United Nations
7 November 2011
Headlines from Ireland Humanist Marriages: A private member’s bill brought by Senator Ivana Bacik passed its Second Reading in the Seanad on 10th November to put the Humanist Association on an equal footing as religions to conduct legal weddings. It is supported by the Labour Party. Presidential inauguration: Susie Kennedy, a celebrant accredited by the Humanist Association of Ireland, gave a Humanist reflection at the inauguration of newly elected Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, at… read more »
17 January 2011
From time to time the EHF makes representations to other organisations or takes other campaigning initiatives. Recent examples are given below. May 2012: Emails sent to Government and other officials in Indonesia deploring prosecution of atheist civil servant for posting his atheism on Facebook April 2012: Letter to United Kingdom Foreign Secretary expressing doubts about some proposals for reform of the European Court of Human Rights November 2011: Joint letter supporting atheist Pakistani’s asylum claim… 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 »
1 December 2009
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 »
18 November 2009
The EHF supported this Common Statement (below) by a large number of NGOs and INGOs warning against the persistent attempts by countries in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to mandate treatment of so-called defamation of religion as a breach of human rights, at the expenxe of freedom of expression. Fifteen EHF member organisations also signed the statement. The resolution from the OIC may be seen here. It was again passed – on 18… read more »
12 March 2009
The EHF wrote on 12 March 2009 to President Barroso expressing alarm at a draft resolution from Pakistan, backed by other members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, calling for so-called “defamation of relgiion” to be made a criminal offence. We asked the EU to ensure that there was a more vigorous response from its member states than hitherto: The European Humanist Federation therefore wishes to urge the EU and its Member States, in… read more »
27 May 2008
In recent years an alliance of Islamic states at the United Nations has made determined and partially successful attempts to subvert the right to freedom of religion or belief by declaring that defamation of religion – especially Islam – is not protected by that right. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights invited submissions on two very similar resolutons passed by the Human Rights Council (resolution 7/19 of 27 March 2008) and by the General… read more »
20 May 2008
The need to treat Sidmennt (the humanist association) equally with churches under tax law Sidmennt, our member organisation in Iceland, has for long been asserting its right to be treated equally with churches. Members of churches can assign to them part of their income tax, whereas Sidmennt’s members cannot assign to it an equivalent amount of their tax: instead it is used for general public purposes, such as the University. This letter was sent to Sidmennt… read more »
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 »
16 April 2008
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 »