Happy birthday, Humanists International!

On 26 August 1952, in Amsterdam, a group of hundreds of passionate humanists from all around the world founded the International Humanist and Ethical Union, now Humanists International. Their mission was to coordinate the humanist movement globally and to build a world in which human rights are respected for everyone, everywhere. 68 years (and one rebrand) later, Humanists International is still pursuing the same mission.

In August 1952 Humanists International was founded, and the Amsterdam Declaration was signed. At that moment organized modern humanism already had a tradition of at least a hundred years, but it was with the foundation of Humanists International that the global humanist movement truly gained momentum.

Think about that. Today Humanists International has hundreds of Members, Associates and Individual Supporters all around the world. We even have a youth section. But back in 1952 the founders of the organization were just a handful.

The founding congress’ preparatory work was done by five humanist organizations:

• the American Ethical Union
• the American Humanist Association
• the British Ethical Union (known as British Humanist Association since 1967 and as Humanists UK since 2017)
• the Vienna Ethical Society (who ceased to exist unfortunately)
• the Dutch Humanist League (Humanistisch Verbond) who also hosted the congress.

The participants to the founding congress of Humanists International, held in Amsterdam on 26 August 1952

Various kindred organizations had been invited to attend the congress and two of them, the Belgian Humanist League and the Indian Radical Humanist Association, decided to become co-founders of the organization. From that point onwards, Humanists International has grown fast and has expanded everywhere in the world.

In two years, on 26 August 2022, we will turn 70 years old. We are already looking forward to this momentous occasion and preparations for a big global celebration are in progress.

Today, on our 68th birthday, we simply want to send a big “thank you” to all our Members, all our Associates and all our Individual Supporters around the world. Without the support of each and every one of you, we couldn’t keep carrying forward our work to promote humanism, to defend humanists at risk around the globe, and to make the world a better place for everyone, in the spirit of reason, cooperation and freedom.

Thank you – and happy birthday, Humanists International!

Read more about our first 50 years of history in the book below