by Andrzej Szczepanek & Pia Berrend -
March 8, 2014
Having carefully reviewed IREC's reservations expressed
in their paper Right of Reply from 7th of March, 2014 (
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=487227024714887&set=a.436289293141994.1073741828.433211046783152&&theater)
regarding the article called 'Neglect of Stray Dogs-MEPs Deliver
Damning Indictment of Romania's Mismanagement' published by Dr Rita Pal
on Huffington Post, we state the following:
It is important to
note that what is being expressed in this article does not reflect the
personal opinion of Dr Pal, but that she merely quotes excerpts of the
EU-Press Conference from 12th of February, 2014, held by MEP Janusz
WOJCIECHOWSKI (ECR), the Vice-Chairman of the AGRI Committee and
Vice-Chairman of the Animal Welfare Intergroup, and MEP Andrea ZANONI
(ALDE), one of the Vice-Chairmen of the Animal Welfare Intergroup,
following their latest visit in Romania on 27/28th of January, 2014.
In fact, on December 4, 2013 a delegation of the European Parliament
went to Romania and met with different Romanian officials, including
ANSVSA - Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety National Authority - as
well as the Mayor of Bucharest. The delegation members were assured that
the law on dog management was a law on "adoption" and not on
"euthanasia" and that the citizens had access to public shelters which
were totally transparent and complying with the law.
On January
27/28th of January, 2014, the delegation returned to Romania in order
to inform themselves on the situation, directly on site, by visiting
different dog shelters of the city halls. The Delegation found that
there was a major discrepancy between what the authorities had told them
during their first visit and what they found on site during their
second visit.
What has been said during this press conference, such as:
"This visit proved that signals regarding violent treatment of dogs in these places are true"
"I did not question the necessity of reduction of stray dogs in Romania
but I believe that Romanian authorities have decided to conduct this
reduction in an inhumane and ineffective way"
"It has become a
business for private companies that receive a lot of money to catch and
put down these animals, or run these shelters - well... shelters is
hardly the right word - given what is going on in them. This program
costs a lot of money and it means a lot of profit for the companies
involved. And so it's not in their interest to solve the problem. They
want the problem, the issue to continue for as long as possible so that
can earn as much money as possible out of it".
"The new legislation doesn't solve the problem, it's exacerbating it"
and which is what Dr Pal has quoted in her article, is now the official
position of the European Union on the matter of the cruel treatment of
dogs in Romania. You can watch the video from about said press
conference on our website, at: http://www.multipleimpact.net/our-observations-regarding-irecs-right-of-reply-from-7th-of-march-2014-regarding-the-article-called-neglect-of-stray-dogs---meps-deliver-damning-indictment-of-romanias-mismanagement-published-by-dr-rita-pal-on-huffington-post.html
OUR OBSERVATIONS
1. The Romanian authorities' decision to mass-exterminate the country's
stray dogs population was taken arbitrarily without any serious social
consultations.
The sheer scope and enormity of the
extermination project excludes any possibility of carrying it out in a
civilized, humane and socially acceptable way. No mass extermination is
humane, civilized and acceptable. No policy of mass extermination is
credible because it implies the legalization, institutionalization
commercialization and bureaucritization of killings and the active
involvement of the state and state institutions in the process. In this
way, the policy of violence is actively supported by the state and
killings themselves are justified on legal grounds. The state assumes
the leading and active role as the chief perpetrator and promoter of
violence. This is utterly unacceptable and directly leads to the
corruption of the legal system and those who operate behind it.
Therefore, the Romanian extermination program raises grave legal and
moral questions which should be debated publicly with the independent
social representation. The policy of mass extermination simply
contradicts the very substance and concept of the European Council's
Convention for the Protection of Companion Animals which clearly
stipulates that:
..no pain or suffering may be imposed on an
abandoned animal in connection with its catching, and care at the
shelter or its euthanasia.
The question of the wholesale
extermination of the Romanian stray animals has a direct and inherent
reference to the broader question of the legalization of violence and
its traumatizing impact on the society.
Article 13 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union explicitly grants
companion animals the status of sentient beings. This concept ceases to
carry its legal meaning as soon as stray animals are subject to the
institutionalized, legalized and commercialized process of mass
extermination because the wholesale killings often imply that the
'euthanasia' procedures are violated, the animals are kept in appalling
conditions because of overcrowding, they are often starved, beaten and
maimed, they are treated instrumentally as a commodity to be disposed of
in return for money, and they are subject to unspeakable suffering. In
this way, their status as sentient beings is denied to them. In return,
they acquire the status of waste or vermin to be utilized.
This is the logic of state-legalized and institutionalized violence
which dramatically and profoundly changes the emotive and legal
perception of sentient beings denying them their legal status of
sentient beings and transforming them in the eyes of the public into
disposable and unfeeling junk. The pace, the intensity and the extent of
slaughter simply annuls the validity of the concept of a sentient being
thus corroding the moral foundation of the law.
2. What is
more, humans and animals are legally and constitutionally acknowledged
as sentient beings and they are protected by the law. We also firmly
believe that:
Since a human being has an inalienable and a
natural right to relate emotively to other living beings, be it humans
or animals and as, universally, this relation constitutes the foundation
of man's sense of security and well-being as well as the sense of his
identity and as the character of this affective relation is the same
regardless of whether this relation exists between humans or humans and
animals, any one who perpetrates the violence-related trauma resulting
from the suppression of this natural right should be held accountable as
the violation of this right causes psychosomatic suffering and trauma
equivalent to the violation of personal rights and freedoms.
Relating to others in terms of cultivating an emotive relation with
other humans or animals is man's most basic psychological need. The
frustration of this most natural and basic need results in grave
personality disorders, psychosomatic illness, depression, behavioral
problems, anxiety, suffering and psychological trauma, especially in
children.
There are many instances of a very strong emotive
bond existing between emotively perceptive and receptive animals and
people. In a large number of cases, the emotive quality of this
relationship is the same as the one existing between humans, including
gay community whose rights has only recently been legally established.
For many people, caring for animals and the emotive interaction with
them implies a rewarding pleasure and a greater sense of security and
purpose so decisive in their emotional stability and general health.
As a result, animals rights are inseparably linked to human rights and
any violation of animals rights imply the violation of the integrity of
human rights and questions the coherence and credibility of the law.
3. Indeed, the problem of stray homelessness in Romania got out of
control but it is not the politically-independent social movement to
blame for it.
It is the Romanian government that failed in
establishing the policy of transparent dialogue and collaboration with
the social movement which represents the interests of the minorities and
the socially disadvantaged including the animals, human, minority
rights campaigners who also take a stand on the disadvantaged Romanian
Roma population still waiting for the government to act to tackle this
socially sensitive issue. Some evidence is also emerging in regard to
the conditions prevailing in Romanian orphanages - another socially
sensitive issue. We voice our criticisms because we clearly see that to
effect any desirable social changes, a close co-operation between the
state institutions especially at the local level and the social movement
is needed.
In regard to the question of the Romanian animal slaughter, we emphasize that:
- The Romanian authorities have no credible and transparent social
policy to resolve sensitive social issues. The policy of mass
extermination only deters the social movement from co-operation and it
divides the society.
- The implementation of the mass animals
slaughter policy has not been preceded by an exhaustive social dialogue
concentrating on the legal, moral, social, health and constitutional
aspects of the killings. The Romanian government fails to recognize the
importance of the protection of animals rights in the legal,
constitutional, moral, human rights and social context.
- The
Romanian government disregards the grave social consequences violence
and trauma have on the health and psychological well-being of the large
population of the country and the world's public opinion.
-
There is no formal social representation to supervise the process of
killings and the conditions in which animals are kept at the centers of
concentration.
- This prospective social representation should
be given extensive rights to supervise and act against any
manifestations of violence and corruption.
- The Romanian
government effectively restricts the constitutional rights of those
animals and human rights organizations which campaign against violence,
violence-related trauma, marginalization and social exclusion.
- The Romanian government is not interested in supporting the status of
social organizations opposing the policy of violence. Difficult social
issues can only be resolved by close co-operation between the state
institutions and the social movement, but the independent public opinion
must be first recognized by the officials as a fully-fledged partner
entertaining equal rights. A fully recognized and organized social
movement collaborating with the state bureaucracy has a great potential
for resolving social ills because it represents the society's most
sensitive problems and it partly operates on a voluntary basis. It is
also capable of generating some money, mostly through donations, but it
must be officially recognized by the authorities to win the confidence
of the society on which behalf it operates. Therefore, the status of the
independent social movements should be the focal point of any
governmental social policy debate.
- Any credible governmental
social policy based on the recognition of the independent social
movements depends on investment into the social network to generate
social and economic activity of ordinary citizens and thus strengthens
the confidence of ordinary citizens in the state institutions and the
government's social policy, which contributes to the development of
healthy social relations and the diffusion of social tension and
discontent. The voice of the independent public opinion and the social
representation should be a permanent feature of the decision-making
process. The terminal disease that corrupts social relations and leads
to the rise in social tension is reflected in the fact that the
constitutional rights of the public are codified in terms of legislation
but they are totally dead in practice because rarely governments are
willing to pursue effective and credible social policies. To address
important social problems requires the co-operation of the society and
if this right is denied, the social problems remain unresolved and
unresolved social problems tend to turn political as we have seen
recently across the world.
- Instead of spending huge amounts
of money on the promotion of violence and corruption, a socially
credible government invests the money into the social infrastructure, of
which the independent social movement is one of essential foundations.
- It is preposterous to believe that the 258/2013 law is in line with
the EU legislation and complies with the World Organization for Animal
Health. The global scope and violence of the mass extermination program
encourages corruption and unprecedented abuse of the law all the more
because there is no permanent and reliable social supervision of the
extermination practices and because the killings have been legally
sanctioned.
- It is true the problem of dog bites and the
rabies alert may be serious but it is the inevitable consequence of the
Romanian government failed and abortive social policy. NGOs have very
limited financial and infrastructural resources, they mostly operate on a
voluntary basis and they will never be able to solve the problem alone.
The NGOs will claim to adopt stray dogs as soon as they are given money
to create jobs and necessary infrastructure and this is a very good
investment because it mobilizes social and financial resources of the
dedicated part of the society. Yet, the government seems to be willing
to invest the money into the killing bureaucratic state-machine to
promote the corrupt killing business of violence for profit with all its
degenerate social, moral, legal and political consequences. It is the
money which fuels the frenzy of killings and corruption because profit
has the priority over the lasting solution of the social problem of
animal homelessness and other relative issues of human and minority
rights, social exclusion and marginalization.
- Addressing the
problem of animals rights, the Romanian authorities should be aware that
they are addressing the social and political question of human and
constitutional rights, violence, psychological trauma, corruption,
social exclusion and marginalization which can be interpreted within a
broader framework of volatile socio-economic situation.
- A
transparent and social policy demands that the financial and political
status of those involved directly or indirectly in the extermination
project (both the individuals and companies) be subject to public
scrutiny. Money has already been invested into the catch, neuter and
release program and the neutered animals are now to be killed which
makes the killing business doubly profitable.
- This grave
doubt and suspicion will never be dissipated unless the Romanian
authorities pursue an honest and transparent social policy of the
dialogue with the public giving the social representation competence to
fully supervise its social policies.
- Do not use the term
euthanasia in the context of the policy of mass extermination because it
ultimately destroys your credibility. Euthanasia involves a set of very
strict medical and social procedures. The setting for euthanasia must
be right, it must be performed by professional staff, the euthanized
subject must be in terminal stages of an incurable disease and
suffering, the subject should be appropriately anesthetized prior to
euthanasia, an appropriate euthanasia-agent should be used, most
preferably intravenously, the euthanasia of healthy subjects is illegal
and corrodes the veterinary code of ethics.
- The legal
requirements to adopt a dog from a shelter are already very strict
making adoptions almost impossible and given the living conditions in
shelters, the dogs' health, the level of medical and non-medical care,
the infectious diseases, dehydration, the stress the animals are subject
to, the cramped conditions and overall trauma, very few people are
determined enough to adopt a potentially ill dog which stands a good
chance of dying within a few weeks after adoption. Only an independent
social inspection composed of veterinarians and other social
representatives could carry out necessary medical examination and tests
to assess the true state of health and nutrition of dogs in animal
shelters. Leukemia and other serious viral diseases blood-tests should
be taken and evaluated and statistically interpreted. Tests for
parasites should also be run. The mortality rate should be established
over a certain period of time and this requires full and unobstructed
access to animal shelters. The in and out traffic of dogs should be
evidenced by the social inspectors along with the careful study of the
finances. The public has the right to have direct access to the
information and this access is constitutionally guaranteed.
-
The social consultations preceding any resolution of the socially
sensitive problem should focus on the establishment of clear
constitutional and legal rights of the social representation to carry
out its inspection responsibilities. No such legal procedures have ever
been disscussed and these rights stem from the constitution and the
statutes of non-governmental organizations. For consultations to be
valid, the legal and constitutional competence of the social
representation should be clearly delineated. It is a matter of legal
negotiations and consultations and it takes time.
- What is
most important is the emergence of credible social representation
involving different social representatives willing to discuss and
interpret such critically important social issues as violence, the
welfare of the society, trauma, the legality and constitutionality of
official social policies, the responsibility and competence of the
social media and representation, the quality of social relations, the
problems of socio-economic marginalization and exclusion. Only then will
the communication between the government officials and the social
representation achieve a new quality of co-operation and transparency.
Only then will the legal and constitutional provisions be translated
into the language of every day practice thus leading to the resolution
of social tension and discontent. So far, no serious social
consultations have been held and the current state of affairs is a
mockery of the legal order.
- The authority of the state is
exercised through bureaucratic and institutionalized channels and when
the state adopts the social policy of violence, the social trauma and
damage are extensive, demoralizing and serious.
- Unresolved
social problems are structural in their character meaning that they are
an inherent and permanent part of the social system. It is because the
causes of the problems are structural and these underlying causes are
the inertia and laziness of the political bureaucracy and the apathy and
indifference of the society. There is also the break-down in the
communication between the state bureaucracy and the society. That makes
the social problems unresolvable. As a result, the social tension and
frustration mount reaching a breaking point and turning into an open and
sometimes violent social conflict. The present socio-economic crisis is
the crisis of communication and will. Without active involvement of the
political establishment and social representation ,with the worsening
socio-economic outlook, there will be social unrest and the decline of
social confidence in the state bureaucracy which no longer represents
the interests of the society and is incapable of any desirable social
changes which would restore the people's confidence and remedy social
grievances.
- Even if the Romanian authorities succeeded in
exterminating all the stray animals in the country, the problem will
keep returning because without active participation of the society
willing to follow the program of common neutering of animals, stray
population of cats and dogs will soon grow in numbers and get out of
hand. But maybe, this is what the people profiting from mass
extermination business want. Only through the in-field work and
education by the NGOs can the problem be solved permanently but the
movement needs time, resources and money, and the co-operation of the
state to organize and educate different groups of the society.
Structural social problems to be addressed effectively require
structural approach on the part of the state and political bureaucracy
but here the will is lacking.
- It is a moral, political and
social obligation and responsibility of the political bureaucracy to
work out a viable and workable social policy in collaboration with
social representation to revive the economic and social activity of the
society and get it out of its apathy and indifference.
-
Progress should be defined in the sense of the quality of social
relations and the social policy of non-violence. Defining progress
exclusively in terms of ever-increasing consumption, profit, statistics
and technological progress will inevitably lead to the collapse of the
social order and the resulting social conflict. Such a definition of
progress implies the use of violence and the concurrent social trauma
and individual misery.
And last but not least, the fact that
the Romanian people are being bitten by stray dogs and that there are
even fatalities reported which need to be carefully analysed is a clear
sign of the ineffectiveness or even a criminal neglect on the part of
the Romanian authorities which shamefully failed in the implementation
of the plausible and working social policy to win the support and the
co-operation of the social movements and the general Romanian public to
resolve the structural and social problem of animal homelessness through
socially-friendly policy of non-violence and honest public dialogue.
Instead of investing money into social infrastructure to enhance the
democratization of social relations, the government wastes large sums of
money on a killing business venture to the point that it becomes a
financially lucrative investment enterprise enhancing the growth of
covert corruption networks. This cancerous mindset of the political
bureaucracy infects the public and it can be excised only when the
European Community becomes aware of its uninhibited proliferation which
consumes funds needed to improve social relations and address social
problems. Structural social emergencies need structural socio-political
approach and the strict collaboration between the EU, the Romanian
public, the Romanian political bureaucracy and the international social
representation. The degenerate quality of the Romanian social relations
compromises the set of values and standards of the European Community
thus exposing the weakness and inefficiency of the EU policy makers.
Only the well established social movement operating within the
framework of European law, norms and standards can adequately expose the
mechanisms of corruption, violence, social trauma and the instances of
social marginalization and exclusion.
The current wave of
socio-economic social unrest results from the socio-economic suppression
of the social representation which is losing its socio-economic status
and is subject to marginalization by the globalization of the political
bureaucracy. This will inevitably give rise to mounting social tension
and social unrest, if not addressed immediately.
8th of March, 2014
Andrzej Szczepanek & Pia Berrend
Please read this article on our website to have access to many linked
information, an important document by WSPA as well as to an important
documentary about the Romanian stray animals issue, at:
http://www.multipleimpact.net/our-observations-regarding-irecs-right-of-reply-from-7th-of-march-2014-regarding-the-article-called-neglect-of-stray-dogs---meps-deliver-damning-indictment-of-romanias-mismanagement-published-by-dr-rita-pal-on-huffington-post.html
-------------------------
Related information:
Dr Rita Pal's article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rita-pal/romania-stray-dogs_b_4898595.html
The EU-Press Conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR3Qgm84-e4
The OFA-summary mentioned by Dr Pal:
http://www.occupyforanimals.org/the-spotlights-have-been-switched-on-and-they-are-shining-brightly-into-the-bedrooms-of-the-eu-and-our-eu-sleeping-beauty-has-already-opened-her-eyes-but-when-will-she-get-up-at-last.html
The 'RABIES Letter': http://europeancommunicationsteam.weebly.com/the-letter-to-the-commission.html
The Parliamentary Question asked by Luxembourgian MEP Claude Turmes (Dèi Grèng):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2F%2FEP%2F%2FTEXT+WQ+E-2014-001377+0+DOC+XML+V0%2F%2FEN&language=en
The Parliamentary Question asked by Finnish MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (PPE):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2F%2FEP%2F%2FTEXT%2BWQ%2BE-2014-001404%2B0%2BDOC%2BXML%2BV0%2F%2FEN&language=EN
