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In May we reported on the activities of the IHEU team during the first three weeks of the 60th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva. Following our presentation to the plenary on freedom of religion and belief, at which Ibn Warraq’s intervention on the treatment of apostates in Islamic countries brought down the wrath of the Pakistani delegation, we were able to make four other presentations, including a moving speech by Younus Sheikh on the iniquitous Pakistani blasphemy laws, in which he spoke of his personal experience of spending two years in solitary confinement under sentence of death (see below). Younus also read a speech by Azam Kamguian on women’s rights in Islamic countries in which she described the plight of women in Baghdad since the US- led invasion.

On 7 April, the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the genocide in Rwanda in which over a million people were butchered, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave a moving speech, his mea culpa. At the time of the genocide Annan had been UN representative for sub- Saharan Africa and had personally played down the seriousness of the crisis. Now, ten years later, he was urging the international community to act more promptly in future. He called for the creation of a multinational force to intervene in the impending genocide in western Sudan, in which government- supported militias are deeply implicated. Despite his pleas, and with a cynical disregard for civilized values, the Islamic and non-aligned majority in the Human Rights Commission then elected the Sudan as a full member of the Commission.

For the first time in the history of the Human Rights Commission, the Commission failed to elect the United States as a member. This was seen by the American delegation and by some western observers as punishment for the United States’ unequivocal support for Israel, but it was clear from speaking to delegates from some non-aligned states, to NGO representatives, and even to some of the UN staff themselves, that dismay at the conduct of the present American administration is widespread and runs very deep. American disdain for international law, its willingness to disregard the provisions of any international agreement which does not suit its immediate self-interest, and its standing alone as a minority of one – or worse, allying itself to ‘axis of evil’ states against international agreements on everything from climate change to family planning – has led the international community to view the present administration with grave disquiet, and to believe that it has forfeit any right to preach to others on issues such as human rights.

In collaboration with the Association of World Citizens and the Association for World Education, IHEU co- hosted a lunchtime seminar on ‘Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion and Belief ’ with Ibn Warraq and Younus Sheikh as two of the main speakers. The entire seminar was broadcast over the following two evenings on Geneva English-language radio.

Under agenda item 13 on the Rights of the Child, Roy Brown called on the government of India to investigate the paedophile activities of the multi-millionaire god man Satya Sai Baba. He said:

“..however there is one particular case of child abuse that I wish to draw to the attention of the Commission. We are appalled by the widely reported allegations of systematic sexual molestation of minors against the highly successful and influential Indian god man Satya Sai Baba. These allegations led UNESCO in 2000 to withdraw from a proposed joint event with the Institute for Satya Sai Education.

Despite the matter being raised in the UK Parliament (in an early day motion by MP Tony Coleman), and despite the issuing by the US State Department of a Travel advisory in 2001, these disturbing allegations have not received the appropriate attention of the Government of India – which is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is obliged by its Article 34 to act.

We are hopeful that international attention, scrutiny and pressure will lead to a full scale investigation into the activities of this so-called god man, and ensure the protection of all children who come into contact with him.”

Following the attack on the IHEU delegation by the delegation of Pakistan (reported in the May issue of IHN) we had been waiting for an opportunity to respond. It came when the Commission passed a resolution ‘Combating Defamation of Religions’. Originally drafted as an attack on Islamophobia, this resolution had been watered down sufficiently (by paying lip service to defamation of other religions) to be able to scrape home by 29 votes to 18, with 6 abstentions.

The full text of two of the IHEU statements made to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights is available in this section.