Happy Human Rights Day and Animal Rights Day!
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM NonhumanRightsProject.org
December 2019

A more just world for all is possible, and the fight for nonhuman rights must and will be a fundamental part of how we build it.

“We’re simply saying [to judges] that the world is changing outside of your courtroom, and you may want to change with it.”
– NhRP President Steven M. Wise

Seventy-one years ago today, the United Nations ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to affirm the importance of respect for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all individuals regardless of “race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.”

The fight for nonhuman animal rights is rooted in the same values and principles of justice as human rights, which is why December 10th is rightly celebrated around the world not just as Human Rights Day, but also, as of 2011, Animal Rights Day.

Now more than ever, it’s important that we neither take for granted our own human rights nor allow rights to arbitrarily stop with members of our own species. A more just world for all is possible, and the fight for nonhuman rights must and will be a fundamental part of how we build it.

In the words of our new staff attorney Amy Kapoor (welcome, Amy!):

The artificial line that society has drawn between human and nonhuman animals is but another legal barrier that must be broken. Recognizing the rights of nonhuman animals, beginning with great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales’ fundamental right to live freely, will only reinforce and elevate our fundamental values of liberty, justice, equality, and fairness. I feel privileged to be able to work on such a groundbreaking issue with such dedicated people. Although the battle will be arduous, as Nelson Mandela poignantly stated, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” 

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