We’re in the middle of the holiday season and the new year is quickly approaching. For many people, this is a time of reflection and a time to make some new year’s resolutions for the coming year. That holds true for Dutch politicians as well: starting on December 18th, they can use the Christmas recess as a much needed time to think and reflect. As I wrote at the start of 2020: the world is at a ...
The Dutch Party for the Animals wants international courts of justice to be able to prosecute CEO’s and government officials who make decisions that seriously harm the environment. Ecocide is a crime that involves the loss of ecosystems through gross negligence, damage or destruction. As such, it belongs on the list of crimes that can be brought to the International Criminal Court, states the part...
MEPs from all EU groups in the European Parliament called on the European Commission last week at the initiative of the Party for the Animals to immediately stop the import of Argentinian horse meat. Meat from stolen and non-earmarked horses appears to end up in the food chain via Argentinian slaughterhouses on a large scale. There is also gross animal abuse and troublesome hygienic conditions, ac...
As I’ve already previously stated this year: we are at a turning point. Around the world, citizens are flocking to the streets to demand climate action. A wind of change is blowing. All kinds of measures that the Party for the Animals and its sister parties have been proposing for years, measures that were previously deemed unrealistic idealism, are now clearly necessary steps that scientists agre...
The international political movement for animal rights, nature and the environment continues to grow. Ever more representatives get elected who explicitly put ‘the planet and all its inhabitants’ on the political agenda - most recently in Portugal and Australia. ‘A positive change is in the air’, thus Esther Ouwehand, leader of the Dutch Party for the Animals - the first such party ever to be elec...
No more animals will be used in education at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Sarajevo. Thanks to the Association for Animal Rights and the Environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (EVA), students from now on will practice their skills on modern alternatives instead of real animals. Another step forward in the transition to a world without vivisection and animal experiments.
Last week, the Dutch Party for the Animals convinced the majority of the House of Representatives to vote in favour of their proposal to ban the import of fur and fur products. “It’s about time that we end the import of fur in The Netherlands”, party leader Esther Ouwehand states. “With the import of fur, The Netherlands actively participates in maintaining a cruel industry that now turns out to p...
Experts worldwide are sounding the alarm: the human activities that lead to nature destruction, climate change, and animal suffering are also the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic and other pandemics. If we don't act, they will become more common in the future, spread faster, be more deadly, and cause even greater economic damage, they warn in a report by the IPBES that went public last week. "We can...
European Union Member States are no longer allowed to give agricultural subsidies specifically intended to breed fighting bulls. A binding proposal to that effect, submitted by the Dutch Party for the Animals and The Greens, was approved by the European Parliament last week.
Last week, the European Parliament voted against a proposal that would have banned “meat names” for plant-based meat substitutes. This means that “veggie burgers”, “plant-based sausages” and “soy steaks” are allowed to keep their current names. The Dutch Party for the Animals strongly resisted this proposed ban together with various civil society organisations. Such a ban on “meat-resembling names...
Last week, the European Parliament approved the new European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and billions in subsidies for the meat industry. A disaster for the climate, nature and the wellbeing of both people and animals. “These billions in subsidies for the agricultural industry are completely incompatible with the so-called green goals that the European Union says to strive towards” states Anj...