Human Rights
1 February 2011
Meeting of the EP Platform for Secularism in Politics At the meeting of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics on 1 February 2011 there were two speakers on the subject of religion, Fundamental Rights and the draft anti-discrimination Directive. Introducing the discussion, Sophie in’t Veld said that in 2001 the EU had approved a directive against employment-related discrimination related to religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (the “strands” of sex and racial or… read more »
23 December 2010
The European Convention on Human Rights is of fundamental importance to humanists and secularists, both because of our support for human rights in general and because some of the Articles protect us from discrimination and lend support to separation of religion and politics. It is enforceable in countries that have adopted the Convention (including all states in the EU) through the European Court of Human Rights. Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights,… read more »
22 December 2010
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held a special conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Vienna on 9-10 December 2010. The EHF was represented at this Special Human Dimension Implementation Meeting by Vera Pegna and by Hans Christian Cars, who is taking over from her as our permanent representative with OSCE. They have recorded their impressions of the meeting. Also linked from here is the full text of the interventions they… read more »
1 October 2010
Attacks on the Holy See The EHF was at the OSCE’s 2010 Review Conference (which this year replaced the usual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting) for the session on “freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief” on Friday October 1. In the plenary session, EHF President David Pollock attacked the “undiplomatic behaviour” of the Holy See. His remarks are reproduced below, with a link to the full version of his paper. Vera Pegna spoke (for the… read more »
1 July 2010
A case before the European Court of Human Rights that could have marked a milestone for secularism in Europe reached a sad end in March 2011 when an appeal by Italy to the Grand Chamber of the Court succeeded in reversing the Court’s original judgement in November 2009. The Court’s judgement argued that the display of the crucifix did not amount to “indoctrination” and was therefore permissible. A summary and detailed critique of the judgement… read more »
7 May 2010
EHF President David Pollock took part in an international conference on Religious Freedom in Democratic Societies in Cordoba on 3-4 May 2010. The conference was run by the EU Council’s current Spanish Presidency and the UN Alliance of Civilisations. About 200 people from across Europe took part – academics, religious figures, politicians, diplomats and people from a variety of NGOs. David Pollock reports: This was a rich occasion, impossible to summarise save to say that… read more »
7 March 2010
Dorota Nieznalska is an artist who was prosecuted and convicted for “offending religious beliefs” when in 2002 she exhibited at a gallery in Gdansk an installation “Passion” that included a cross on which was a photograph of male genitalia, while a video of a man training in a fitness studio played in the background. The work symbolised men’s self-imposed suffering in order to become “real”, strong men.Last summer she was acquitted on appeal, and the liberal… read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »