Dear John,

Seventy-four 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. 

Rights protect against wrongs that we as a society have deemed intolerable, such as detaining individuals against their will without sufficient cause or subjecting them to mental or physical torture. All of human history shows that the only way to truly protect human beings’ fundamental interests is to recognize their rights. It’s no different for nonhuman animals.

Today we just wanted to thank you for choosing to be part of the nonhuman animal rights movement, John. 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 recognition and protection of nonhuman animal rights must and will be a fundamental part of how we build it. 

We truly couldn’t do any of this work without you, and we are so grateful to have you in this fight.

With all our thanks,

Elizabeth Stein
New York counsel, the NhRP