Various sources have reported that on December 2 Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum signed constitutional reforms to protect nonhuman animals. The reforms are a major victory for Mexico’s animal rights movement. They apply to all animals and may herald the improved treatment of farm animals in this country, which has an intensive meat-producing industry.
Mexico joins nine other countries that mention animals in their Constitutions, but according to Kristen Stilt, director at Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Program, Mexico’s inclusion of nonhumans in its Constitution is “longer, it’s more specific. It’s in several provisions. It’s not just a general statement.”
Articles 4 and 73 of the Constitution direct Mexico’s Congress to write a comprehensive Law of Animal Welfare, Care, and Protection that will lead to the creation of regulations to prevent the mistreatment of all types of animals, including not just farm animals, but also animals in laboratories, companion animals, and wildlife. Article 3, focusing on education, requires that animal welfare be included in the curricula of primary and secondary schools. The federal regulations resulting from these constitutional changes must be followed by the states and local authorities.
Details of the constitutional changes can be found in an article here by the US news outlet Vox.
How effective the new laws will be will depend on the wording of the implementing legislation and the degree of enforcement. The state of Guanajuato passed a law to protect domestic animals from mistreatment in 2008, and the city of Guanajuato adopted regulations to implement the law several years later. The city now has an Animal Control and Assistance Center run by dedicated veterinarians, and veterinarians working for the Secretariat of Health regularly conduct sterilization campaigns throughout the state. Some of the regulations, however, are difficult to enforce due to Mexico’s legal system, and the degree of enforcement also depends upon the commitment of state and city officials to the law’s spirit.