I am delighted to join The Vegan Society’s International Rights Network. I am Ruby Sandhu, a senior international lawyer trained at a leading city firm and was a partner of an international law practice before setting up as an independent legal consultant to engage in a collaborative and holistic approach to the practice of law. My work is pioneering with an array of stakeholders and includes lobbying at the highest levels.
I have an LL.M in International Human Rights Law, an MSc. in Sustainable and Responsible Business, I am an accredited Mediator (MSoM) and I lecture and provide training at a leading London institution. I also provide lectures and workshops at postgraduate level, including at Cambridge University.
I have been on my vegan journey for over 15 years and as a practising yogi. My formative first 5 years were in India with my grandparents, where life was simple, civilised, barefoot and in harmony with the land and animals, and with a vegetarian diet as a pervasive norm.
I connected the dots aged 11 years old when I refused to consume rabbit pie, realising that my companion “Fluffy” was an equally sentient being. I returned to a meat-based diet after being diagnosed as anaemic and through social pressures at the age of 21 and returned to ethical veganism 15 years ago when I became the guardian to “Bono”, my three-month-old, four-legged companion springer spaniel. Although I was brought up with animals, including the family pincer Dobermans, it was the direct relationship with Bono that instigated and catalysed my return to ethical veganism. His palpable sentience and evolving nature made me cognisant of other more sentient beings, including cows, pigs, sheep, lambs and fish, that were being consumed, and considered nothing more than “products” and / or “chattels” in the law.
My ethical vegan, plant-based journey included realising that it didn’t make sense to me that in the 21st Century I should feed Bono another sentient being, especially since his species had been domesticated for over 25,000 years and could physiologically and socially thrive on a plant-based diet as omnivores.
Further, the learnings from my postgraduate studies in International Environmental Law, and separately in Sustainability, as well as diplomas accredited by medical professionals made me acutely aware of the negative impact of eating flesh and consuming the milk from another species on human health, the planet and our consciousness.
I undertook further diplomas in animal physiology and nutrition, as well as advanced legal research, and SHEVEGA, a company producing scientifically validated, plant-based dietary products for companion animals, was conceived with a dear friend, colleague and senior leading veterinary surgeon and holistic animal nutritionist with a clear mission and mandate.
The work of SHEVEGA is inclusive, informative, and collaborative, with the intention of educating and providing products and information to guardians of companion animals, to enable them to confidently transition, or continue to feed a plant-based diet, to the animals in their care. Educational facts are premised on science and law, through blogs, emails, podcasts, and webinars which have international outreach.