Animal Voice

18 February 2026

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,

Re: Draft proposals for trophy hunting of South Africa’s Big 5

As the draft proposals for trophy hunting come under scrutiny, please may I suggest that this is an ideal opportunity for you to introduce General Comment 26 (paragraph 35) into wildlife regulations.

As mentioned in earlier correspondence, General Comment 26 Paragraph 35 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child represents a landmark development. It is an obligation on State Parties to affirm 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.

In a country such as South Africa which is so bedevilled by violence that we have to call in the army to assist the police, I believe our government is duty-bound to prevent children from normalising violence against any living being.

OPEN LETTER

Furthermore, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 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.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

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/

Champions for Change

MALCOLM PLANT, founder of the World Link Coalition, is a leading light on the road that leads to a kinder world.

Animal Voice editor Louise van der Merwe asks him why, in his view, many countries remain resistant to the UN decree that no child may be exposed to violence, including violence against an animal.

In this regard, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly references trophy hunting in South Africa.

Please see Dr Rinchen Chophel, Vice Chair and Rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, speaking at the United Nation here...

Animal Voice:

Logic tells us that appealing to government bodies around the world to eradicate cruel practices should be a fairly easy ‘ask’. Yet, this is not so.

Malcolm Plant:

Firstly, we must remember that General Comment 26 is a clarification of the Child Rights Treaty and it is not an ‘ask’ but an obligation placed upon all 196 nations that have signed up to the Treaty. The UNCRC passed GC26 Paragraph 35 after conclusive evidence that children are psychologically harmed – possibly for life - by exposure to violence including violence inflicted on an animal. Thus, children must be protected “from all forms of physical and psychological violence whether in their home or in society, and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals.”

Animal Voice:

As you have pointed out previously, GC26 Paragraph 35 has brought animal welfare into the Child Rights domain, an historic and hugely significant development in world ethics.

Malcolm Plant:

It is a massive doorway opened by the UN and we are the first to walk through it to explore what lies beyond!

Whereas previously and historically, animal welfare & animal rights organisations have sought to invite change by petitioning and inviting public outrage about cruel practices against animals, now however, animal cruelty is viewed as a violation of our children themselves and signatories to the Child Rights Treaty are legally bound to comply.

Animal Voice:

Please identify the major challenges we face in achieving this decisive change in global perception.

Malcolm Plant:

We have two major cognitive barriers to overcome. The first barrier is the way society has diminished the status of animals. This has become part of the culture of these societies.

The second barrier derives from the first, whereby governments and even global authorities have historically accepted and habituated practices that include violence inflicted on animals, as ‘cultural’ or ‘traditional’. However, GC26 Paragraph 35 establishes beyond doubt that animal abuse harms a child’s emotional and psychological development and cultural or traditional practices involving cruelty to animals must now be challenged under each country’s domestic law.

Animal Voice:

Culture and tradition run deep in our veins and are used as an excuse for a host of horrors.

Malcolm Plant:

But the fact is that none of us is born with culture and tradition embedded in our veins. A child has a natural empathy and compassion for all living beings. It is innate. This is undisputed and resiliently evidenced. However, when they are little more than toddlers, the conditioning begins. Animals which once were 'friends', become divided into species. The child learns to caress the one, but learns that harming the other, is normal; a numbing of natural sensitivity takes place, and with it, changes in the psychopathology of a child.

Conditioning is subtle but at its core, it creates cognitive dissonance and species diminishment, and it affects everyone.

Animal Voice:

So, one could say that GC26 Paragraph 35 specifically supports the preservation of the innate empathetic connection with which all children are born.

Malcolm Plant:

Yes, it provides a completely new and powerful vehicle for protection of the world’s children as well as its animals. Lawyers in several countries have started the journey to ensure compliance with GC26.

Animal Voice:

Research shows that reducing violence wherever it may occur, will reduce all forms of human violence too.

Malcolm Plant:

Yes, right down to dimensions unimaginable!

Animal Voice:

Thank you, Malcolm Plant, for your dedication to achieving a better world.

View our OPEN LETTERS here

No reply yet from Minister Willie Aucamp’s office

The South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is responsible for issuing permits for trophy hunting. Animal Voice has alerted the Minister on a number of occasions to the UNCRC’s decree that no child may be exposed in any way to trophy hunting. We have requested confirmation of South Africa’s compliance. So far, there has been no response from the Ministry.

View our open letters here

GC26 Paragraph 35 is a hugely significant ethical advance

Here below, Animal Voice conveys its depth and historical weight by comparing it to the landmark shifts in world ethics that preceded it and changed the world.

1. The recognition of children as rights-holders in their own right

(UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989)

For centuries, children were viewed primarily as:
the property of parents, • economic contributors,
or future adults rather than present moral subjects.

The UNCRC marked a seismic ethical shift by recognising that:

children have intrinsic dignity,
their interests are not subordinate to adult convenience,
protection, development, and participation are rights, not privileges.

Including animal welfare within child rights mirrors this shift, by recognising that:

how children relate to animals is morally relevant in itself,
exposure to violence against animals harms children’s moral, emotional, and psychological development,
compassion is not a “soft value” but a rights-based concern.

This is an expansion of moral consideration, not unlike the original leap that created child rights at all.

2. The abolition of slavery and racism

(As an ethical analogy)

The abolition of slavery and more recently, racism, marked moments when humanity:

rejected the idea that one group exists solely for the use of another,
recognised suffering as morally intolerable regardless of utility,
expanded the moral circle beyond entrenched economic interests.

The inclusion of animal welfare in child rights similarly challenges:

the normalisation of domination and instrumentalisation,
the idea that harm is acceptable if it is “customary” or “profitable”,
systems that teach children that power justifies cruelty.

It confronts deeply embedded practices, not merely attitudes.

3. The recognition of women’s rights as human rights

(A 20th century global shift)

Women were long excluded from:

full moral agency,
legal protection,
public ethical concern.

Global recognition that private harms (domestic violence, exploitation, coercion) are human rights issues reframed morality itself.

Similarly, recognising animal welfare within child rights:

brings what was considered “private” or “incidental” into the sphere of public ethical concern,
affirms that cruelty witnessed or normalised in everyday life has rights implications,
rejects the idea that empathy is optional or culturally negotiable.

4. The emergence of environmental rights

(Late 20th – early 21st century)

Environmental rights reflect a shift from:

short-term exploitation,
to intergenerational responsibility,
to recognising that harm to the living world harms humans, especially children.

Animal welfare within child rights aligns with this by acknowledging that:

children inherit not only ecosystems, but moral norms,
exposure to suffering and violence shapes future societies,
ethical education is a form of protection.

Both represent anticipatory ethics — protecting future well-being, not just present harm.

5. The expansion of the moral circle

(Peter Singer / moral philosophy)

Philosophically, GC26 Paragraph 35 fits within the gradual expansion of moral concern to those once excluded. This is structural ethical evolution – an expansion of the moral circle that challenges longstanding norms, and affirms compassion, dignity, and responsibility as foundational to justice.

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