Combatting Animal Mistreatment (BR0113)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Animal mistreatment is an extensive problem in the country caused by political, economic, social and cultural issues. The absence of a national public policy, which integrates federal government actions with the various ongoing initiatives by states, municipalities and civil society, makes it difficult to homogenize efforts around the theme and results in significant differences in the way the various regions of the country deal with the issue. However, several problems are widespread. For example, the lack of information and awareness in civil society regarding the duties of individuals towards animals; the lack of actions to raise awareness about responsible custody; the varying understandings and interpretations of the concept of mistreatment in the enforcement of animal protection legislation; the lack of standard criteria to characterize acts harmful to animals, which hinders mistreatment report and inspection initiatives, among others. Another important fact is that Brazil has excellent legislation related to animal mistreatment, but lacks enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance. In this context, public authorities face many obstacles to promote changes related to animal mistreatment, demanding urgent coordination of actions and the essential engagement of civil society to implement solutions and reduce practices harmful to animals in the country.

What is the commitment? The commitment aims to disseminate across Brazil policies, programs, projects or activities to combat animal mistreatment, focusing not only on preventive and educational actions, but also seeking ways to ensure the fair and rigorous enforcement of the law by all levels and branches of government. Actions will be carried out to engage the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary), at all levels of the federation (Union, states and municipalities), and civil society in the development of effective measures to combat animal mistreatment. This joint effort, which will include various social actors, is expected to reduce the occurrence of acts of animal mistreatment, promote a change in the population’s behavior and increase civil society participation.

How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? The commitment implementation will result in the development and/or dissemination of measures to improve the understanding and performance of public bodies in actions to prevent and combat crimes of animal mistreatment. Seven substantial short-term deliverables are planned, to be carried out by the government, civil society and other entities, through the construction of forums for promoting dialogue, social engagement, production of informative materials and standardization of protocols. In order to disseminate knowledge on animal protection and defense, various actors will engage in awareness-raising actions, seeking to dedicate a month to the prevention of animal mistreatment. This initiative will help disseminate information throughout the country through social media, provision of training and other actions, thus contributing to reduce the cultural differences involved in animal mistreatment practices. A survey of available information on animal mistreatment will also be carried out (courses, guides, data, studies, etc.), as well as actions aimed at collecting standardized data on the subject in large municipalities. The establishment of a database will be instrumental in improving civil society access to information, opening opportunities for the technical improvement of the actors involved. In order to promote, in the country, the dissemination of public policies, programs or actions for the protection and defense of animals, the commitment aims to identify best practices in preventing and combating animal mistreatment already implemented in states and municipalities. The commitment also involves dialogue with various sectors about the General Animal Registry (RGA) to identify tools for managing and monitoring data on domestic and tamed animals. Finally, to homogenize interpretations of the concept or application of regulations aimed at combating practices harmful to animals, a participatory process will be implemented to standardize protocols for characterizing animal mistreatment, in addition to including recommendations for the prevention and combat of animal mistreatment in the guidelines on animal population management of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).

Why this commitment is relevant to OGP values? The commitment represents a historic advance in the protection and defense of animals, bringing together agendas that until recently were pursued separately by various actors, without the federal government playing an active role in coordinating the several actions addressing the issue. Seven major deliverables were defined, which together cover the commitment assumed. These deliverables will strengthen especially the values of transparency, social participation and accountability. The establishment of a database to make information on the subject available, as well as the awareness-raising actions planned, will ensure access and the right to information for the interested public (transparency). The holding of discussions to homogenize interpretations will open social participation forums for public, private and civil society actors, where arguments and ideas will be presented to inform public decision-makers in the implementation of public policies, or in their improvement through a proposed innovation. Furthermore, the planned meetings will enable the evolution of guidelines for public agents on enforcement, reception of complaints, inspections and application of legal norms, which are aspects fundamental to the OGP value of accountability.

Additional information - Law No. 9,605, of February 12, 1998 - Provides for criminal and administrative sanctions arising from conduct and activities harmful to the environment, and other measures. - Decree No. 10,455, of August 11, 2020 - Approves the Statutory Structure and the Table of Commissioned Positions and Functions of Trust of the Ministry of the Environment and relocates and alters commissioned positions and functions of trust.

Milestones (with verifiable deliverable) Start Date: End Date: Milestone 1 - Engagement of actors in the promotion of awareness-raising actions, in the month dedicated to prevent animal mistreatment (April) December 2021 April 2022 Milestone 2 - Mapping of available information on the theme (courses, guides, data, surveys, etc.) December 2021 June 2022 Milestone 3 - Engagement of actors in the collection of standardized data on the theme in large municipalities December 2021 June 2022 Milestone 4 – Identification of best practices in preventing and combating animal mistreatment already implemented December 2021 June 2022 Milestone 5 - Dialogue with various sectors about the General Animal Registry (RGA) December 2021 August 2022 Milestone 6 - Dialogue with various sectors to develop a standard protocol for characterizing animal mistreatment December 2021 July 2022 Milestone 7 – Inclusion of recommendations for preventing and combating animal mistreatment in the MMA guidelines on animal population management December 2021 December 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3. Combating Animal Mistreatment

Results Report

Commitment 3. Combating animal mistreatment

Commitment 3 identified a lack of awareness, coordination, and enforcement as some of the main issues towards an effective animal mistreatment policy. Milestones 1, 3, 5, and 6 provided actions related to engaging actors, while Milestones 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 gathered best practices and standardizing information, and Milestone 7 gave recommendations to reduce animal cruelty. [36] The commitment had an implementation focus on awareness and engaging actors.

Six out of the seven milestones were completed or had substantial advancements, which resulted in a social media campaign on animal cruelty, newly developed training and guidelines, and seminars to openly discuss issues and best practices. [37] These actions were elaborated on with participation from the government and civic society. Additionally, two national calls to local governments were conducted to understand the actions they were engaging in to protect animals, specifically dogs and cats. [38] The calls received answers from 440 municipalities and gave a clearer picture of the existing local actions and deficiencies that needed to be improved. [39] The commitment generated recommendations for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA) to issue Ordinance MMA N. 288 in November 2022, [40] which established the National Agenda for the Protection and Defense of Dogs and Cats. Priority areas in the ordinance are defined as population control, medical/veterinary care, and public education and awareness of responsibilities. It also calls for partnerships between civil society, the private sector, and public institutions at different levels of government to implement relevant projects and initiatives. [41] Milestone 6, which sought to develop a standard protocol to classify animal mistreatment, was not started, which the commitment working group attributed to scheduling conflicts and limited time. [42]

The commitment had moderate early results, specifically in engaging different actors, raising public awareness, and delivering spaces for the participation of diverse stakeholders in discussing the national agenda. Nevertheless, the results of the commitment are understood as complementary to actions that the Brazilian government has undertaken in combating animal mistreatment (e.g., the national agenda) or was planning to engage in (e.g., creation of the Department of Protection, Defense, and Animal Rights in January 2023). [43] The Comptroller-General of the Union (CGU) highlighted that the commitment presented challenges in defining its scope and identifying civil society organizations with interest in the topic and capacity to be part of an OGP process during co-creation. [44] Only one organization was reported to have been actively involved. [45] CGU also agreed the commitment was more government-led but attributed participatory deficiencies to the newness of the topic and the lack of maturity by involved civil society stakeholders in participating in an open government process. [46]