The Sentient Rights Act

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

Whereas, it can be said that one objective in granting rights is to reduce suffering and enhance flourishing, so the use of sentience as a guiding characteristic may be more appropriate, and

Whereas, it was the trailblazing philosopher Jeremy Bentham who wrote in 1789, "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?", and

Whereas, sentience is the characteristic of consciousness whereby an organism has a sufficient level of awareness to experience suffering, and

Whereas, sentience has been proven to be a characteristic not exclusive to homo sapiens sapiens, and

Whereas, it is therefore a fact that the restriction of the normative and legal discussion and codification of rights to humankind is an unacceptable case of anthropocentric speciesism.

Therefore, be it enacted that el Lexhatx F.5.3.13 (Culture) which currently reads:

10 December. Human Rights Day. A suggested method to celebrate Human Rights Day is reviewing Article XI of The Organic Law and/or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

is deleted.

and the current el Lexhatx F.5.2.7 which reads:

December 12: Llimbaziua (Language Day).

is renumbered as F.5.2.8.

The following new article is reinserted as el Lexhatx F.5.2.7 (Culture) to read as:

10 December. Sentient Rights Day. A day to celebrate the dignity and honor the rights of all sentient beings.