Despite great civilizational achievements for her citizens, modern Europe suffers from archaic systems – hereditary royalty, state religions, state-appointed bishops, un-elected bishops in parliament, religious privileges and tax concessions, church taxes....

The front cover of Telugu language Dalit Magazine Dalita Sankharavam highlighted IHEU’s activities with a cover page picture of IHEU President Sonja Eggerickx. Sonja Eggerickx’s visit to Dalit villages in Andhra Pradesh along with Jim Herrick, V.B. Rawat and Babu Gogineni has been widely noted by the media. A full report will appear in the next IHN.

At the IHEU planning and strategy meeting in late 2006, the Executive Committee confirmed that the main priorities of IHEU for the next few years lie in Humanist development in India and Africa, in the work of the Bioethics Centre in New York, and in our international representation at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and UNESCO in Paris.

IHEU President Sonja Eggerickx inaugurated the 3- storied Gora Center for Social Progress located within the Atheist Center Campus in Vijayawada, in January. Funded by IHEU through the IHEU-HIVOS Humanist Networking and Development Programme, the Center will be a resource for training activities for Humanists and Social workers.

IHEU supports projects in the Indian sub-continent and in Africa. The plans which IHEU has already announced are bound to give a great boost to the humanist movement in those parts of the world where Humanism is desperately needed. However, this does not mean that all is well in Europe and in the Americas. Indeed there is a lot of work ahead.

Express a Positive Vision of Humanism and Win $500!

The American Humanist Association, EvolveFISH, and Rational Response have teamed up to bring the positive message of Humanism to YouTube and have launched a joint Humanist Video Challenge!

“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.

One of the icons of the modern humanist movement, Levi Fragell was instrumental in setting the Norwegian Humanist Association on the path to its present success. On the basis of his experience both in the world of business and in building the humanist movement, Levi Fragell has been a strong advocate of a common humanist identity.

Prof. Carl-Johan Kleberg, former Chairman of the Swedish Humanist Association, presented this report to the 1st Baltic Humanist Conference in Stockholm. Based on a study of 11 Nordic countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden, it makes a series of recommendations viz.

The 12-month long 50th anniversary celebrations of the Norwegian Humanist Association (NHA) which started last year concluded recently. During an anniversary year crowded by adverts and articles in the media, conferences, seminars and social events, a ‘Norwegian Humanist Manifesto 2006’ was adopted, and a 536-page history of the Association was published by Prof. Paul Knutsen.