The intervention was made during an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea. In the statement, the organization thanked the Special Rapporteur for her latest report on death and burial rites, and specifically for the inclusion of humanist and atheist voices therein.
Demonstrating the scale of the issue for the global non-religious community, the Special Rapporteur’s newly presented report drew upon a significant volume of evidence from secular groups. Multiple humanist and atheist organizations were formally cited in the report – including direct submissions from Humanists International, Humanists Malaysia, and Humanists UK, the Norwegian Humanist Association, and Humanists Ideas Ambassadors (Lithuania). These contributions detailed systemic abuses such as the denial of secular funerals, the forced imposition of religious rites upon deceased non-believers, and the widespread lack of access to secular cemeteries.
Concluding the intervention, Humanists International posed a direct question to the Special Rapporteur, asking what practical steps the international community can take to ensure that the non-religious are fully recognized and that their rights are vindicated under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In her concluding remarks to the Council, Special Rapporteur Nazila Ghanea directly thanked Humanists International for raising these critical points. Ghanea has previously engaged closely with the organization’s advocacy efforts; she recently spoke at the launch of Humanists International’s flagship Freedom of Thought Report, where she underscored the necessity of protecting the rights of the non-religious and tackling structural discrimination globally.
The Special Rapporteur also presented her report on her visit to Zambia to the Council at this Session. In that visit she met with members of Humanists International in Zambia, and the experiences of the non-religious are reflected in that report too.
Featured Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash.
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