The IHEU has consistently opposed violations of human rights in the world wherever they occur, whether it be Chile, South Africa, Argentina, Cambodia, the German Democratic Republic, Uganda, the USSR, or elsewhere. Indeed, scarcely a nation exists where some violation of human rights does not occur.
Recognising under Articles 1-23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948) and under Articles 1-7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 16, 1966) that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world” and that “these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person”,
recognising that the Helsinki agreement specifically affirmed these rights as well as the “obligation of States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and freedoms” as stipulated earlier under the International Covenant,
the IHEU, therefore, expresses its opposition among others to the prosecution and conviction of Adolfo Pérez in Argentina, Rudolf Bahro in the G.D.R. and to the recent trials in the USSR of Orlov, Scharansky, and Ginzburg who are devoted to the above mentioned principles, and pledges itself to protest against these violations of human rights which bring great suffering upon the dissident individuals and their families.
The IHEU calls upon the various governments to correct these violations of human rights and to free those now condemned to long terms of imprisonment so that these men will be speedily returned to their families in good health and in the full enjoyment of their freedoms as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The IHEU further calls upon its members to take such action in connection with the dissidents as might help them directly, e.g. by working with Amnesty International or other appropriate groups.
IHEU Congress 1978
'Human Rights (1978)', Humanists International, World Humanist Congress, London, United Kingdom, 1978