For the second time, three EHF representatives (Vera Pegna, Suzy Mommaerts and David Pollock) took an active part in the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw (October 2-13).

This annual meeting is open to non-governmental organisations, and EHF was present along with a hundred or more NGOs. We were among representatives of 50-60 governments and representatives of international bodies such as the Council of Europe.

We ran a successful side-meeting on Equality for Non- Believers and Believers and made two interventions in plenary sessions, drawing attention to the failure to give non-believers equal rights even in states that otherwise had good records on human rights and equality. Several people welcomed our contributions – we were, ‘a breath of fresh air’ after so many religious contributions. The Holy See attended as a member state, and its representative made predictable interventions deploring relativism and the mockery of religion. We spoke also at other side-meetings, including one arranged by the OSCE Religious Advisory Panel about the Danish cartoons affair and rulings in court cases over wearing of religious dress and another on Christianophobia, when a weak case was put forward by the speakers and most questions were sceptical or hostile.

We took advantage of the opportunity to make friends with some other NGOs and some of the OSCE officials, and we also spoke to some of the government representatives, in particular of Spain and Finland, who will preside over OSCE in the next two years. All in all, we made a small but useful impact.