Terry Sanderson, the President of the National Secular Society and Vice President Anna Behan joined representatives of the British Humanist Association and activists from Scotland, Wales and Derbyshire in a meeting with Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Ms. Jahangir was in the UK on an official mission to look at the situation for Human Rights relating to Freedom of Religion or Belief, on which she based her report (which you can read here: http://www2.ohchr.org/English/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/7session/A-HRC-7-10- Add3.doc ). She heard the secularists and Humanists present their views on establishment of the Church of England, the spread of an unjust system of “faith schools”, she heard concerns about religious education, religious exemptions from equality laws, special protections for religion – such as blasphemy laws – and inequalities in marriage law. She will produce a report for the UN after her two week visit to Britain.

Ms Jahangir agreed that consulting minority communities through unelected “faith leaders” often led to others in that community not being heard.

Asma Jahangir was born in Pakistan and is a human rights lawyer who has spent much of her career defending the rights of women, children, and religious minorities in her home country. She has engaged in personal battles with the oppressive blasphemy law in Pakistan, so she was particularly interested to hear about the situation here.