The new book by philosophers Paula Casal and Peter Singer, “The Rights of Apes” (Los Derechos de los Simios, will be published in May. Paula Casal is the president of the GAP Project Spain.

More and more is known about chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans, and it is becoming clearer how much they resemble two- to three-year-old human children. Thanks to organizations like the Great Ape Project, more countries are giving them special legal protection, there are more jurists willing to defend the rights of great apes, more requests for Habeas Corpus, and more trials in which the possible legal personality of great apes, our evolutionary brothers and sisters, is debated.

However, many countries still do not give them adequate protection, and our primate cousins are not only threatened by climate change, pandemics and deforestation, but are also persecuted by hunters who kidnap them for zoos and shows, to sell them as pets or to trade their meat. Therefore, a major international coordination effort is needed so that they can survive as a species and be respected as individuals.

Given the urgency of this defense, it is necessary to answer questions such as: what rights should be granted to great apes? How do hominid rights differ from human rights? Does the acceptance of hominid rights depend on our philosophical position on rights in general? Does it make sense to say that a chimpanzee is a person, even if it is not human? Is it speciesist or discriminatory to ask for special rights for great apes?

“The Rights of Apes” attempts to answer these and other questions and explain to the reader what the non-humans that are most like us look like and why it is urgent to give them the protection they need.

We will release more information about the release and purchase options soon.

“The Rights of Apes”

Editorial Trotta

ISBN: 978-84-1364-064-8

248 pages

1st edition

Publication date: May 2022

Bound in paperback

Dimensions: 145 x 230mm, weight 370g

Themes: Environment and Animal Defense.