Leading animal advocate, Raj Panjwani, will deliver the keynote lecture of the 2008 UNSW/Voiceless animal law lecture series at UNSW on 22 May about his advocacy to protect animals from cruelty. 

The lecture kicks off a ten-day speaking tour organised by Voiceless, the fund for animals, that will tak in many of Australia’s leading law schools and will explore the current state of animal protection in India and the implications of the global expansion of agribusiness for farm animals. Mr Panjwani will draw on his experience as a voice for wild and domesticated animals used for food production, entertainment, hunting and research.  

At UNSW, he will be joined by three distinguished panellists: Professor David Weisbrot AM, President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, who recently identified animal rights as potentially the ‘next great social justice movement’ facing Australia; Dr Siobhan O'Sullivan, specialist in animal welfare public policy at the University of Melbourne; and Tara Ward, lecturer in animal law at UNSW.  

An advocate for animal protection over the past 25 years, Mr Panjwani says: “India is a nation that is largely committed to the principle of non-violence. It also has possibly the largest vegetarian population. Despite this, animals in India continue to suffer enormously and in staggering numbers even though the Constitution mandates that every citizen have compassion towards all living creatures.”   

Mr Panjwani, who has advocated on behalf of animals ranging from buffaloes to bears, will provide a rare insight for lawyers and non-lawyers alike into the cutting-edge field of animal law.   

Relying on the notion of compassion for animals, Mr Panjwani has over the last two decades
continually broken new ground for animals in the courtroom, working as legal counsel for India's peak environmental and animal protection organisations. In 2002, the Supreme Court of India Bar Association acknowledged his remarkable efforts by awarding him a citation for ‘Adding Knowledge to the Practice of Law’. 
 
Announcing Mr Panjwani as the keynote speaker for the 2008 UNSW/Voiceless lecture series, Voiceless Director Brian Sherman AM said: “To have an outstanding animal advocate such as Raj Panjwani deliver this series is a great honour and an important opportunity for Australians to hear from one of the world's most passionate, committed and fearless defenders of animals.”  

Mr Panjwani’s notable Supreme and High Court successes in India include:  

• banning the use of tigers, lions, panthers, bears and monkeys in circuses (Supreme Court, Kerala High Court, Karnataka High Court & Delhi High Court);
• obtaining a right of choice for school students opposed to dissection and experiments on animals (Delhi High Court);
• securing the imprisonment of Sansar Chand, one of India’s most notorious wildlife criminals (Delhi High Court);
• acquiring the mandatory labelling of animal-derived food products (Delhi High Court); and
• defending a legal challenge by traders seeking to reinstate the trade in ivory and the fur and skins of endangered animals (Delhi High Court). 

The UNSW Faculty of Law and Voiceless, the fund for animals, are supporting Mr Panjwani’s lecture tour.    Date:     Thursday 22 May 2008 Time:    Registration from 6.00pm, 6.30pm lecture followed by refreshments and canapés 
Venue:  Law Building, UNSW, Kensington Sydney
 
To register online for this lecture, please visit: http://www.law.unsw.edu.au/voiceless
 
For information on lectures taking place at James Cook University (Townsville, Qld), Bond University (Robina, Qld), Monash University (Melbourne, Victoria) and Flinders University (Adelaide, South Australia), visit the Lecture series pages on this website.
 
MEDIA CONTACTS
 
Voiceless media, Cybele Stockley, 0408 603 605, 02 9357 0743 or Michael Young, 0432 169 147
UNSW media, Dan Gaffney, 0411 156 015
 
UNSW Faculty of Law is proud to partner with Voiceless in delivering this annual lecture series on animal law. This partnership is one of the many ways UNSW Law embraces law in action.

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