To be in elegant Paris, to meet with friends and colleagues from nearly thirty countries, to strike new friendships and to renew old ones was in itself a treat to most of us at the 16th World Humanist Congress. But to be in the magnificent Salle Richelieu of the Sorbonne University, to listen to wonderful presentations and speeches, and to hear the halls and corridors of UNESCO echo with talk about Humanism and the Separation of Religion and State was even more - it was indeed an exhilarating experience. It was but natural that the Congress broke into spontaneous applause to thank IHEU Treasurer Roger Lepeix, and other colleagues from the Libre Pensee: Catherine Le Fur, Christian Eyschen, Sam Ayache, Claude Singer and Philippe Besson for their vision and help in making it happen. The Congress was also an opportunity to recognise the signal services of Humanist stalwarts.

Recent developments in the US have not been encouraging for the Separation of Religion and State, as Robert Boston pointed out at the Congress, but serious concern has been expressed at the way in which its neighbour Canada was contemplating the introduction of Sharia- based arbitration courts for family disputes. I am immensely pleased to report that as we go to press, Ontario's Prime Minister Dalton McGuinty has announced that all religious arbitration in the province will be banned. This is a matter of great pride for the Humanist movement and an achievement for secular minded Muslims in the country, for they did this together through an international campaign in which IHEU too played an active part. This is proof that campaigning does help achieve our goals: the Carol Carol Park campaign in Romania is another example.

Be it in Nigeria or Trinidad and Tobago, Humanists are not just protesting - Humanism is not just opposition to religion, but as an alternative to it. The reason why we may seem to be in opposition is that we are fighting organised lobbies of religious groups guarding their religious privilege. The Vatican has been using Concordats as a means of perpetuating the privileges of the Catholic Church: however, this could clash with the provisions of international law. Opposing these privileges is not being anti-religious, it is working for Human Rights which alone can guarantee the equal treatment of all.

How are the international institutions coping with the onslaught of religious groupings? Not very well it seems. IHEU has had to lodge a robust protest at the UN. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs if we have to urge the UN Human Rights Commission and its subsidiaries to send the right signals to help safeguard Human Rights in the world.

In India and in the Baltic region Humanists plan to meet in big numbers to ensure the defence of Human values but we have to renew our efforts and re-energise our movement so that we are able to meet the challenge of evangelical religions which are exploiting people's ignorance and gullibility. A sobering reminder to all of us that despite memorable Congresses and major successes, we still have a lot to do and achieve to ensure the flourishing of our life stance.

Babu Gogineni