United Animal Nations
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The United Animal Nations (UAN), founded by Franz Weber on November 8, 1979, in Geneva, Switzerland, offer all member animal welfare organizations a forum with a worldwide audience.
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[edit] Purpose
The purpose of the UAN is to obtain legal status for animal populations as well as to enhance the impact and political weight of the UAN member organizations. The forum was initiated by the Swiss environmentalist and animal activist Franz Weber. The charter and declaration was deliberately designed to mirror that of the United Nations. The members are established organizations and institutions, whose aims are the protection of animal life and the preservation of nature. Weber complemented the structure of the UN by adding a protection committee and the International Court of Animal Rights to the UAN. The Statutes, Charter and Declaration was put together with Swiss philosopher and author Denis de Rougemont from Ferney-Voltaire, and a lawyer from Zurich, Anton Flachsmann. On the 8 November 1979, Franz Weber presented them to the international press.
[edit] The Animal Court
The UAN’s most important organ, The International Court of Justice for Animal Rights has its seat in Geneva. Its duties are to bring to the notice of the public, by means of morally symbolic prosecutions, cruel human actions against the animal kingdom, perpetrations that cannot be legally dealt with under normal human rights legislature.[citation needed] The court publicly announces its verdict, if need be by naming ministers and government leaders. The court has a president, two presidential assistants, and six to twelve further members representing the partaking animal protection associations. Only established bodies can act as plaintiffs. Since its foundation in 1979 the court has proceeded in more than twenty-five international cases.
[edit] Founding Board members
- Catherine Aga Khan
- Katharina Büttiker
- Belton P. Mouras (founder and president of the Animal Protection Institute of America, California)
- René Langel
- Robert Hantzberg
- Anton Flachsmann
- Gilles Stickel
- Judith Weber
- Franz Weber, (Secretary-General)
[edit] American branch of the UAN
In 1987, Belton P Mouras founded the American Branch of the United Animal Nations under the name UAN USA. Today UAN USA is North America's leading provider of emergency animal sheltering and disaster relief services.[citation needed] Through its volunteer-driven Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS), UAN USA shelters and rescues animals displaced during disasters across the United States and Canada. In 2005, 435 EARS volunteers cared for more than 2,100 animal victims of Hurricane Katrina and later, Hurricane Rita at six locations in three states.
