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Appeal update
“It’s not over, we’re going to Europe. We have recently received notice that our appeal has not been successful at this stage. However, as the UK Government fails to take the opportunity to address the risks of factory farming, we are committed to fighting on for animals, people and the planet.
Upon receiving this outcome, our legal team also noted that based on timescales of submissions, it is evident that a substantial amount of submitted material could not have been read. Given that this indicates to us a lack of care, sense of duty or awareness of the seriousness of the risks to human health, we will now be taking our appeal to its final stage at the European Court of Human Rights.
One of the reasons given for the refusal stated that ‘Whether intensive farming practices should be banned is a political question ill-suited to judicial review’, but this in itself reflects an inaccurate understanding of the case itself. Whilst our wider campaign outside of the legal challenge calls for the scrapping of factory farming, this is indeed not possible through a judicial review, but this is not what the case calls for.
This is a human rights case which challenges the failure of the UK government to fulfil their duty to ensure that the risks of zoonotic disease outbreak and increasing antibiotic resistance are safeguarded against to the greatest extent possible. It also raises the issue of the impact of factory farming on global emissions which in turn impacts human health and life itself.
The asks we made in the case were simple, for a full assessment of the risks posed by factory farming to be conducted and published, detailing appropriate safeguards which would be put in place to protect the public. Given that the UK has just experienced a record-breaking season of avian flu, we had hoped that the government would take this opportunity to review the risks. However, it is now clear that we need to escalate our concerns.
And so, we do not stop here. Our legal team led by renowned barrister Michael Mansfield QC, are taking our appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and we need your help to get there. We are still raising the legal fees which make this case possible, and you can support us in reaching this target by donating via CrowdJustice or PayPal.
Thank you for your continued support, we could not have got this far without you, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.”