Norwegian Minister of Culture Anniken Huitfeldt has responded to a long-standing request of the Norwegian Humanist Association (NHA) by appointing a commission whose mandate is to develop a more comprehensive Norwegian life stance policy. But even though the commission has a Humanist deputy leader, the NHA has criticized it for being dominated by Christians and lacking any human rights experts.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has condemned a planned public burning of the Quran by a Florida church on the 9th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks. IHEU is the world union of more than 100 Humanist, rationalist, secular, ethical culture, atheist and freethought organizations in more than 40 countries.

Italian freethinkers have welcomed a court ruling that requires public schools to provide alternatives to Catholic classes on religion. The Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR), an IHEU member organization, provided financial and legal support for the case brought by the parents of a child attending a state primary school in Padua.

An evangelical Christian council worker who was dismissed for gross misconduct has lost his claim of religious discrimination. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the judgment as a sane response to ill-founded and illegitimate claims of persecution of Christians in the workplace.

Malta is no doubt a predominantly Christian country, but like Christianity itself, a large part of this perception is founded on myth. Any child of six will tell you that the country boasts “an unbroken Catholic tradition” going all the way back to St Paul’s visit in 60AD (Acts 27, etc.) In reality, however, both visit and tradition are at best open to doubt.

A 25 year-old air traffic controller, Ismail Mohamed Didi, was found hanged from the control tower of the international airport in the Maldives on Tuesday, July 13, after he apparently killed himself to escape persecution for his rejection of religion. The suicide is the latest tragedy in a series of persecutions of non-believers in a nation that claims to be "100 percent Muslim." The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is raising the issue with the United Nations and representatives of the Maldives government.

Several hundred people joined One Law for All on 20 June at Downing Street to show their opposition to Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and to demand universal rights and secularism. A new report "Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights" was published on the day to coincide with the rally.

In a statement to the Human Rights Council today, 15 June 2010, IHEU Main Representative, Roy Brown, protested against discrimination against non-believers, which, in several states that belong to the Human Rights Council, includes the death penalty for those who reject belief in any god. Brown highlighted a case from the Maldives earlier this month, where Mohammed Nazim was threatened with the death penalty after publicly stating that he found himself unable to believe in Islam.

In a strong statement to the Human Rights Council this morning, IHEU main Representative, Roy Brown accused Pakistan of encouraging discrimination and hatred against religious minorities. Citing condemnation of Pakistan by the Muslim Canadian Congress and a recent resolution of the European parliament calling on Pakistan to remove expressions of hatred from its government approved school textbooks, he reminded the Council and the government of Pakistan that it was government and media support for expressions of hatred that led to the Nazi Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda.

Update: Iran has withdrawn its candidacy. IHEU President Sonja Eggerickx today launched an international appeal to keep Iran out of the United Nations Human Rights Council. "Iran has one of the worst human rights records on earth," she said, "yet it has had the audacity to announce its candidacy for membership of the UN Human Rights Council. The international community must not let this happen. We are calling upon the world's non-governmental organisations to join us in our appeal to keep Iran out." IHEU has started a petition on this web site and is seeking signatures from other organizations.