Two years ago, an attempt to debate bullfighting in the National Assembly, as part of a La France insoumise parliamentary niche, failed. Its promoter, Aymeric Caron, withdrew his controversial text at the last minute, which advocated the abolition of this practice, to give other proposals a chance. On Thursday, November 14, the Senate must debate bullfighting shows in its chamber, this time questioning the risks for minors exposed to this practice.
A bill, presented by Samantha Cazebonne (Renaissance Senator of the French Abroad) and Arnaud Bazin (Senator of Les Républicains de Val-d’Oise), jointly signed by about thirty senators from different groups, requests, in fact , the prohibition of bullfighting. Shows and cockfights for children under 16 years of age, for child protection purposes. This will be examined within the framework of the parliamentary niche of the Rally of Democrats, Progressives and Independents (RDPI) group.
“It is necessary to give coherence to our lawsdefends Samantha Cazebonne. France legislates on all issues to protect children from exposure to violence, but, in the name of tradition, there should be an exception for bullfights and cockfights, which prevents us from respecting the Committee’s requests of the Rights of the Child of the United Nations. »
“Acts of serious abuse”
Since January 2016, this committee, in charge of supervising the application of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child – ratified by France in 1990 – has asked the French government to prohibit the access of minors to stadiums and the practice of bullfighting. of bulls. The same recommendations were addressed to six other bullfighting countries (Portugal, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico and Spain). In several of its reports, the committee on the rights of the child stated “concerned” by “The fact that children participate in bullfighting training (…) and the fact that children, as spectators, are exposed to the extreme violence of bullfighting.”
Many animal protection associations support the bill. “Bullfighting acts are recognized by the courts as acts of serious abuse, but in the name of tradition they are tolerated in certain territories”laments Jacques-Charles Fombonne, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA).
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