About the EURPET initiative
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the rescue and protection of pets quickly became part of the humanitarian narrative of the conflict. Globally, there has been an unprecedented open-door policy towards companion animals from Ukraine – a high-risk country for rabies – in terms of legal allowances, quarantine facilities and veterinary services. Moved by stories of suffering and abandoned cats and dogs in Ukraine, ‘ordinary’ citizen across Europe have mobilized to provide informal assistance, including food, evacuation and adoption.
EURPET takes a socio-legal and ethnographic approach to study the reception and care of Ukrainian refugee companion animals in Norway.
The initiative involves jurist and socio-legal scholar Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and anthropologist Heidi Mogstad. The advisory board consists of criminologists, political scientists, and lawyers from University of Oslo, OsloMet, Chr. Michelsen institute and University of Bergen.
The network is divided into two overlapping phases.
Phase 1 (February 2022–December 2022)
Phase 1 ‘Ukrainian Pet Exceptionalism’ (February 2022–December 2022) was an explorative pilot study that responded to the surprising lack of critical discussion on the topic and identified important trends, questions and challenges on a European level. Developed under the auspices of the Humanitarian Borders project at PRIO, this pilot resulted in several articles, blog posts and conference presentations.
Kristin Bergtora Sandvik has published "The Ukrainian refugee crisis: Unpacking the politics of pet exceptionalism" in International Migration (2022) as well as a number of blog posts:
- Harvard Bill of Health: Ethical challenges associated with the protection of pets in war (2022)
- Blog Oxford Border Criminologies: Pets and Humanitarian Borders (2022)
- Blog Science Norway: Ukraine: How can we protect animals when we can’t even protect humans? (2022)
The breakfast seminar Pets beyond borders: Norwegian responses to the Ukrainian influx (December 2022) gathered animal rights practitioners and academics to discuss the implications of mass influx of pets across humanitarian borders for animal welfare and future migration and refugee management. Speakers: Åshild Roaldset, Dyrebeskyttelsen Norge; Martine S.B. Lie (IKRS/UiO); Annichen Kongsvik Sæteren (Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law, UiO); Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, PRIO/IKRS, UiO). The session was chaired by David Rodriguez Goyes IKRS/UiO). An outcome of the seminar was a curated blog series published with the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI):
- Kristin Bergtora Sandvik: Ukrainian refugees and pet exceptionalism: the need for a critical conversation
- Polly Pallister Wilkins: Ukrainian companion animals: unsettling humanitarian borders
- Heidi Mogstad: Humanitarian racism and “pet exceptionalism”: confronting hierarchies of life in refugee protection
Phase 2 (January 2023–December 2023)
Phase 2 is ongoing and empirical. Using Norway as a case study, it identifies public, private and volunteer-based actors involved in the care and reception of Ukrainian companion animals and the various mechanisms, regulations and resources that have been developed and mobilised. Based on meetings and interviews with key stakeholders (state, activists, civil society and quarantine station managers), it asks:
- What kind of challenges and dilemmas have these actors encountered? How have they responded to them?
- How do they conceive this form of humanitarian protection?
- What are the knock-on effects for animal welfare and refugee protection within the Norwegian context?
Advisory board
Jessica Schultz is a lawyer specializing in international human rights and refugee law. Her recent work focuses on temporary protection and refugee status in Norway. She is the author of Schultz, Jessica. "The internal protection alternative and its relation to refugee status." Research Handbook on International Refugee Law. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019. 126-138.
Martine S.B Lie is a criminologist with broad experience in animal protection policy work. Her PhD Project Large predator management versus the intrinsic value of animals is part of the larger project Criminal justice, wildlife Conservation and animal rights in the Anthropocene (CRIMEANTHROP). She is the author of "“Stepdogs” of Society: The Impact of Breed Bans in Norway." Critical criminology 25.2 (2017): 293-309.
Anne Balke Staver is a researcher at OsloMet. She holds a PhD in Political Science with a specialization in comparative public policy, focusing on comparing immigration policies in Northern European states. She is a co-author of the report Hernes, V., Deineko, O., Myhre, M. H., Liodden, T., & Staver, A. B. (2022). Ukrainian refugees-experiences from the first phase in Norway.
Maria Gabrielsen Jumpert is a Senior Researcher and Research Director at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. She has previously lead the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies. She holds a PhD in International Relations and Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. Her research focuses on border management, and more specifically humanitarian and security interfaces in the European borderlands.
Cooperation
EURPET is associated with the project "Law under deglobalization: socio-legal perspectives on democracy, migration, technology, and war" (DEGLOBAL).
Financing
The initiative is hosted by the Norwegian Network for Animal Law.