Vegan International, which I Founded, is a United Nations (UN) Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) Applicant, 50cl3 Not-For-Profit Charity dedicated to educating Governments, other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and individuals worldwide about the benefits of the Vegan lifestyle. 

These benefits include optimal health and nutrition, sustainable use of resources, enlightened agriculture, poverty reduction, reduced carbon footprint, ending zoonotic disease, the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), and Anti-Microbial resistance (AMR).  It is also about compassion, peace and justice for planet Earth, and all its inhabitants, of all species.

‘Vegan’ is a word first coined by British activist Donald Watson (1910 – 2005), founder of the first vegan organization.  His definition of ‘vegan’ was a “philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as possible and practical – all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.”

‘Vegan’ is about compassion.  It is about making the world a better place, not only for people, but for the billions of other inhabitants on this planet whose lives and well- being have been overlooked, sometimes driven to extinction, and usually used as vehicles for providing human satisfactions of all types. 

It is about providing simple solutions to complex global issues.  Vegan is not a form of depravation. It is a lifestyle which embraces life, and life lived to the fullest. Vegan holds the promise of a healthier population, a sustainable planet, and kindness and compassion for all.

The non-vegan lifestyle is a major contributor to climate change – the world’s greatest threat to security and survival.  Methane from animals raised for food holds heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide, making it the single largest cause of Climate Change. 

Scientific facts prove that the main cause of global warming melting polar ice caps and raising sea water levels is methane which traps heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide.  Methane from the meat and dairy based diet is directly responsible for this impending disaster.  Adopting a plant-based vegan lifestyle will change this.

Other adverse effects of the non-vegan lifestyle include deforestation, land degradation, pollution of air, water, and land, zoonotic pandemics, skyrocketing diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, (also known as the non-communicable diseases – NCDs), potentially devastating antibiotic resistance, (Antimicrobial Resistance – AMR), deforestation, pollution of air, water and land, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, and species extinction among other issues. 

The vegan lifestyle is the healthiest.  Most epidemics and pandemics and serious infectious diseases are zoonotic – caused by exploitation of animals by humans.  This includes Covid-19, HIV, SARS, MERS, Swine Flu, Avian Flu, and the deadliest diseases in history – Black Death, HIV, and Spanish Flu.  A pathogen jumps from exploited animals to humans and is then transmitted directly among humans. 

Eliminating the exploitation of non-human individuals as human food eliminates the possibility of pandemics and zoonotic disease.  Additionally, there is copious documentation that societies which transitioned from the traditional fiber rich plant-based diet to the fat and cholesterol filled meat and dairy based diet experienced unprecedented human mortality and morbidity from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and antibiotic resistance. 

Vegan ideals are the most sustainable.  They can reduce and eliminate world hunger and starvation.  Land used to grow crops to feed animal individuals incarcerated, executed, and consumed as human food, could be used to grow crops to feed people.  This would significantly reduce world hunger particularly in the developing nations exporting crops while they and their children experience hunger and starvation. 

Land and water are being used unsustainably. Rainforests, which provide a cooling effect for the Earth, are cut and burned down to provide grazing land and land to grow crops to feed to animals raised for human food.  Additionally, it takes a hundred times more water to raise animals for human food, for drinking and especially for clean up after slaughter, than to raise vegetables. 

Vegan is cleanest. Air, water, and land pollution is a direct result of animal agriculture.  In the United States, animal agriculture produces more pollution than all other industries combined!

Species Extinction and Habitat Destruction are a result of the non-vegan lifestyle.  As animal agriculture grows, it needs more and more resources of land and water, destroying the habitats of existing species and causing extinction of irreplaceable individuals.  This loss of biodiversity is a contributing factor in zoonotic disease.

Vegan is a simple solution to many complex problems: reducing climate change, reducing hunger, achieving food security.  Additionally, vegan food choices improve nutrition and human health by reducing human mortality and morbidity from diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  Vegan choices can reduce poverty, promote sustainable consumption, sustainably manage the scarce resources of land and water, reducing water, air and land pollution, improve sanitation, and achieve justice for all inhabitants of planet Earth.

Vegan is about Justice.  Speciesism is unjust, unsustainable, and destructive.  It is treating animals as slaves of humans.  The unfortunate individuals, who are eaten, used for clothing, experiments, and entertainment, have no rights of their own.  Many nations have already adopted legislation which gives right to nature.  It is time for all species to have rights.

Vegan International hopes to achieve a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism.  This would be in addition to the existing United Nations Convention Against Genocide, United Nations Convention Against Torture, United Nations Convention To Eliminate Discrimination Against Women, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

The UN Convention Against Speciesism, proposed by Vegan International would promote and protect the rights of all species.  This proposed Convention would be an internationally recognized instrument for the protection of all inhabitants of Earth.  Currently there are no rights or protection afforded to the most vulnerable on the planet, or to the planet itself. 

Speciesism, the exploitation, and violent abuse of individuals of another species, is not recognized as a category of discrimination, and is widely tolerated throughout the world.  Species other than human are excluded from any protection, are treated as objects instead of rights holders, and are subjected to violence and abuse of all kinds.  Respect for the rights of all species benefits everyone: humans, those of other species, and planet Earth.

A UN Convention Against Speciesism finally ‘leaves no one behind’.  It creates a ‘place at the table’ for all inhabitants of planet Earth.  This proposed new UN Convention would bring clarity to the nature of the rights of all species, and to the responsibilities necessary to protect them.  It would view all species as rights-holders, and these rights would be in a single document.  In addition, it would raise public awareness in those nations which do not ratify this Convention.

The following United Nations Ambassadors have expressed interest in supporting a U N Convention Against Speciesism, or at least discussing this idea: