The appalling lack of human rights in even the most liberal of Islamic States was highlighted this week when Qatar rejected the following recommendations made by member states of the Human Rights Council. Those not entitled to the full enjoyment of their human rights in Qatar include women, the children of mixed marriages, and–of course–homosexuals.

Social justice is a matter of life and death. It affects the way people live, their consequent chances of illness and their risk of premature death. A girl born today can expect to live for more than 80 years if she is born in some countries, but less than 45 years if she is born in others.

Outer space has become a global commons. Around a thousand operational satellites, launched from more than forty countries, are now orbiting around the earth, and another eight dozen objects are launched into space each year. Space is also an increasingly busy and dangerous place.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has joined an appeal to the UN to help the situation of Christians in Iraq. The Christmas Day appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, drew her attention to acts of terror against Christians in Iraq that include the bombing of 59 churches and the killings of bishops, priests and other Christians. These acts of terror, combined with kidnappings, death threats, and anti-Christian social discrimination, have prompted nearly half of Iraq's one million Christians to flee the country.

Since the 1980s, advocates for children have increasingly agreed that children need rights protected by international law. Charity is not enough to protect children around the world. International law now exists: November 2009 was the twentieth anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the first legally binding agreement setting standards for the care, treatment and protection of all persons below age eighteen.

Joseph Stiglitz put it well: "What you measure affects what you do…if you don’t measure the right thing you don’t do the right thing." So how should we judge the progress of a nation?

The IHEU policy paper, Speaking Freely About Religion: Religious Freedom, Defamation and Blasphemy, is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Speaking Freely About Religion:
Religious Freedom, Defamation and Blasphemy

Executive Summary

UN Blasphemy Law Would Make Religious Disagreements a Crime
The United Nations is in danger of creating a global blasphemy law that would make religious criticism a crime, charges a new report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). “Speaking Freely About Religion: Religious Freedom, Defamation and Blasphemy” has been issued as the UN General Assembly begins to consider a new resolution against “defamation of religions.”

French TV has covered the work of IHEU and its main representative Roy Brown at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a documentary programme. A 19-minute video extract is now available. It is particularly effective in demonstrating the work of some national delegations in attempting to stifle criticism in the Council.

The Durban Review Conference on Racism has just finished in Geneva. Roy Brown reviews the results – good, bad and indifferent.