0
On December 19 and 20 was held in the OIE Headquarters in Paris the first meeting of the Steering Group of the OIE Regional Platform on animal welfare for the 53 Member Countries of Europe.
The creation of this Group is a direct consequence of the 25th OIE Regional Commission Conference for Europe (Fleesensee, Germany, September 2012). This Conference indeed recommended that a common approach be taken by all Member Countries of the region regarding animal welfare, and that the OIE Standards be implemented step by step at the same level in all Europe, using a regional Platform for capacity building programmes and exchanges of best practices.
The Steering Group of the Platform, comprising OIE Delegates from three non-EU and two EU countries, a representative of the European Commission, the OIE Regional and sub-regional Representations of the Europe Region and representatives from the OIE Collaborating Centre for animal welfare in Europe, validated a three year Action Plan (2014-2016) that will focus on stray dog population management and conditions for transport and slaughter of livestock. It will include a dedicated website, translation of technical documentation and standards into Russian, awareness and communication campaigns, workshops and other field activities. The activities of the Platform, which should be funded mostly by the European Commission and EU Member States, are not intended to compete with, or duplicate the various activities recently launched by the EU; it will complement them, targeting countries of the Europe region (53 countries in 2013) where the relevant OIE Standards are not or not enough implemented. Collaboration with stakeholders in the region will be carefully looked at and they will be consulted on an ad hoc basis for the optimal delivery of the Platform Action Plan.
Tuesday December 24, 2013/ OIE.
http://www.oie.int
