While we are writing, thinking and discussing about children’s rights, one of their most important rights is being violated: the right to shelter and food. In Haiti the situation is worse than disastrous. There is help from all over the world, water and food are being supplied and medical care is being given wherever possible. However, equally important are the tasks of clearing the ruins and giving people shelter. We have all seen images of the havoc that the earthquake wrought. One can imagine how difficult it must be to start again, to give back to the victims not only housing, and schools, but also their dignity and their ability to support themselves.

My great concern is for the children. One of the first things I heard after the disaster was that it was very important to gather the children in order to protect them. The first thought was, of course, that they needed protection from starvation, diseases, and required psychological help etc. I was wrong. They had to be protected against kidnapping for adoption, probably with the best of intentions - “those poor children, we can give them a better life” - but without knowing anything about their background, without knowing whether they were orphans, or whether they had a family that could care for them, and above all without thinking of the consequences of bringing a child into a family in a completely different environment. But much worse was the threat of bringing them into the sex industry. The horror of such an eventuality is beyond comprehension. I hope helpers will succeed in protecting these children.

We heard from some of our member organisations that they wanted to donate for the victims. Indeed sometimes it seems that only religious groups help, that our help is not visible. Richard Dawkins' organisation "Non-believers Giving Aid" (NBGA) has been launched in the UK. The money raised by NBGA is forwarded to the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. Now it will be seen that Humanists, freethinkers, atheists also show their solidarity with people in great need. And where we don’t have the expertise ourselves, we outsource to those who do. This is a model that can be used in the future as well.

On our website www.iheu.org you can read that the United Nations is in danger of creating a global blasphemy law that would make religious criticism a crime. The paper from IHEU, “Speaking Freely About Religion: Religious Freedom, Defamation and Blasphemy”, has been issued as the UN General Assembly begins to consider a new resolution against “defamation of religions.” “We all commit blasphemy according to some religion or other,” says the report’s author, Matt Cherry. “Whether you criticize abuses by religious leaders, crack a religious joke, or simply share your religious views, you are offending someone else’s religious feelings. Blasphemy laws, like the one being pushed at the UN, just give powerful religions the legal cover to punish anyone who dares disagree with them.”

Humanists have to be aware of the dangers of being one and living like one. One of our consultants, Leo Igwe, has been harassed in Nigeria. For a full article about it, go to our website and read “Nigeria must end Harassment of IHEU representative Leo Igwe”.

Dear reader, a lot of work lies ahead of us in all parts of the world, in all international organisations, but some institutions are much more under threat than others. All of us can help.

Sonja Eggerickx is President, IHEU