Das Tierschutzrecht in Japan. Ein Vergleich mit dem deutschen Recht und dem Modellgesetz des World Animal Net
Abstract
This contribution compares the Japanese Animal Welfare Act with the German Animal Protection Law and international „best practice“ on animal welfare legislation as presented by the World Animal Net in its recently published Model Animal Welfare Act. The contribution thus aims at highlighting the characteristics of Japanese animal welfare legislation.
Animal welfare today is recognized globally as a legitimate cause. Various theoretical approaches have been proposed in order to justify animal welfare legislation. The striving for better treatment of animals has given rise to social movements. The focus of the debate has shifted over the years from pet keeping through farm animals to animal use in scientific experiments, and discussions in each region have undergone significant change. Animal welfare legislation in many jurisdictions thus has witnessed important amendments including the regulation of newly emerged issues. The Japanese Animal Welfare Act is no exception in this regard. The latter has been amended repeatedly, in particular over the last twenty years, adopting international discourses on animal welfare legislation.
The basis task of animal welfare legislation is to determine the guidelines implementing policy decisions on the treatment of animals and to thus control human behavior. In this regard, the global history of animal welfare legislation can be conceived as a development from the protection of the species towards protecting the individual living creature, from anthropocentrism towards an ethical approach, and from mere anti-cruelty laws towards comprehensively aiming at animal welfare. The Japanese Animal Welfare Act is based on the moral claim to balance the interests of the individual animal with legitimate human interest to use animals, and to not only prevent violent abuses of animals, but positively ensure their wellbeing. This guiding principle is expressed in the German Animal Protection Law, which dates further back and is recognized as a model in other countries.
The Japanese Animal Welfare Act in principle follows international trends, as becomes apparent from the adoption of the so-called “five freedoms” as the global standard for animal welfare. Nevertheless, Japanese animal welfare legislation often is criticized, both in Japan and by outside observers, as lagging behind international developments. By contrast, as far as Western animal welfare legislation is concerned, which had to react quickly to various new problems, critics are pointing to virtually unavoidable contradictions between its goals on the one hand side and specific regulations on the other. Against this backdrop, the international network World Animal Net recently put forward the Model Animal Welfare Act, which is based on comparative studies and aims at summarizing international best practice. Using this as a starting point, this contribution analyzes the status quo of Japanese animal welfare legislation from a comparative perspective.
The analysis focuses on the question to what extent the principles established by the three animal welfare laws are adequately realized in various fields. The contribution examines in detail criminal law provisions on the abuse of animals, which historically were the starting point of animal welfare legislation and even today mark the limits of an adequate and justified use of animals. The author reaches the conclusion that Japanese animal welfare legislation, indeed, still remains engrained in anthropocentrism. However, it demonstrates at the same time that an ethical animal welfare approach, due to the necessary cost-benefit analysis, inevitably features certain anthropocentric aspects, as well.
(The Editors)
