For the rights of vegeterians
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Hi everybody
I am part of the group that organizes the international Veggie Pridedemo in Geneva on 18 May 2013 ( http://www.veggiepride.org/en.html ) , and we have written a petition that we will give to an organ of the United Nations. This petition asks the respect of the rights of vegetarians. We will make an online AVAAZ petition soon and I will put the link here when it's done. Actually since Paul Mccartney is vegetarian and supports a lot this issue we were thinking that he could be the first person to sign it. That would be really great and would really help us to bring the attention of the media on this issue. But unfortunately I tried to find how to contact him but without any success. Actually I would be very thankful if someone could transfer him this information... That would be a shame if he can't even know that he can greatly help an issue that he supports. Here is the text of the petition , let me know what you think about it: _____________ According to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of thought and conscience. This includes the right to belief and the right to manifest one?s belief. Article 26 of the same Covenant states that discrimination based on opinion is prohibited. These two articles combined mean that vegans and vegetarians who refuse to consume animals or animal products for ethical reasons should not suffer discrimination because of their beliefs. Nevertheless, vegans and vegetarians suffer widespread discrimination. For example, discrimination occurs in schools, universities, hospitals and other public or private places where no balanced vegan meal is available. In relation to the inalienable rights of all people on the basis of inherent human dignity and considering that discrimination on the ground of belief is outlawed, the signatories ask the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief at the United Nations to present a recommendation concerning this issue, and promote the adoption of measures at the national, regional and international levels to ensure the promotion and protection of the following rights of vegans and vegetarians: the right to obtain balanced vegan meals in any public or private institutions, the right to impartial and appropriate medical information, the right to be provided with necessary resources to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs, the right to refuse any work contrary to their ethical beliefs. -
You want the United Nations to plan school menus? I am not trying to mock anyone's beliefs, but I fail to see how this is discrimination. If your school has no vegetarian options, talk to the school.
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I agree. I don't want the UN telling me what to eat. (Of course I was there screaming when the UN flag went up at my state building over a decade ago)
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al Sabah:
You want the United Nations to plan school menus? I am not trying to mock anyone's beliefs, but I fail to see how this is discrimination. If your school has no vegetarian options, talk to the school.
Hello, Actually public or private institutions often refuse to offer balanced vegan meals, in France there is even a new law that forbids vegetarian meals in schools: http://www.icdv.info/index.php?category/English . And you can clearly realize that refusing to offer a vegan/vegetarian meal to someone who has the belief that animals aren't a ressource and shouldn't be killed and exploited for consumption is a discrimination based on their belief which is forbidden by law. Also many doctors learn almost nothing about nutrition and are unable to provide vegans and vegetarians accurate information which is really a shame. Concerning my personal case I can tell you that I talked already 4 times with my university about the fact that they should offer balanced vegan meals to vegans and I still don't have those meals and have to prepare myself a meal if I want to eat correctly. Here is the AVAAZ petition to sign: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Respect_of_the_rights_of_vegans_and_vegeterians
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Kathryn O:
I agree. I don't want the UN telling me what to eat. (Of course I was there screaming when the UN flag went up at my state building over a decade ago)
We don't ask the UN to tell what you should eat but in the contrary we ask the UN to defend the rights of vegans and vegetarians to eat in coherence with their belief which is garanteed by Article 18 and Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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Defending the rights of vegans/vegetarians okay. Getting the UN to do it..NO! There are other groups that make more sense in helping with this issue. (Try some of Peta takes on the subject). The UN couldn't solve an illumination problem outdoors on a sunny clear day.
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What a load of rubbish, saying that places that offer food should offer a balanced Vegan meal is ridiculous, it is a minority, where does it end that all schools and restaurants should offer Kosha or other religious diets as well?
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From what I can tell, the point is that if a child a vegetarian or vegan, the school/institution catering for their meal must be able to provide it properly. That is what a caterer is supposed to do, cater, provide
Banning vegetarian or vegan meals like the French have is fascist - not democratic - and the opinion that an animal-based diet is the only choice is not conclusively proven by science, far from it, in fact. I suspect what really annoys some people is the truth that a balanced vegan meal actually caters for EVERYBODY, and is much, much healthier for you than an animal based diet. 
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Although today is much easier than 20 years ago, you wouldn't imagine how difficult being a vegetarian is. I spoke recently with a friend of mine whose child is attending primary school. She asked, since the child is vegetarian like the rest of the family, to have vegetarian meals at school. She was told that the only reasons a school accepts to change a pupil's diet is a health or religius issue. Well, she immediately declared herself - and the child - buddish and.. guess what?? they told her they could only consider a diet variation according to muslim beliefs
: Ok this happens somewhere in europe, maybe in the us is different. But it's sort of unacceptable, i wouldn't mind if the UN would interevene -
Kathryn O:
The UN couldn't solve an illumination problem outdoors on a sunny clear day.
Asking them to mediate school meal disputes is like asking the army to mow your lawn.
