Welcome!
Below you find the archived program of the First (International) Croatian Animal Law Conference, 2025.04.25 – 26:

UNIVERSITY OF RIJEKA, FACULTY OF LAW,
INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

TRANSFORMING THE ANTHROPOCENTRIC LEGAL PARADIGM: ANIMAL RIGHTS WITHIN NATURE RIGHTS. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

 REGISTER NOW FREE. ATTENDANCE SUBJECT TO PRIOR REGISTRATION

Keynote speaker: Gita Gill (Northumbria University, School of Law, UK), Rights of Nature in the Global South

SESSION A: ANTHROPOCENTRISM, ECOCENTRISM, SENTIENCE – A MULTISPECIES JUSTICE?

 Moderator: Sanja Barić (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law)

Lidija Knorr (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb) The Problem of Monocentricity and the New World of the Intelligent Subject

Priscila Gulič Pirnat (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Slovenia), Existential Ecocentrism: Rewriting Law for a Multispecies Future — From Anthropocentrism to Interspecies Justice

Zorana Todorović (University of Belgrade, Serbia), Animal Rights: Nature-Based or Sentience-Based Approach?

SESSION B: A COMPARATIVE (CONSTITUTIONAL) PERSPECTIVE ON ECOCENTRICITY Moderator: Sandra Winkler (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law)

Diana Cerini (University of Milano-Bicocca), Animals in the Italian Constitution and Other Sources of Law: Principles and Incoherences of New Legal Paradigms

Sanja Barić (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Ecocentric Legal Paradigm in the Croatian Constitutional Order: reading-in or reading-out?

Martin Balluch (Austrian Association Against Animal Factories, Austria) From Objective towards Subjective Rights: Developments in Austrian Animal Law

 Deborah Scolart (University of Napoli l’Orientale, Italy), Does Islamic law grant rights to animal? A diachronic analysis from fiqh to contemporary statutory laws

SESSION C: NATURE PROTECTION ACROSS SCALES – FROM MACRO TO MICRO

Moderator: Tomislav Nedić (University of Osijek, Faculty of Law)

Eva Bernet Kempers (University of Antwerp, Belgium, and Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law, UK), If Rivers Have Rights, Do Fish Have Rights too? Examining the Place of Individual Animals in the Normative Framework of Rights of Nature

Tatjana Bakran-Petricioli (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Croatia), Anthropocentric Approach to Nature/Animal Protection – are we headed for disaster?

Sarah Czerny (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Croatia), The Rights of the Invisibles? The Place of Microbes in Animal Rights

SESSION D: NORMATIVE OPTIMISM V. REAL-LIFE CHALLENGES

Moderator: Maja Bukovac Puvača (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law)

Lana Ofak (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Exploring Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters through the Lens of Rights of Nature Dijana

Kesonja (Deputy Ombudswoman, Croatia), Negative Effects of Violations of the Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment on Animal Life

Ana Đanić Čeko (University of Osijek, Faculty of Law, Croatia) Environmental and Animal Rights Issues through the Practice of the Green Phone and Activities of the Green Legal Clinic

SESSION E: ANIMAL RIGHTS ACROSS SCALES – FROM MORALS TO CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW PROTECTION

Moderator: Sanja Barić (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law)

 Matija Miloš (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, Croatia), What's in a Symbol? The Public Morals Highway to the Rights of Animals

 Tomislav Nedić (University of Osijek, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Could Animals and Nature Be Considered Legal Subjects and/or Holders of Subjective Rights? – Obstacles in Continental Private Law Doctrine

Maja Bukovac Puvača (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Animals as Potential Holders of Personality Rights in Tort Law

Dalida Rittossa (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Protecting Animals through Criminal Law in Croatia – The Quest for New Normative Visions

SESSION F: ANIMAL RIGHTS IN DETAILS: FAMILY, SPORTS AND TRADE

Moderator: Dalida Rittossa (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law)

Roberto Garetto (International Legal Institute - IgiTo, Torino, Italy), The Legal Protection of Animals in Sporting Events

Sandra Winkler (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, Croatia), Legal Reflections on Multispecies Families

Mirela Župan (University of Osijek, Faculty of Law, Croatia), EU Companion Animals Regulation Proposal - No Sight of a “Remedy” for Anthropocentrism within EU Animal Law