are the animal and human rights violated in this instance. The whole constitutional order is threatened and made relative by the state bureaucracies. Once the cruelty against animals has been sanctioned by the state, the whole concept of the non-governmental movement has been marginalized and practically various NGOs have been denied the right to operate. What if an animal rights activist or an ordinary individual confronts a criminal maiming a defenseless animal. They can not have the benefit of legal protection because the official law passed by the Romanian parliament incites and endorses cruelty against animals. In this instance, in practice, the law is on the criminal’s side.
A democratic state’s constitution gives its citizen’s the most basic of human rights to associate freely and pursue objectives vital for the community’s interest. This constitutional right has been violated in Romania revealing the true nature of the state bureaucracy insensitive to the misery of animals and humans alike and blind to the unconstitutional character of their policies. The Romanian parliament displays equal arrogance and contempt for the legal, constitutional, human rights, social, personal freedoms and psychological implications taking their origins from the extermination legislation. Let all the non-governmental and autonomous movements be aware that their constitutional rights and freedoms can be equally ruthlessly and brutally suppressed. Let them know that they can be marginalized and excluded because they count for nothing in the eyes of governmental bureaucrats.
The worst evil of the fake democracy is the fact that once a parliament passes a corrupt law, it assumes the guise of legitimacy and legality causing the marginalization and exclusion of the free and independent public opinion.
Our sense of identity being a precondition for the pursuit of social and constitutional objectives to fight marginalization and social exclusion stems from our autonomy. This autonomy and our sense of identity are now being threatened by the policies of extermination, violence, bureaucritazation and institutionalization of our lives. By casting our votes we legitimize the system and make any public debate on sensitive and vitally important social issues impossible.
We have been doing that for years allowing the socio-economic crisis of 2008-2009 to hit us hard. There will not be a change unless sensitive public issues and interests are brought to the fore to confront the bureaucratic and official media claptrap.
Andrzej Szczepanek
From the legal perspective, the imposition of the animal extermination legislation accepted by the Romanian parliament contradicts the constitutional concept of the right to associate freely for the welfare of the society and it undermines the legal and social position of the whole non-governmental and autonomous movement which best voices the public opinion’s expectations and aspirations.
What sense does it make for a non-governmental organization to implement its goals within the domains of human, animal, constitutional and children’s rights once the organization’s constitutional rights have been denied by the animal extermination practices sponsored by the state?
The Romanian policy cancels the very concept of the whole non-governmental movement operating within the constitutional framework. By implication, it undermines the coherence of the constitution itself thus creating a legal and social vacuum for lawless, criminal acts of violence. Not only are the animal and human rights violated in this instance. The whole constitutional order is threatened and made relative by the state bureaucracies. Once the cruelty against animals has been sanctioned by the state, the whole concept of the non-governmental movement has been marginalized and practically various NGOs have been denied the right to operate. What if an animal rights activist or an ordinary individual confronts a criminal maiming a defenseless animal. They can not have the benefit of legal protection because the official law passed by the Romanian parliament incites and endorses cruelty against animals. In this instance, in practice, the law is on the criminal’s side.
A democratic state’s constitution gives its citizen’s the most basic of human rights to associate freely and pursue objectives vital for the community’s interest. This constitutional right has been violated in Romania revealing the true nature of the state bureaucracy insensitive to the misery of animals and humans alike and blind to the unconstitutional character of their policies. The Romanian parliament displays equal arrogance and contempt for the legal, constitutional, human rights, social, personal freedoms and psychological implications taking their origins from the extermination legislation. Let all the non-governmental and autonomous movements be aware that their constitutional rights and freedoms can be equally ruthlessly and brutally suppressed. Let them know that they can be marginalized and excluded because they count for nothing in the eyes of governmental bureaucrats.
The worst evil of the fake democracy is the fact that once a parliament passes a corrupt law, it assumes the guise of legitimacy and legality causing the marginalization and exclusion of the free and independent public opinion.
Our sense of identity being a precondition for the pursuit of social and constitutional objectives to fight marginalization and social exclusion stems from our autonomy. This autonomy and our sense of identity are now being threatened by the policies of extermination, violence, bureaucritazation and institutionalization of our lives. By casting our votes we legitimize the system and make any public debate on sensitive and vitally important social issues impossible.
We have been doing that for years allowing the socio-economic crisis of 2008-2009 to hit us hard. There will not be a change unless sensitive public issues and interests are brought to the fore to confront the bureaucratic and official media claptrap.
Andrzej Szczepanek