On 23 and 24 June 2006 the European Humanist Federation held a symposium and a General Assembly. Goal of the meeting: to strive for a secular Europe. Jenoff van Hulle reports.

Symposium

What was once the scene of the cruel dictatorship of the extreme right generalisimo Francisco Franco, is now a quiet village. Tourists sauntering peacefully in search of some shade, or sluggishly sipping at a Granizado de limon. The air conditioning locked in a heavy battle with the shimmering warmth of the sun. Technology and nature flatly opposed to each other. The height of modernity.

Unos 300 participantes del 16º Congreso Internacional de la Unià³n Internacionalista Humanista y Etica (IHEU) adoptaron la siguiente declaracià³n, por unanimidad, en su sesià³n plenaria del 7 de julio de 2005.

Este congreso reunià³ participantes venidos de mà¡s de 50 paà­ses de los cinco continentes. Ha sido organizado por la Federacià³n Nacional del Libre Pensamiento de Francia en la UNESCO y en la Universidad de la Sorbona. Ha sido organizado conjuntamente con la comisià³n francesa de la UNESCO y sido saludado oficialmente por la direccià³n de la UNESCO.

H.E. The Prime Minister, Don Adolfo Suarez,
Palacio de la Monlcloa
Madrid, Spain

Your Excellency,

1978 is the year in which the United Nations is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly, a body of which your country has been a member since December 1951. It is distressing to see that 30 years after the declaration some of these rights have not yet become part and parcel of the laws of all member states.

The IHEU condemns the contempt of humanist values no matter in which country it occurs.

The IHEU deeply regrets that a number of governments, in which even signers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are included, substitute the rights of man for their own will - and keep refusing investigations especially regarding their opponents (examples: Chile, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Spain, etc.).