IHEU's president Roy Brown spoke at the UN Commission on Human Rights on 7 April on behalf of Representative Michele Vincent.

INTERNATIONAL HUMANIST AND ETHICAL UNION
UNION INTERNATIONALE HUMANISTE ET LAIQUE

Statement by Representative Michele VINCENT, Thursday 7 April 2005
Read for her by Main Representative, Roy Brown

The International Humanist & Ethical Union

* Noting that the United Nations in its charter declares the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of men and women;

1. Women's rights are human issues, affecting all society, both women and men, in all areas of community life: equality in education, in job opportunities, in decision making, in access to councils and boards.

2. The right to reproductive freedom and to access to all birth control methods should be recognised as a fundamental human right, and not as a privilege conferred by and regulated by the state. The choice to have a safe abortion should be a legal right of all women and should not be restricted by religious or social conditions or by regressive laws.

We, the members of the International Humanist & Ethical Union, gathered in Congress on the occasion of our fortieth anniversary, express deep concern at the progressive violation of human rights by the government of the republic of Poland. The latest drastic example of this process is the prospect of the adoption in Poland of the most restrictive anti-abortion law in Europe. Poland's Parliament, pressed by the Catholic Church, rejected both a more liberal version of the law and a call for a national referendum on the issue of abortion. According to the only version of the law now under discussion, a woman will be allowed to demand and obtain an abortion only if her pregnancy would lead her to death.

Whereas: the violation of women's rights have not been adequately dealt with by the IHEU Conference,

Whereas: the specific needs of Women have often been omitted from discussions at the IHEU Conference,

Therefore be it resolved that a Women's Caucus be formed to raise consciousness about and seek solutions for women's issues.

Board of Directors 1988

Cognisant of the world-wide struggle for and value of equality for women, the United Nations, following International Women's Year, declared an International Women's decade in order to improve the conditions affecting women's lives. With an awareness that equality for women and men is an essential part of all human rights, the IHEU reaffirms its commitment to the right of every woman to choose a way of life reflective of her personal needs, growth, development, and wishes.

Resolved, that men and women as equal members of the human race, should be given the opportunity to contribute equally to the leadership and to the deliberations of this and future convocations of all humanist bodies.

IHEU Congress 1974

Noting that the United Nations has designated 1975 as International Women's Year

Aware that the Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind; and

"Considering that discrimination against women is incompatible with human dignity and with the welfare of the family and society,"