Wonderful Setting, Promising Activities

The magnificent Salle Richelieu of the Sorbonne University and the historical Bourse du Travail of Paris were the venues for the IHEU's two day General Assembly in Paris, attended by representatives of over 40 organisations from 24 countries. A large number of observers from around the world were present during the deliberations - an indication of the growing interest in IHEU amongst Humanists, Rationalists and Secularists around the world.

In their reports to the General Assembly, IHEU President Roy Brown and Executive Director Babu Gogineni outlined the wide range of activities undertaken by IHEU in 2004. Separation of Religion and State and Human Rights issues continue to be the principal campaign themes for the organisation. During the year, IHEU continued to bring international attention to bear on human rights abuse in Islamic countries and within Muslim societies in the West. IHEU also lobbied against the increasing and undemocratic influence of the Vatican in European affairs as well as the new religious privilege sought to be created by the proposed European Constitution. IHEU remained active at the international institutions: at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, at the UN in New York and Geneva and at UNESCO in Paris. In Geneva, IHEU representatives made seven presentations to the plenary of the UN Commission on Human Rights: on freedom of religion and belief, against blasphemy and apostasy laws in Islamic states, against religious child abuse in the Indian sub-continent, and against the increasing level of violence against women in Iraq following the US-led invasion.

IHEU Finances

IHEU Treasurer Roger Lepeix reported on the 2004 accounts, including the financial effect of the increase of staff and the fees increase in 2005 and 2006. He also explained the connection between IHEU and the International Humanist Trust (IHT) which is a charity. Following the calamitous Asian Tsunami, IHEU and IHT raised and administered USD 75,000 for disaster relief. Despite the increased activities and significant growth and expansion, the treasurer pointed to the small surplus in the 2004 accounts. It was important for IHEU to continue to manage its finances prudently, but IHEU should improve its fund raising abilities. IHEU also plan to organise fundraising workshops to help IHEU Member Organisations.

Websites and Visibility

The General Assembly agreed that all Member Organisations should be encouraged to appoint a website administrator so that the latest information about their organisations would be available for the general public. IHEU's own communications with Member Organisations, Individual Supporters, Collaborating Organisations and the general public were given a boost during the year with the launch of the new IHEU website.

Membership dues and Voting

The President reported that a working group has been set up by the Executive Committee to address the issue of greater democracy within the IHEU. At present, only Full and Specialist Member Organisations are eligible to vote. The working group is looking at ways in which voting rights could be extended to all Member Organisations while ensuring that the groups paying most of IHEU's funding - specially the Full Members - will continue to have weighted votes. He asked those present for ideas as to what a fair relationship should be between the membership dues and the voting structure. Many interesting ideas were suggested by the General Assembly: A Binding Triad system which has been proposed for the reform of the UN. In this system three different votes are taken into consideration: one vote each per member organisation, votes based on number of members, and votes based on financial contribution. A proposal is considered as passed if it is accepted by 2 of the votes. Another proposal was to differentiate between national groups, local groups and umbrella groups.

The Executive Committee will prepare a proposal to the next General Assembly.

New IHEU Awards

While deciding to continue the IHEU's International Humanist Award to be presented every three years at IHEU Congresses, the General Assembly agreed to award the Distinguished service to Humanism Award annually at IHEU General Assemblies as well as to create new awards for the best websites, as well as the best articles in Humanist publications, to reward and encourage excellence in the organised Humanist movement.

Looking Ahead

The General Assembly commended the new directions in which IHEU was taking International Humanism and some members of the GA pledged their personal support to the organisation and agreed to persuade their organisations to increase their level of support to and involvement with IHEU.