Animal Voice

Rights of the Child

We thank the United Nations for taking the momentous stride forward whereby the humane treatment of animals has been brought directly into the domain of Human Rights through the Rights of the Child.

In terms of the Rights of the Child GC26, no child may be exposed to violence, be it domestic, societal or against an animal.

Dr Rinchen Chophel, Vice Chair and Rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Please see Dr Chophel speaking at the United Nation here...

read our latest issue of animal voice - November 2025

Greetings to our valued readership

In this issue: countries around the world are already changing their laws to accommodate the inclusion of animal welfare in the Child Rights domain; South Africa’s finest minds explain why they add their unwavering support; a university survey reveals a 100% vote in favour of animal sentience being taught in high school.

READ HERE

OPEN LETTERS

19 November 2025

Kind Attention: Dr Mamiki Maboya
Curriculum Development
Department of Basic Education
Maboya.m@dbe.gov.za

Dear Dr Maboya,

I write to you as head of Curriculum Development with a request that consideration be given to the inclusion of Animal Sentience as part of the STEM curriculum framework for senior phase learners. We believe that Animal Sentience in the senior phase would strengthen scientific literacy through its fundamental grounding in biology, neuroscience, behavior research, data analysis and modern technological applications.

Please see pages 4, 5 and 6 of the current issue of our magazine Animal Voice
https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2d2a7ee13d.html
where we feature our recent survey at the University of the Western Cape. The survey revealed that 74% of first year Sociology students had matriculated without any knowledge of animal sentience while there was a 100% consensus that they would have liked to learn about this topic in high school.

Pages 23 – 25 feature an interview with South African Law Professor Ann Skelton who, until
recently, was Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. She speaks at length on the right of every child to be educated to have respect for nature, including animal life as part of nature. Of course, children cannot have respect for something they don’t understand.

Animal Sentience – the scientifically evidenced capacity of animals to feel, perceive, and experience emotions – is now firmly recognised within the global scientific community and underlies the United Nations’ recent inclusion of animal welfare in the Child Rights domain.

Opportunities for the inclusion of Animal Sentience as a topic in the curriculum include:

Animal Sentience is aligned and grounded in biological science and is a natural extension of existing Life Sciences outcomes
Animal Sentience informs and interacts with technological and engineering domains through precision farming technologies, welfare-centred engineering and conservation technology
The study of Animal Sentience depends on measurable, data-driven analysis, thus supporting mathematical literacy by linking abstract concepts to real-world scientific data.

I thank you for your consideration of this request. Please advise if we should direct this request to someone else.

Kind regards,

Louise van der Merwe

Editor | Animal Voice

Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust

Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa

Mobile | 082 457 9177

Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za

Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/

17 November 2025

OPEN LETTER

Kind Attention: Minister Willie Aucamp

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

Email: info@parliament.gov.za; willie@aucampstud.com; Tlegoff@dffe.gov.za

Dear Minister Aucamp,

Please accept my congratulations on your appointment as South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. I write to draw your attention to an increasingly urgent call for our country to ensure that no child is exposed to the practice of trophy hunting.

As you will be aware, General Comment 26 (paragraph 35) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child represents a landmark development. It affirms that children must be protected from exposure to physical or psychological violence, including violence inflicted on animals. At the UN’s 95th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee Vice-Chair Dr Rinchen Chophel went further, urging the South African delegation to criminalise the practice of allowing children to participate in trophy hunting.

This reflects the overwhelming scientific evidence that exposure of children to violence, whether in the home, in society, or directed at an animal, can have profound and lasting emotional and psychological consequences. The research is extensive, and I have drawn together several perspectives from leading South African academics, in the latest issue of our magazine

Animal Voice. I refer you in particular to page 19 and pages 23–25 of the publication:

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2d2a7ee13d.html

Bullfighting was also highlighted by Dr Chophel as psychologically harmful to children. In response, Colombia acted swiftly to comply with GC26:35 (see page 21), and Mexico City recently also introduced legislation to end this 500-year-old cultural practice. Morocco has likewise taken steps, announcing an end to the killing of stray dogs at night. This aligns with FIFA’s requirement that candidate host nations comply with international human rights law. Through GC26, animal welfare is now clearly situated within the human-rights domain.

Furthermore, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, endorsed by all member nations, including South Africa, envisions “a world where humanity lives in harmony with nature… where wildlife and other living species are protected.” Member states have a shared responsibility to take concrete steps to advance these goals and we, the South African public, depend on you now, to achieve this.

Minister, I would be honoured to offer you the same 40-minute presentation on Animal Sentience that I recently delivered to students at the University of the Western Cape, a presentation that was clearly impactful for them (see pages 4–6 in our online magazine). Should you wish, I would gladly make myself available at your convenience.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

Kind regards,

Louise van der Merwe

Editor | Animal Voice

Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust

Director | Nature-Based Education, Cape Town, South Africa

Mobile | 082 457 9177

Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za

Website | https://www.naturebased.education/ | https://www.animalvoice.org/

From: Zena Bhana [mailto:ZBhana@dffe.gov.za]
Sent: 20 November 2025 12:10
To: Louise van der Merwe <avoice@yebo.co.za>
Cc: willie@aucampstud.com; info@parliament.gov.za; Traverse Anatole Le Goff <TLeGoff@dffe.gov.za>
Subject: RE: OPEN LETTER: MINISTER WILLIE AUCAMP

Good day,

On behalf of the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Mr Willem Aucamp MP, I acknowledge with thanks receipt of your correspondence.

We will revert in due course.

Warm Regards,

Zena Bhana

Office of the Minister: Assistant Appointment and Administrative Secretary

Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment

15th Floor, 120 Plein Street, Cape Town, 8000

E-mail: zbhana@dffe.gov.za

Call Centre: 086 111 2468

RESPONSE

17 Novmeber 2025

OPEN LETTER

Kind Attention: Cape Talk Radio host Clarence Ford

Cc Lester Kiewit

Dear Clarence,

I heard Lester Kiewit mention this morning that you will be speaking on Wednesday about the bullying pandemic in our schools. I would like to briefly highlight an often-overlooked dimension of this issue: bullying frequently begins with animals. As you will know, this is one of the key reasons animal welfare has been brought into the Child Rights domain.

Pages 19 and 23–25 of our latest Animal Voice magazine touch on this connection in detail:

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2d2a7ee13d.html

Because animals are still legally regarded as property, they too easily become outlets for human frustration. Children witness this and replicate it, discovering a troubling sense of power and control over another being. This pattern often translates into bullying on the school grounds and, later in life, into domestic violence and child abuse.

We are indebted to the United Nations for recognising this link and for incorporating animal welfare into the Child Rights framework as a meaningful strategy to help reduce bullying and other forms of physical, emotional and psychological violence.

Our latest issue of Animal Voice highlights how children exposed to violence, whether domestic, societal, or directed at an animal, are at heightened risk of lifelong emotional and psychological disorders. Bullying behaviour is one such manifestation.

I believe one reason the connection between violence toward animals and bullying is not yet prioritised in our schools is a persistent concern that caring about animal welfare might bemisinterpreted as caring less about human welfare.