Protecting children from violence in hunting

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: General Comment 26

In a very welcome development, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted «General Comment 26» on 23 August 2023.

Children and young people must be protected from all forms of violence. The passive and active participation of children and young people in hunting activities is therefore inadmissible. The Convention on the Rights of the Child includes, among other things, the right of all minors to physical and mental integrity.

Studies demonstrate that children who witness violence against animals are negatively affected in their capacity for empathy and come to regard it as normal over time.

«Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence and from exposure to violence, such as domestic violence or violence against animals.»

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

The uncultured practice of recreational hunting

Recreational hunting is a distinctly diffuse parallel world, dominated by cult-like ideologies that have spread throughout our society. Unfortunately, it has already become common practice for children to be subjected to an unnatural form of indoctrination by the association JagdSchweiz in the context of so-called nature experiences organized by hobby hunters. Children who love animals are lured into accepting weapons, ammunition and killing as appealing.

Practically everything that is cruel, unnecessary and heartless is promoted by the association JagdSchweiz, as confirmed by a court in Bellinzona.

No more children taken on trophy hunts

The explicit mention by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is an important step towards ensuring that animal cruelty such as the practice of hunting is regarded as unacceptable.

By recognizing the importance of preventing violence against animals in the context of children's rights, this interpretation promotes a culture of empathy, respect, and protection for both children and animals.

More on this in the dossier: Psychology of Hunting

You can help all animals and our planet with compassion. Choose empathy on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan.

1. Solothurn Government Defends Animal Cruelty
2. Amygdala and violence
3. Understanding the Link Between Animal Cruelty and Family Violence: The Bioecological Systems Model
4. Childhood Without Conscience
5. Why Some People Become Murderously Evil
6. Violence as a source of pleasure or displeasure is associated with specific functional connectivity with the nucleus accumbens
7. People who abuse animals rarely stop there
8. Hunting Fever
9. Serial Killers Have Under-Developed Brains, Says New Study
10. When Children Abuse Animals – How Parents Should Respond
11. Why Men Trophy Hunt: Showing Off and the Psychology of Shame
12. “Killing Can Be Fun”
13. Hunting and Illegal Violence Against Humans
14. Understanding Hunters Better
15. Interview: Petra Klages with Serial Killer Frank Gust
16. Psychological and Sociological Differences Between Hobby Hunters and Non-Hunters
17. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness
18. Has He Lost the Plot?
19. The Passion of the Hunter
20. Hunting and Illegal Violence Against Humans and Other Animals: Exploring the Relationship
21. Hunters and molesters
22. Ohio data confirms hunting/child abuse
23. Michigan stats confirm hunting,  child abuse
24. Preventing Domestic Violence Through Weapons Control
25. Cazadores deportivos – Mentes criminales?
26. Hunting and Hunters: Psychoanalysis
27. A Researcher Finds a Specific Pattern in the Brains of Serial Killers
28. The Brain
29. Hobby Hunters and Their Brain Pattern
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