At the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday, 15 April, states belonging to the Organisation of Islamic Conference demanded that Holland prosecute one of its MPs for "defamation of religion". The very next day, 16 April 2008, Keith Porteous Wood raised the alarm about the threats these nations are posing to freedom of expression in a speech in Brussels attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The European Humanist Federation has written to the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to ask whether the European Union will now consult its member states and allies with a view to withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, in the light of the Council's recent decision to change the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression.

For the past eleven years the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic States, has been tightening its grip on the throat of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yesterday, 28 March 2008, they finally killed it.

The Chinese delegation to the Human Rights Council succeeded in blocking all criticism of their actions in Tibet by invoking a series of 12 points of order during statements by the United States, Switzerland and Slovenia (for the European Union) while several states including Zimbabwe, Cuba and Pakistan raised points of order in favour of China. As the general debate degenerated, point of order followed point of order until the Chairman, Ambassador Costea of Romania called for a 10 minute adjournment to allow tempers to cool.

IHEU has welcomed a final report by the outgoing Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion, warning of the risk of religious violence in India.

A representative of Pakistan, in an astonishing intervention at the United Nations Human Rights Council, has claimed that "It is insulting for our faith to discuss Shari'a here in this forum". The intervention, which was made as a "point of order" during an IHEU statement to the Council, can be viewed on video here.

A video of the "ambush" of IHEU at last week's session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is now available.

In a follow-up to IHEU’s written statement to the UN Human Rights Council describing Islamic efforts to undermine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Roy Brown, IHEU’s main representative at the UN in Geneva prepared an oral statement (below) for Council debate on 13 March 2008 but was prevented from giving it in full because of repeated objections from two Islamic delegations.

Reuters, Yahoo! and a number of other news channels have picked up the story of IHEU's statement to the UN Human Rights Council, opposing any resolution that seeks to limit the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

IHEU has used a meeting with UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jahangir to highlight human rights problems in India. At a meeting in Mumbai on 11 March 2008, IHEU International Director Babu Gogineni made a presentation to Ms Jahangir on separation of religion and state in India and the rights of Humanists.