The Ban on Participation of Children and Teenagers in the Hunt in Poland – A Case Study of Parliamentary Law Enactment Process and its Consequences

We are witnessing a clash of (i) biocentric or ecocentric ideologies that grant equal rights to all living creatures, with (ii) an ideology that arose on the basis of anthropocentrism that gives the palm of priority to man. Hunters who are accused of killing defenseless animals for entertainment are at the heart of this dispute. Meanwhile, hunters argue that their activity results from the need to manage game populations, thus the necessity to limit the threats to human life and health and to minimize the extent of damage to field crops or forests. In the atmosphere of such public disputes between activists and hunters, decisions are made by politicians who shape specific legal solutions. In 2018, the Hunting Law (Polish Act of 13 October 1995, Journal of Laws of 2020.) in Poland was amended and children and adolescents under 18 were banned from participating in hunting. It has aroused dissatisfaction of hunters who have taken initiatives to amend these legal provisions, e.g. a complaint to the Constitutional Tribunal, a social draft amendment to the act. The legal initiatives of hunters have been fuelling a broad social debate that often have gone beyond the scope of sustainable hunting management. The amendment has been questioned by a group of Polish MPs as infringing the constitutional right of parents to bring up and educate their children in accordance with their worldviews. Moreover, the teenagers, frequently considered as adults under numerous provisions of Polish law, have been deprived of their constitutional freedom of making decisions about their pastimes. The opponents in turn claim that under the Constitution of the Republic of Poland (Polish Act of 21 August 1997, Journal of Laws of 2020.) children must be protected against violence and cruelty. The aim of the study is to present the mechanisms of a legal, political, sociological and ideological dispute and to provide some basic insight into the Parliamentary debate and the outcome of legislation process as a result of which children have been deprived of the right to accompany their parents during hunting expeditions also in the character of passive observers. The research methods applied included the following ones: the analysis of the discourses and legislation under scrutiny in Poland and a few selected countries, and empirical observation of debates carried out in public space. The research material encompassed the recorded Parliament speeches focusing on the issue in question, legislative process, social media posts and various blogs. The assessment of the current legal solutions and the analysis of the attitudes of both parties to the dispute leads to a reflection that the problem of prohibiting the participation of children under 18 in hunting is not solved. There is a need to search for new solutions on the basis of substantive knowledge, including, inter alia, legal science or social psychology. Politicians should be aware that the emotional pressure may not and should not be the basis for law amendments.