The International Humanist and Ethical Union has joined with its member organization One Law for All to hold a Rally for Free Expression in London on 11 February. The rally was organized to respond to the recent spate of attacks on free speech in the UK, including threats and censorship directed at Humanist student groups at the University of London (see IHEU stories at  http://www.iheu.org/humanists-condemn-another-attack-atheist-expression-london-university and at http://www.iheu.org/threats-violence-force-cancellation-university-talk-sharia-law).

Despite damage from the recent bombing in Norway, secular activists from more than 50 countries will meet in Oslo, August 12 to 14, to discuss how to build a more peaceful world. The International Humanist and Ethical Union’s (IHEU) Eighteenth World Congress, on the theme of “Humanism and Peace” (www.human.no/oslo2011), will meet at the Oslo Congress Center, damaged by the July 22 bombing, with events also at the home of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

On behalf of Humanists and other secular people across Europe and the rest of the world, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and the European Humanist Federation (EHF) express their profound sorrow at the mass murders in Norway.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is protesting the imprisonment of a Palestinian blogger for alleged atheism. Waleed Khalid Hasayin has reportedly been detained by Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank since October 31. The 26-year-old computer science graduate is accused of posting anti-religious writings on the Internet. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison as well as the threat of vigilante killing.

Leo Igwe, IHEU’s representative for West and Southern Africa, is working to combat widespread human rights abuses caused by belief in sorcery and superstition. On November 11, 2010, he raised the issue of ritual killing and human sacrifice at the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, with the following statement.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has accused Swiss authorities of behaving like “school yard bullies” towards a state school teacher who removed the crucifix from his classroom. Valentin Abgottspon was dismissed from his job as a middle-school teacher in the Swiss canton of Valais on Friday, 8 October. The dismissal came after the teacher raised concerns about the promotion of Christianity by state schools.

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.

Geneva, Switzerland -- In four statements to the United Nations (UN), made on Sept. 22, 2009, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) raised the alarm about human rights abuses across the world and threats to the very existence of universal standards of human rights. In a statement to the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the IHEU warned about the danger of plans by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to create an Islamic system of rights that could compete with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Human Rights Council itself. IHEU called on the Council to refuse to recognize any human rights structure that did not accept existing international law. In three additional statements the IHEU condemned murderous witchcraft and witch hunts in Africa, the Catholic Church’s response to child abuse, and slavery in Mauritania and Sudan.

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