17 May 2008
The situation in the UN Human Rights Council Paper by Keith Porteous-Wood, Executive Director, National Secular Society (UK)* I want today, though, to talk about Human Rights, the essential bedrock of all civilisation and all secular democracies. And I want to talk about the particular and precious human right of free expression. Alarm bells rang for me when I attended a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. To my dismay, it turned… read more »
Address by Andrew Copson, Director of Education and Public Affairs, British Humanist Association In my remarks today, I want to say that the legal framework of human rights can be used by humanists to advance secularism, where secularism is the impartiality of the state and public institutions in matters of religion or belief and give a few examples from experience in Britain where this has been done with some success. In 2001 the UK’s Human… read more »
Panayote Dimitras spoke of numerous cases the Greek Helsinki Monitor had taken and won against Greece for a legal system that assumed Greeks were members of the Greek Orthodox Church and made it difficult for people to be recognised as having other – or no – beliefs. This notice of one of their victories gives an example of the sort of case involved. GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM) Address: P.O. Box 60820, GR-15304 Glyka Nera Telephone:… read more »
23 April 2008
Council of Europe 2008 ‘San Marino’ Colloquium On 8 April 2008 the Council of Europe held an exchange on ‘teaching religious and convictional facts: a tool for acquiring knowledge about religions and beliefs in education; a contribution to education for democratic citizenship, human rights and intercultural dialogue. Representatives of the nations of the Council of Europe as well as of NGOs and religious groups were present as delegates. The European Humanist Federation was represented by… read more »
22 April 2008
The EHF took part in discussions on various matters sponsored by the former Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology in the period 1991-1997 – see Policy – Bio-ethics. The current equivalent body is the Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.
EHF Response to the EU Commission’s Consultation The EHF submitted the following response in October 2007 to the EU Commission’s consultation on Schools for the 21st Century:- The European Humanist Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for the humanist organisations of European states, and promotes the principles of humanism and of a secular society to the European institutions. Below we give brief answers on the eight questions posed in ‘Schools for the 21st Century’. We… read more »
The churches’ determination to exert influence over the European Union and its member states dates from long before the debate of the last few years over a constitution for Europe. Stage One In March 1996, during the preparation of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in Turin, a note was given to the ambassadors of EU countries accredited to the State of the Holy See. It said: The Holy See declares that the following objectives should be… read more »
18 April 2008
18 April 2008 Dear Mr. President Planned Directive on Discrimination in areas other than Employment May I thank you again most warmly for your contribution to our colloquium on Wednesday? We consider it was a substantial success, in no little measure due to your contribution, which I look forward to reading carefully when Mr César das Neves sends it on. In writing, however, I should like to take up with you an issue I referred to… read more »
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 »