In August 1990, the 56 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) adopted The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam [1]. In this document all rights are seen as derived from God, and Article 24 states that: “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari'ah”.

Human Rights at the United Nations has always been a battlefield, but with the creation of the new Human Rights Council in 2006, the enemy have consolidated their control of the high ground. Membership of the Council is heavily biased in favour of the Islamic States and their supporters. They make strange bedfellows. What is it that brings India into an alliance with Pakistan?

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council, IHEU has called for a clear distinction to be drawn between protection for the rights of believers and attempts to protect ideas, beliefs and practices from legitimate criticism.

Even in his worst nightmares former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan could hardly have dreamed when he called for the replacement of the failing Commission for Human Rights by a new Human Rights Council, that he was driving the first nail into the coffin of human rights at the United Nations (Roy Brown reports from Geneva). The last nail was hammered home on Tuesday 19 June 2007 when, after a year of often heated debate, the Council adopted without a vote a new set of procedures that will permanently limit its ability to deal effectively with human rights violations.

IHEU was represented at a seminar held at the European Parliament on 17 April 2007 on Evolution and Religious Fundamentalism in European Education. The seminar was jointly hosted by Swedish MEP, Maria Carlshamre, and the Swedish Humanist Association. The main speakers were Professors Richard Dawkins and Steve Jones who comprehensively demolished the pretensions of the creationists, and Wanda Nowicka from Poland who spoke about the increasingly oppressive regime in her country. The seminar was organised in response to one hosted in October 2006 by a Polish MEP at which speakers claimed that recent scientific evidence shows that humans co-existed with dinosaurs and that our children are being brainwashed by the theory of evolution. Roy Brown spoke on the need to promote our secular values in response to the fundamentalist onslaught.

The rise of radical Islam poses a threat to freedom of expression and the implications for Europe’s traditional rights and freedoms are dire. Roy Brown examines the issues involved.

Introduction

Radical Islam is by no means the only source of challenge to freedom of expression in the modern world. There are others, for example: misguided government policies, authoritarian and corrupt regimes, the concentration of media ownership, commercial pressures, and self-censorship in the face of threats and violence. In a short paper however it is not possible to do more than simply mention that these other threats exist.

In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IHEU has condemned attempts to stifle legitimate criticism of religion and academic research into religious history and custom on the grounds of supposed “defamation of religion”, in particular the resolutions on “Combating Defamation of Religions” passed at the Human Rights Commission from 1999 to 2005.

Abstract

This paper will look primarily at the situation in Europe but the lessons to be drawn are equally applicable to the West in general.

Europe is experiencing an historically high rate of immigration, primarily from the Islamic states and North Africa. Coupled with the relatively high birth rate within the immigrant community, the Muslim population of many European cities is expected to exceed 50% by the year 2050. But government policies of multiculturalism have meant that the special needs of these communities have been neglected. As a result, youth unemployment in many of Europe’s inner cities has reached levels of 40% or more, and many young immigrants feel alienated from mainstream European society. Into this vacuum has come radical Islam, a well-funded, well-organised fundamentalist creed that has provided a new, strong sense of identity for many young Muslims. But it has also promoted a victim culture, an “us and them” mentality working against social inclusion, and an understanding of our common values and our common humanity. Radical Islam is being promoted in Islamic schools and mosques across Europe by organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which advocates the creation of Islamic government, and whose slogan includes the chilling phrase: “...death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes”. The Brotherhood reportedly controls around 25% of the mosques in France and is growing in influence in many other European countries. We all need fellowship, but the radical Islamists have perverted this basic human need in the name of their totalitarian creed.

Presented to IHEU’s General Assembly on 20 April 2006

IHEU’s Mission

It is usual on these occasions for the President to report on the past year’s activities, but since this is my last General Assembly as President, I thought I should perhaps review what IHEU has achieved during my watch, over the past three years.

IHEU has a three-fold mission:

• To represent the Humanist community internationally, and at institutions such as the United Nations.
• To organise thematic and regional conferences, and the triennial World Humanist Congress
• To help in the growth and development of Humanism and Humanist organisations around the world.

IHEU president Roy Brown was one of the speakers on 6 April at a seminar in Paris entitled "Nous n'avons pas peur: la liberté d'expression face à  l'intimidation intégriste" ("We are not afraid: freedom of expression in the face of extremist intimidation"). His speech: "L'Islam a la Commission des Droits de l'Homme" ("Islam at the Human Rights Commission") traced the increasing difficulties faced by the NGOs and UN officials who wish to criticise human rights abuse in the Islamic states. His speech, with an English translation, is reproduced below.