Summary
In 2017, the organization Sentience launched the cantonal initiative “Basic rights for primates”, which called for limited rights for all non-human primates in the canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, to be anchored in the constitution: “the right to life and the right to physical and mental integrity.” After Sentience launched the initiative in 2017, the cantonal government of Basel declared it invalid. However, the Cantonal Constitutional Court and the Federal Supreme Court disagreed and declared that the initiative was valid and could be submitted to the people for a vote. The vote took place on February 13, 2022, where for the first time in the world, an electorate was allowed to democratically vote on whether non-human animals should be granted basic rights. About a quarter (25.26%) of the people of Basel voted to extend fundamental rights to non-human primates, which was not a majority and the initiative was not adopted. Had the initiative been accepted, the canton of Basel-Stadt would have been obliged to guarantee non-human primates rights in the constitution.
Read the relevant court decisions below.
Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2025. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor.https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/basel-switzerland-constitutional-amendment-public-referendum-on-the-rights-of-primates/.
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