Take action to enact Sri Lanka's animal welfare bill without further delay
Take action to enact Sri Lanka's animal welfare bill without further delay
The Issue
TO : HIS EXCELLENCY RANIL WICKREMASINGHE, PRESIDENT OF SRI
LANKA
SRI LANKA’S ANIMAL WELFARE BILL
The Animal Welfare law in Sri Lanka is a national shame.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, enacted in 1907, is totally inadequate to address the nation’s animal cruelty issues.
After six years of wide research and consultations, the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, in 2006, recommended a comprehensive Animal Welfare Bill for the reform of that law.
However, the Bill still remains unenacted.
In 2011, on the recommendation of the Attorney General, a Steering Committee consisting of both state and petitioner representatives was appointed to consider any issues pertaining to animal welfare and the Bill.
Delays in enactment of the Bill, led to a group of eighteen animal welfare organizations and activists invoking judicial intervention to take the Bill forward. Accordingly, that group filed a case in the Court of Appeal, and that court on January 16th 2019, granted interim relief and directed the relevant state authorities to take immediate measures to facilitate, at all levels, the expeditious enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.
The petitioners received massive moral support from several local animal welfare groups as well as the US based Dharma Voices for Animals, which is the world’s only international Buddhist animal advocacy organization.
The Bill received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers in October 2020, subject to the deletion of the provisions relating to the establishment of an Animal Welfare Authority.
The Bill was presented in Parliament for approval on 24th March 2022. A period of over one year has lapsed since its presentation.
But, the Bill still remains on the Order Paper of Parliament, as Mahinda Amaraweera, the Minister of Agriculture under whose purview the Bill falls, is opposing its enactment due to reasons best known to him.
A Parliamentary Caucus for Animal Welfare, led by Udaya Gammanpila, Member of Parliament is presently engaged in obtaining support for the Bill from Parliamentarians.
THE WORLD’S ANIMAL WELFARE COMMUNITY IS WATCHING THE PROGRESS OF SRI LANKA’S ANIMAL WELFARE BILL
July 2023
1,803
The Issue
TO : HIS EXCELLENCY RANIL WICKREMASINGHE, PRESIDENT OF SRI
LANKA
SRI LANKA’S ANIMAL WELFARE BILL
The Animal Welfare law in Sri Lanka is a national shame.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, enacted in 1907, is totally inadequate to address the nation’s animal cruelty issues.
After six years of wide research and consultations, the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, in 2006, recommended a comprehensive Animal Welfare Bill for the reform of that law.
However, the Bill still remains unenacted.
In 2011, on the recommendation of the Attorney General, a Steering Committee consisting of both state and petitioner representatives was appointed to consider any issues pertaining to animal welfare and the Bill.
Delays in enactment of the Bill, led to a group of eighteen animal welfare organizations and activists invoking judicial intervention to take the Bill forward. Accordingly, that group filed a case in the Court of Appeal, and that court on January 16th 2019, granted interim relief and directed the relevant state authorities to take immediate measures to facilitate, at all levels, the expeditious enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.
The petitioners received massive moral support from several local animal welfare groups as well as the US based Dharma Voices for Animals, which is the world’s only international Buddhist animal advocacy organization.
The Bill received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers in October 2020, subject to the deletion of the provisions relating to the establishment of an Animal Welfare Authority.
The Bill was presented in Parliament for approval on 24th March 2022. A period of over one year has lapsed since its presentation.
But, the Bill still remains on the Order Paper of Parliament, as Mahinda Amaraweera, the Minister of Agriculture under whose purview the Bill falls, is opposing its enactment due to reasons best known to him.
A Parliamentary Caucus for Animal Welfare, led by Udaya Gammanpila, Member of Parliament is presently engaged in obtaining support for the Bill from Parliamentarians.
THE WORLD’S ANIMAL WELFARE COMMUNITY IS WATCHING THE PROGRESS OF SRI LANKA’S ANIMAL WELFARE BILL
July 2023
1,803
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Petition created on 10 July 2023