For the first time, a United Nations human rights mandate has placed humanist organizations in the title of a thematic report, naming them alongside faith-based organizations as partners in the international solidarity agenda.
The consultation has been issued by Ms. Cecilia M. Bailliet, the UN Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity. Her report will examine the role that religion and belief communities and organizations play in promoting mutual respect, peace, social cohesion and common understanding across diverse societies. It will also identify the risks these organizations face, gather examples of good practice, and make recommendations to open further space for international solidarity actions.
The questionnaire asks organizations how they understand and practice international solidarity, what forms their work takes, whether they create opportunities for women, children and young people to lead, and whether they have faced government penalties, surveillance, defunding or prosecution because of it. One question asks specifically whether organizations have cooperated with others to combat discrimination against humanistic and non-religious organizations, listing it alongside antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Christian discrimination.
Humanists International has spent years pressing UN mechanisms to recognize that humanists and the non-religious fall squarely within their mandates, including two high-level submissions in 2025 asking the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to reaffirm that protection.
Maggie Ardiente, President of Humanists International, said:
“Our Member Organizations feed people, shelter refugees, run schools, campaign for equality and build bridges between divided communities. They do this not out of religious obligation, but out of a shared sense of human solidarity. The United Nations is now asking about that contribution, and we intend to answer in full.”
Humanists International has held Special Consultative Status at the United Nations for decades and works across Geneva, New York and UNESCO on behalf of its Member Organizations. Its Freedom of Thought Report remains the only global survey of discrimination and persecution faced by humanists, atheists and the non-religious, and has been cited by successive UN Special Rapporteurs.
Humanists International will be making a submission to the consultation, and strongly encourages Member Organizations to make their own. Submissions from national organizations carry particular weight, because they show the Independent Expert the breadth and depth of humanist practice on the ground.
Submissions should be sent by email to the Independent Expert, with the subject line “Input for HRC report 2027,” by 16 October 2026. There is a limit of 2,500 words or 10 pages, in Word or PDF format, and inputs are accepted in English, French and Spanish. Unless you request otherwise, your submission may be published on the OHCHR website and referenced in the report.
Full details and the questionnaire are available on the OHCHR website. Full details will be sent to representatives of Members Organizations in the coming days.
Member Organizations planning a submission are welcome to contact the Humanists International advocacy team for support.
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