Ankita attended the Animal Law Conference in November 2022 in Portland OR, and received an AFA scholarship.
Ankita Shankar, University of Basel, PhD candidate in Law. “My research concerns making a case for animals already holding personhood and fundamental rights under positive law, and then arguing for its inclusion in positive legal provisions, along with recommendations for how to operationalise such. Therefore, I am looking forward most to learning about personhood and standing. Moreover, as an international criminal lawyer by training, I am also interested in the panel on crimes against animals.”
What have I been doing since Fall 2022? The short answer is that I have continued to devote my personal and professional life to trying to make this world safer for animals.
Ankita Shanker
Ankita Shanker LLB (R’dg) BCL (Oxf) BPTC (BPP)
What I’ve Been Doing Since the Fall of 2022
The short answer is that I have continued to devote my personal and professional life to trying to make this world safer for animals. And the long answer is as follows.
I have primarily been engaging in my PhD research in the Legal Philosophy of Animal Rights Law, winning many scholarships and grants to continue my work. Taking a Legal Positivist account, through my research, I make the case that Human Rights Law is internally inconsistent and unduly exclusionary in scope, through its exclusion of non-human animals. I have also been publishing associated research in a variety of formats, ranging from articles in peer-reviewed journals and blogs to conference presentations, outreach events, lectures, seminars, and workshops.
I have continued to spearhead the World Moot on International Law and Animal Rights (WMILAR), which I founded in 2022 and am directing. The WMILAR comprises a world moot court competition and training courses, aiming to promote Animal Rights advocacy through legal education and legal skills training across the globe. Our vision is a future where animal rights are effectively represented in courtrooms domestically, regionally, and internationally. Under my leadership, the WMILAR has expanded magnificently, with host universities and regional directors in every major geo-political region. We have c. 15 host institutions, and our team now comprises c. 20 members—some of the brightest legal minds of our generation—fighting tirelessly for an end to animal exploitation. Our sponsors, hosts, and marketing collaborators are made up of top law schools and animal protection foundations. Our judges, trainers, and evaluators are professionals at the top of their fields, all with expertise in Animal Law and/or advocacy, as relevant. We formally launched the WMILAR on 15 February 2024, with Peter Singer, Gauri Maulekhi, and Paula Sparks delivering talks on various facets of animal rights protection.
I have also been appointed Fellow of the Animals and Biodiversity Think Tank at the Global Research Network, responsible for leading the think tank towards research in the field of animal protection. I have also been appointed Expert on International Criminal Law and Animal Law, and Co-Director for Research, at World Animal Justice, where I am in charge of conducting and directing research for global animal rights protection through International Criminal Law.
I continue to hold various other appointments and memberships, including the titles of Expert of the Animal Law Expert Group of the Global Animal Law Association and Research Group Member of The International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group on Rights of Nature and Animals.