7 June 2013
On 5 May 2013, EHF was interviewing one of its member organisations on a square in Athens about populism and the rise of extremism. But Golden Dawn militants were watching.. Article by Elias Kanellis Ta Nea – 6 May 2013 [translated from the Greek original by Panos Fellas and edited by Panayote Dimitras] Yesterday afternoon, at the square of Saint Panteleimon [in Athens], a Belgian TV crew was interviewing a Greek citizen on the issue… read more »
23 April 2013
The National Secular Society has welcomed news that the UK Government has climbed down following its defeat last night in the House of Lords and agreed to make discrimination on grounds of caste unlawful. Last night (Monday) peers voted to retain their original amendment making caste a protected characteristic (as an aspect of race) under equality law via a new clause in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. The vote was won by 181 votes… read more »
6 March 2013
Atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other non-religious people are discriminated against around the world, with expression of their views is often criminalized and subject in some countries to capital punishment, theInternational Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) told the United Nations, 25 February 2013. In a document for consideration by the world body’s Human Rights Council, IHEU demonstrates that atheism is explicitly or effectively outlawed in many states, where people are forced to adopt a religion, sometimes from a narrow range… read more »
15 January 2013
REUTERS The EHF welcomes the European Court of Human Rights’s judgement about supposed “Christian discrimination” and joins its member organisations BHA’s and NSS’ analysis about it : BHA applauds European Court of Human Rights in upholding equality and human rights principles against false ‘Christian Persecution’ cases The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has published its judgements in the cases of Chaplin v. the United Kingdom, Eweida v. the United Kingdom, Ladele v. the… read more »
23 October 2012
(Sympatico.ca) PARIS (Reuters) – Plans by France’s Socialist government to legalize same-sex marriage are proving harder to enact than first thought after faith leaders and conservatives mobilized against it even as left-wing deputies try to expand it. With a solid majority it won last spring, the government originally only planned short parliamentary hearings and a debate early next year before voting on one of President Francois Hollande’s most divisive campaign promises and something he has… read more »
13 May 2012
The EHF has written to the Ombudsman with firm comments on the EU Commission’s response to our complaint about their approach to the Article 17 dialogue with us and in particular their treatment of our request for a dialogue seminar. Our covering letter is here. It attaches our detailed comments, which have three enclosures: a letter from BEPA to the EHF dated 16 November 2011; an email from BEPA to the EHFdated 5 May 2011 and a letter… read more »
The Ombudsman in March 2012 forwarded to us for comment the EU Commission’s response to our complaint about their discrimination against us in their implementation of the Article 17 dialogue. The Ombudsman’s letter and the EU response may be read here. For the EHF’s complaint, see here . For the Ombudsman’s request for comments from the Commission, see here. For the EHF’s comments to the Ombudsman on the Commission’s response, see here.
23 April 2012
Hans Christian Cars represented EHF at the meeting of the EU Fundamental Rights Platform for NGOs (the FRP) on 19-20 April 2012. He reports: It was as usual thoroughly well organised with two panel discussions with invited experts and some forty workshops of which thirty were conducted by NGOs and the rest by FRA staff. In the election for Advisory Panel members, six were elected from a pool of 24 candidates. Regrettably one of these was… read more »
23 November 2011
The EU Ombudsman is taking seriously the EHF’s complaint about the EU Commisssion’s approach to the Article 17 dialogue with us and in particular its treatment of our request for a dialogue seminar. In a letter to the EHF dated 15 November, he tells us of the questions he has put to the Commission. See here for an EHF press release, dated 23 November. For the EHF’s complaint, see here . For the Commission… read more »
16 November 2011
Matt Cherry writes on the IHEU website: The inauguration of Michael D. Higgins as President of Ireland on Friday, November 11 2011, broke new ground by including a ‘reflection’ by a Humanist. Susie Kennedy, a representative of the Humanist Association of Ireland, spoke at the ceremony immediately after an inter-faith service. The President-elect specifically requested a female Humanist celebrant to ‘broaden the range and diversity of the occasion’. In her statement at the presidential inauguration,… read more »