17 April 2008
Address by José Manuel Durao Barroso, European Commission President at the EHF Colloquium on Human Rights, April 2008 * Ladies and Gentlemen, I warmly thank the European Humanist Federation for inviting me to bring to a conclusion this European conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, organized in partnership with the Centre d’Action Laique and with the support of the European Commission. I am pleased to address… read more »
16 April 2008
KEY (from left to right) Row 1: David Pollock | Georges Liénard | Henri Pena-Ruiz, Pierre Galand, David Pollock, President Barroso | Henri Pena-Ruiz, Pierre Galand, David Pollock, President Barroso | Pierre Galand, David Pollock, President Barroso Row 2: Henri Pena-Ruiz, Pierre Galand, David Pollock, President Barroso | Rob Buitenweg, Georges Liénard, David Pollock | David Pollock | Rob Buitenweg, Dan Van Raemdonck, Edouard Delruelle | David Pollock, Rob Buitenweg, Dan Van Raemdonck, Edouard… read more »
Remarks by Keith Porteous Wood at the Colloquium on Secularism and Human Rights, 16 April 2008 Great anniversaries such as this provide an opportunity to apply the lessons of the past and the present to our plans for the future. And that is what I am inviting you to do now, but it is not going to be a comfortable exercise. Today, we are honoured to have here as our guests in Brussels some eminent… read more »
May I welcome you all to what I am sure will be a very productive day. First: let me thank on your behalf the European Commission for their support of this Colloquium, and in particular of course President Barroso who will be with us this afternoon. I must mention also Jorge César das Neves of the President’s staff for his considerable help. Also I want for the EHF to thank the Centre d’Action Laique here… read more »
On April 16 2008 about 200 people attended our colloquium to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, held in the Centre A. Borschette in Brussels. It was supported by the European Commission and we received considerable help in organising it from the Centre d’Action Laique in Belgium. The meeting was addressed by the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. An EU-produced video of his speech may be seen on the EHF’s… read more »
1 April 2008
1 April 2008 Dear Mr. President UN Human Rights Council Having in mind that we shall meet again on 16 April when you address the European Humanist Federation colloquium to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I am writing to you with reference to events at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) last Friday, 28 March, which inflicted a severe blow to human rights and, in particular, freedom of speech…. read more »
12 February 2008
The Bangladeshi writer and humanist Taslima Nasreen, having incurred the implacable hostility of extreme Islamists in her own country, found refuge for six years in India in West Bengal in India. She was then expelled from there by the state authorities and at the time of this letter was in a restrictive protective custody in New Delhi and threatened with expulsion from the country. Dr Man Mohan Singh Prime Minister of India 12 February 2008… read more »
17 November 2007
This speech by Dr. Georges Liénard, EHF general secretary, was delivered at a seminar organised by at Klingberg on November 17, 2007. To propose a first and rapid answer to the question “How to shape the road to European Citizenship”, one may say, probably to general agreement, that up to now the European Union has not clearly demonstrated any profound interest in the European citizens. Of course many meetings are organised on this topics but without… read more »
7 November 2007
During the state of emergency in Pakistan in November 2007, Mrs Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and president of the Pakistani Commission on Human Rights, was placed under house arrest. We wrote to the president of Pakistan as follows and copied the letter to the High Commissioner for Pakistan in London, who acknowledged our letter. General Pervez Musharraf President of Pakistan Islamabad PAKISTAN 9 November 2007 Your Excellency Mrs Asma… read more »
10 October 2007
October 2007 meeting of Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics Georges Liénard and Jenoff van Hulle attended this meeting on behalf of EHF. The invited speakers were Andrew Duff MEP and Baron Crespo MEP, representatives of the European Parliament at the IGC negotiations. Baron Crespo underlined that no changes were made in the new Reform Treaty concerning the position of and dialogue with religions and non-confessional organisations, except that Article 52 has moved… read more »