News

Polish Humanists meet Equalities Minister

28 February 2010

 In an unprecedented development the Polish Humanist Association has had a meeting with the Minister for Equal Treatment, Elzbieta Radziszewska.  The meeting, shared with the Polish branch of the Center for Inquiry, took place on February 25.  The Humanists were led by Andrzej Dominiczak, who is convinced that the invitation resulted from consideration of the EU’s recognition of non-religious groups under Article 17.  They asked for various steps towards reducing or eliminating the pervasive discrimination… read more »


Secularism on Trial

25 February 2010

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear Italy’s appeal against its judgement in the Lautsi case, which was a landmark in the struggle for secularism in Europe. The hearing will be on — May??


General Assembly and Conference 2010

24 February 2010

  First details of the EHF’s general assembly and conference – on Women and Religion – have been published. They take place in Stockholm on 28-29 May.          


Protest to Greece about Threats to Human Rights Organisation

20 February 2010

In February 2010 the EHF sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Greece protesting about threats to a human rights organisation, the Greek Helsinki Monitor, by a government minister speaking in the Greek parliament.  We copied our letter widely.  The Greek Helsinki Monitor has successfully taken many cases against Greece to the European Court of Human Rights, including several related to secularist concerns.  It is currently backing cases by several parents seeking to apply… read more »


EHF protests at Government threats to Greek human rights organisation

12 February 2010

The EHF has sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Greece protesting about threats to a human rights organisation, the Greek Helsinki Monitor, by a government minister speaking in the Greek parliament.  We have copied our letter widely.  The Greek Helsinki Monitor has taken many cases to the European Court of Human Rights, including several related to secularist concerns.  It is run by Panayote Dimitras, who spoke at our conference in Athens in 2008… read more »


Italian Secularists support Lautsi judgement

5 February 2010

Open Letter to Council of Europe, Human Rights Court, Politicians etc. An impressive list of well over 100 Italian organisations has sent a joint open letter to the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council and the Court of Human Rights supporting the Court’s finding in the case of Lautsi v Italy and deploring the “vicious and violent” reaction of many in Italy.  They denounce the Vatican’s domination of Italian politics despite its… read more »