“Women must be seen as the agents of change rather than the objects of change” Amartya Sen.

When I first met the late Dr Indumati Parikh in January 1999 while attending the 14th World Humanist Congress in Mumbai, I could not believe that here was a woman who for 35 years had been putting into practice what was only then coming to be recognised by the international development community as the leading development paradigm: integrated health care, education, and women’s empowerment. The women’s self-help organisation that Dr Parikh founded, Streehitakarini, is still going strong.

IHEU's president Roy Brown spoke at the UN Commission on Human Rights on 7 April on behalf of Representative Michele Vincent.

INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION
UNION INTERNATIONALE HUMANISTE ET LAIQUE

Statement by Representative Michele VINCENT, Thursday 7 April 2005
Read for her by Main Representative, Roy Brown

INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION
UNION INTERNATIONALE HUMANISTE ET LAIQUE

Statement by Main Representative: Roy Brown, Friday, 2 April 2004
Commission on Human Rights: 60th session. (15 March - 23 April 2004)

Civil and Political Rights, including the question of:
Freedom of expression (11c) and Religious intolerance (11c)

[The words in square brackets [] were not spoken]

INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION
UNION INTERNATIONALE HUMANISTE ET LAIQUE

Statement by Main Representative Roy Brown, Tuesday 5 April 2005
Commission on Human Rights: 61st Session. (14 March - 22 April 2005)
Freedom of Expression (item 11c) and Religious Tolerance (item 11e)

[Only the words in bold were actually spoken, the words in square brackets [] were not]