IHEU and the Association for World Education, in association with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, hosted a seminar at the UN in Geneva on 18 September 2006.

The UN Human Rights Council met in emergency session on 11th August to consider a resolution sponsored by members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League condemning Israel for the illegal bombing of innocent civilians in Lebanon.

12 Norwegian women have taken the initiative to organise an International Human Rights March in Israel and Palestine in February/March 2003.

Appeal for Action:
Help establish national committees to organise March

www.humanrightsmarch.org

Letter sent to IHEU :

To people all over the world who wish for peace

The International Humanist & Ethical Union, assembled at its 8th World Congress in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, August 1-5, 1982,

Considering that PLO members arrested in the Lebanese war by Israeli Defence Forces are captured under war circumstances and not because of specific terrorist acts,

Resolves that all PLO member arrested by Israeli Defence Forces in the Lebanese war should be recognised as prisoners of war and treated according to the Geneva Convention.

The International Humanist & Ethical Union, assembled at its 8th World Congress in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, August 1-5, 1982, expresses its grave concern with the killing that is going on in the Lebanon.

As humanist we disagree with the use of physical violence for the attainment of political goals by the belligerents. Both the Israeli and Palestinian people have the right to live in their respective independent sovereign states.

The Board of Directors of the International Humanist & Ethical Union, bearing in mind two basic principles of humanism, as laid down in an IHEU statement of 1966, namely that:

* Humanist morality starts with an acknowledgement of human interdependence and the need for mutual respect, and that
* Humanism affirms the unity of man and a common responsibility of all men for all men,