Young People

The International Humanist & Ethical Union, assembled at its 8th World Congress in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, August 1-5, 1982, conscious of the fact that we only live on through our descendants, feels the obligation to leave behind an earth that actually offers the next generations room to live, water, air and nourishment. Conservation of the natural environment and restoration of the disturbed natural surroundings are for us essential conditions to be able to offer a future to the young.

Ethical humanism stands for the protection of life as well as for the free development of the individual. It acknowledges that human rights apply to all human beings, whether they are young or old.
Especially with regard to the younger generation, the International Humanist & Ethical Union further urges that:

1. Young people in educational institutions and training centres be given responsibility of their own and that their free development be stimulated, provided no other people’s rights are thus violated;
2. The duty of society to educate the young till they are old enough to work be carried out, that is to say, training centres should be made available for young people with an ambition to learn;
3. The opportunity be afforded to young people to create their own youth centres, for which they will have full responsibility;
4. The complete integration of those young foreigners who spent an essential part of their childhood in their new home countries be made possible. The place where they happened to be born is of no importance in this respect.

The International Humanist & Ethical Union declares that its member organisations are willing to give the young in their societies a room of their own of which they have the free run and for which they themselves are responsible, that they are willing to stand up for the interests of the young, and that they are prepared to hold a dialogue with the young in order to solve the problems which all generations have in common.

IHEU congress 1982

Suggested academic reference

'Young People', Humanists International, World Humanist Congress, Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, 1982