The Charter of the United Nations affirms faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human individual and in the equal rights of men and women. In 1979 the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Although this convention sets forth the responsibility of all governments, it is yet to be observed with the necessary political commitment and resources.

This week the world’s population officially reached seven billion people. Yet United Nations (UN) projections now suggest that the world’s population will rise to 10 billion by the end of the century. The question we all face is how well can our world adapt to 3 billion additional people?

The Belgian government has honoured International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) president Sonja Eggerickx as an “exceptional woman”. To celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, the Belgian government celebrated 100 exceptional women, including athletes, writers, business women, and volunteers.

In the annual all-day debate on the Human Rights of Women at the UN Human Rights Council, IHEU representative Magali Prince got the only laugh of the day when she suggested that rather than expecting women to veil themselves from head to foot to avoid provoking men’s lust, a more appropriate solution would be for men to stay indoors until they learned some self-control. Now read on.

There was a time, as late as the early twentieth century, when women in the west weren’t allowed to vote, when leading universities like Cambridge and Harvard didn’t give them equal status (women students went to Radcliffe, not Harvard, and Cambridge didn’t give out degrees to women students till 1947, though they were allowed to sit for exams!) and when their main role was to be a homemaker

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has condemned votes in the House of Lords last night, January 25, which removed the requirement for discrimination against gay people by religious organisations to be "proportionate."

Speaking in the plenary debate at the Human Rights Council on 30 September on the Rights of Women, IHEU representative Cathy Buchs condemned the increasing use of rape as a political weapon in Sudan, Iran and other States, contrasting this with the “perverted sense of morality” that condemned 10 women to being whipped in Sudan for wearing trousers.

From its very beginning, the UN has had a commitment to the equality of women. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

The UN Human Rights Council has adopted the attached resolution on Preventable Maternal Mortality. The text of the speech given by Anthony Grayling on behalf of IHEU in support of this resolution is also attached.