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	<title>European Humanist Federation</title>
	<link>http://humanistfederation.eu</link>
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		<title>Conference and General Assembly 2012</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Our conference will this year be held at the end of May in Utrecht, Netherlands, starting with a keynote speech on Friday evening, 25 May and ending at lunchtime on Sunday 27 May . Under the title Humanism and Resilience we will explore how humanism can help us in our everyday lives as citizens.  The conference, organised by our Dutch hosts, will follow our annual General Assembly which will start at 9 am on Friday 25... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/conference-and-general-assembly-2012/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/conference-and-general-assembly-2012/</link>
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		<title>Protest to Sweden on Forced Sterilisation</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LATEST (21 February): The Christian Democratic Party has announced that it will abolish the requirement for compulsory sterilization of people undergoing a sex correction &#8211; see here. _____________________________________________________________________________________ In Sweden people who have their gender reassigned from male to female or vice-versa are forced by law to be permanently sterilised.  The EHF has sent a protest to the Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, who &#8211; apparently for political reasons &#8211; is refusing to amend... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/protest-to-sweden-on-forced-sterilisation/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/protest-to-sweden-on-forced-sterilisation/</link>
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		<title>Closure of the Comitato Torinese per la Laicità della Scuola</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Cesare Pianciola writes: Growing organizational and financial difficulties have led the Comitato Torinese per la Laicità della Scuola &#8211; Turin Committee for Secularism in Schools &#8211; to decide at a general meeting on January 17th to cease publication of their quarterly Laicità and to dissolve the Committee. (This will be formally effected at a meeting on March 22.)  The Comitato was founded in 1983 by a group of secular teachers, among whom was Professor Carlo... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/closure-of-the-comitato-torinese-per-la-laicita-della-scuola/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/closure-of-the-comitato-torinese-per-la-laicita-della-scuola/</link>
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		<title>Conscientious objection</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The EHF has adopted a policy on conscientious objection. It says that humanists set a high value on freedom of religion or belief. However, it draws attention to the c0nditions the European Convention on Human Rights imposes on the right to manifest such beliefs &#8211; for example, where that may interfere with the rights and freedoms of other people. Some claims to conscientious objection do have serious implications for the rights of others &#8211; rights... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/conscientious-objection/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/conscientious-objection/</link>
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		<title>EHF calls for radical review of policy on drugs</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The EHF has responded to an EU consultation on policy on illegal drugs with a strong call for a radical review of what it calls the &#8220;gross failure&#8221; of present policies.  It says that criminalisation-based policies: are ineffective and costly to the whole of society have increased collateral damage and insecurity for drug users have tended to exaggerate the dangers linked to drug consumption are not coherent with political attitudes towards other addictive substances. The... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/ehf-calls-for-radical-review-of-policy-on-drugs/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/ehf-calls-for-radical-review-of-policy-on-drugs/</link>
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		<title>Freedom of belief includes freedom not to reveal belief</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Panayote Dimitras (founder of the Humanist Union of Greece) and some of his colleagues in the Greek Helsinki Monitor (affiliated to the International Helsinki Federation) have won a case against Greece at the European Court of Human Rights. In their work under the Helsinki process, they frequently have to make depositions or give evidence in court.  Despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion or belief, Greek law requires that as a default they have to... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/freedom-of-belief-includes-freedom-not-to-reveal-belief/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/freedom-of-belief-includes-freedom-not-to-reveal-belief/</link>
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		<title>Czech census shows big decline in religion</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In the 2011 Czech census, 34% of the total recorded population of 10,562,214 said they had no religious beliefs.  A further 45% chose not to answer this optional question.  Roman Catholics were 10% (1.1 million, down from 2.7 million ten years ago) and another 4% named another denomination or religion while 7% simply said they were religious without saying what they were.  The results confirm the status of the Czech Republic as one of the... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/czech-census-shows-big-decline-in-religion/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/czech-census-shows-big-decline-in-religion/</link>
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		<title>Italian campaign against €6 billion cost of Church</title>
		<description><![CDATA[  Massimo Redaelli  writes: “With 6 billion Euro per year, Italy could accomplish miracles.” This is the slogan on the maxi-posters of the new campaign by UAAR that earlier today were posted around Genova, and that tomorrow will cover the streets of Venice, too. After the notoriety gained by the website &#8220;The Cost of the Church&#8221; (the first detailed list of the fiscal privileges and the economic contributions the Church enjoys), the association decided to... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/italian-campaign-against-e6-billion-cost-of-church/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/italian-campaign-against-e6-billion-cost-of-church/</link>
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		<title>Extraordinary scenes at Article 17 meeting in Parliament</title>
		<description><![CDATA[President Buzek invited the non-confessional organisations to a meeting in the European Parliament on 30 November 2011 to discuss its implementation of the Article 17 dialogue. This took place after the Article 17 &#8220;summit&#8221; with the three EU Presidents, reported here. Unfortunately the President was unable to attend until the last minute or two (he had to preside at a plenary session of the Parliament which also drew away for much of the time the... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/extraordinary-scenes-at-article-17-meeting-in-parliament/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/extraordinary-scenes-at-article-17-meeting-in-parliament/</link>
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		<title>Article 17: Barroso suggests he will take on board EHF criticisms</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; The third annual &#8220;summit&#8221; meeting of &#8220;philosophical and non-confessional&#8221; organisations with the three EU Presidents under Article 17 was held on November 30. The press conference: Presidents Buzek, Barroso and van Rompuy. David Pollock is between the first two; Pierre Galand at the extreme right. David Pollock took advantage of it to expose the dissatisfaction of the humanist and secularist movement with the way the Commission is implementing the dialogue under Article 17. The EHF... <a href="http://humanistfederation.eu/article-17-barroso-suggests-he-will-take-on-board-ehf-criticisms/">read more &#187;</a>]]></description>
		<link>http://humanistfederation.eu/article-17-barroso-suggests-he-will-take-on-board-ehf-criticisms/</link>
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