OIE supports African animal welfare initiative

The first Continental Consultative Stakeholders Conference on Animal Welfare in Africa took place at the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) in Nairobi, Kenya from 30 November to 1 December 2015.

Directors of Veterinary Services (OIE Delegates) or OIE Animal Welfare Focal Points from 27 African Union (AU) Members States (MS) namely: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe attended the meeting.

In attendance also were representatives from COMESA and IGAD, animal welfare experts from the African Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW), the Brooke Hospital for animals, the Donkey Sanctuary; the Pan African Alliance for Animal Welfare (PAAWA), World Animal Protection and national animal welfare NGOs from Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Representatives from the OIE and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also attended and made presentations during the meeting.

The conference’s overall objective was to create awareness on animal welfare in Africa including the increasing importance of compliance with OIE standards by Member States and was co-funded by AU-IBAR, World Animal Protection, the Brooke and the Donkey Sanctuary with technical support from FAO and the OIE.

The specific objectives of the meeting were to sensitize CVOs and livestock sector stakeholders on animal welfare agenda development in Africa and mobilize support for the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW), refine and adopt previously identified animal welfare priority issues and priority intervention areas within the context of Africa, discuss and adopt the terms of reference for the proposed African Platform for Animal Welfare (APAW) and establish modalities towards its operationalization and to establish a process of developing an animal welfare strategy.

The participants made several recommendations, amongst which :

1. Member States to adopt and implement, as a priority, OIE standards for animal welfare; including upcoming standards on production systems on dairy cattle, equids and other working animals, and disaster management and risk reduction when they become available;
2. The AU to assist Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States in ratifying the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW); and
3. The AU, with support of partners, to establish and operationalise an African Platform for Animal Welfare (APAW).