Geneva, March 16, 2010 -- The Vatican’s record on child abuse was criticized today at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Highlighting the Vatican’s repeated and ongoing efforts to cover up evidence of child abuse by priests, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) accused the Vatican of violating its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

In a joint statement with two other NGOs at the UN Human Rights Council on 12 March, IHEU exposed the hypocrisy of the Islamic States who, while attacking the Swiss referendum banning the construction of new minarets “which are no more central to Islam than spires are to Christianity”, chose to completely ignore the oppression of religious minorities, the murder of Christians, and the burning of churches in several of their own countries.

IHEU has spoken out at the United Nations against the harassment of its International Representative Leo Igwe in Nigeria, and against proposed discriminatory legislation in Uganda. The statement was delivered at the Geneva Human Rights Council by IHEU Representative David Cornut. A video of the statement is available here.

“Blasphemy!” It’s a crime we thought belonged in the history books, even though we knew it still survived in the world’s few remaining theocracies. Yet, to the surprise of many, 2010 began with headlines dominated by blasphemy battles across Europe and at the United Nations.

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.

The worldwide problem of belief in witchcraft and the appalling human rights abuses to which it leads received a boost in September at the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Since 1999 several resolutions entitled “Combating Defamation of Religions” have been adopted by various United Nations bodies, including the UN Commission on Human Rights, the new UN Human Rights Council and, in 2007 and 2008, by the UN General Assembly itself. A similar resolution is likely to come up before the General Assembly at the end of 2009.

It was in 2007, at a meeting of the Council of Europe in San Marino, that I first had the opportunity to say to an audience that it might be able to do something about the fact that organised religion was a major threat to human rights.

On 22 September, speaking in the plenary of the UN Human Rights Council, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), representing more that 100 humanist, secular and free-thought organisations in over 40 countries, criticised the Holy See over its role in covering up the scale of child abuse by its priests and religious orders, and for failing to honour its obligations under international law. The statement was based on a longer written statement submitted to the Council in August and published by the UN on 8 September.

An Egyptian Christian, Mr Maher El-Gowhary who faces a call by a leading Muslim cleric for Muslims to kill him, was last week prevented from leaving the country with his 15-year-old daughter. His plight was raised at the UN Human Rights Council on 30 September 2009 by Roy Brown, IHEU’s main representative in Geneva.