The International Liaison Committee of Atheists and Freethinkers (ILCAF), meeting in Washington, DC on 4 June 2008, resolved to begin preparatory debate towards the proposed formation of an International Organization of Freethought in Norway in 2011.

The plight of the Dalits

The Secular Coalition for America has announced a Lobby Day to follow the 2008 World Humanist Congress. The Lobby Day will be an ideal opportunity for U.S. citizens to influence their elected representatives.

The gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust has added its voice to those of the hundreds of charities that are supporting the government’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. It also endorses the eminent scientist and fertility expert Professor Lord (Robert) Winston’s description of the Catholic Church’s statement on this as “lying” and “misleading”.

IHEU has made a strong start to its campaign against popular superstition with the launch on 27 August 2007 of a unique Science Education Program in India.

The project is managed by two IHEU member organisations, the Social Development Foundation (SDF) and the Indian Radical Humanist Association (IRHA), and has been fully funded by IHEU in the amount of 6,000 Euros. The Science Education Program will engage the services of a full time resource person, deliver anti-superstition activist training in several parts of India and also adopt five villages and five village schools in remote areas of Nalgonda, one of the most backward districts of Andhra Pradesh state. At a conservative estimate, the project will have a direct and long-term impact on 500 school-going children and 7,500 adults.

IHEU has appealed to the United Nations Council on Human Rights, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN High Commissioner Louise Arbour to condemn calls to kill in the name of god.

IHEU member organization Social Development Foundation (SDF) held a Humanist workshop at Ghazipur, India with the Dalit community on 15 and 16 of August 2007. SDF's project in Ghazipur has provided education and training for over 60 girls who would otherwise have been condemned to a lifetime of demeaning manual scavenging. SDF's director, V B Rawat writes: "The issues we discussed included inculcating the spirit of critical analysis in our life, Humanism, rationalism and how we can use these practices in improving our life. We honoured the girls who were part of our scholarship scheme as well as learning computer skills and sewing at our centre."

Regulations have come into effect to ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, premises, and education throughout the whole of the UK.

Since the launch of the Brussels Declaration in defence of a secular Europe and Enlightenment values (see the April 2007 edition of International Humanist News), supporters have continued to add their signatures. You may still do so, and we hope that you can recruit plenty of other like-minded people to sign as well. The address is http://www.visionforeurope.org.

In the latest article in his series The Human Angle, Babu Gogineni reports from Suryapet, India on a leadership training camp for Dalits and alarming talk of human sacrifice in rural India. In his illustrated article, he brings news from the front line of the war against superstition and charlatans.

A Day Charged with Humanism
The Leadership Training Camp for Dalits that was being organised in Suryapet town (14 and 15 July ’07, Andhra Pradesh, India) through the International Humanist and Ethical Union's support was going on full-speed. Mr. Veeraswami the leader of Spoorthi, the local implementing organization, and Mr. V.B. Rawat, Director of the Social Development Foundation, the event's sponsor were participating as resource persons along with Hyderabad-based Dalit women's rights campaigner, the sociologist Sujatha. There were a hundred Dalit youth, men and women, eager to learn about modern science, about the situation of Dalits and that of women in the country, about superstitions, and about the plight of untouchables worldwide.