French President François Hollande has ruled out changing the legal status of farm animals, following calls by a group of prominent French intellectuals who want them recognised by law as “sentient beings”, reports FRANCE 24.
But far from being recognised under the country’s Civil Code as “sentient beings”, farm animals and pets in France are merely considered “movable objects”.
Talking to weekly magazine La France Agricole last weekend as the country’s annual agricultural fair opened in Paris, Hollande said there was no need to write new legislation that he said would achieve very little.
“Much effort is already made [through France’s Rural Code, which recognises animals’ ability to feel pleasure and pain] to look after their welfare without the need to write it into civil law,” he said, adding that rules already existed “to make sure animals do not suffer unduly in abattoirs.”
The Civil Code, also known as the Napoleonic Code, has its roots in the early 19th century and among other things defines the nature of property.
In October 2013, 24 French philosophers, writers, historians and scientists published a manifesto on the Fondation 30 Millions d'Amis (30 million friends) website arguing that there was a pressing need to create a new legal status within the code for animals so that they are recognised as “sentient”.
“Animals are still described in the Civil Code as objects over which humans have absolute authority and control,” wrote the signatories, who include philosopher and former minister Luc Ferry, Académie Française member Erik Orsenna, and Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk who is a doctor in cellular genetics.
“And while we recognise that animals are not human beings, their capacity to feel pleasure and pain is something we share with them and for which their rights must be recognised,” the manifesto continues.
“Certain codes in France [such as the Rural Code] recognise that they are ‘sentient’, so the fact that they are merely objects in the country’s Civil Code is increasingly contradictory.”
The 30 Millions d’Amis site, which has more than 500,000 signatories calling for a change to the law, calls for the creation of a “third category” other than “persons” and “objects” to give animals a new status.
“Right now there is no difference between an animal and a table,” the organisation says on its website.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.