Our partner organization Humanists International is publishing its tenth Freedom of Thought Report today: a report on the legal and human rights situation of humanists, atheists and non-religious people worldwide.
On 19 September 2021, the former Coordinating Council of Secular Organizations (KORSO) adopted a new constitution and renamed itself the “Central Council of Nondenominational Organizations”. The Federal Board of the Humanist Association Germany (HVD) declares that it considers the far-reaching claim to representation declared by this Central Council to be inappropriate. The HVD sees this as confirmation of one of the main reasons for its withdrawal from KORSO in the spring of this year.
The commemoration of the Reichspogromnacht reminds us that this must never happen again. We humanists must always take a clear stance, always and everywhere stand up against anti-Semitic tendencies and structures and fight their causes. A statement by Erwin Kress, spokesman of the board of the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands – Bundesverband.
On Sunday, October 31, 2021, our friend, colleague and comrade-in-arms Andreas Henschel passed away at the age of 65 after a serious illness. Andreas was committed to humanism for decades, for over 20 years he was managing director of the Humanisten Baden-Württemberg K.d.ö.R, and for several years he was a member of the board of the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands – Bundesverband. With his passing, we have lost a passionate campaigner for a more humane world worth living in.
In the opinion of many organizations, the “Gute-KiTa-Gesetz”, which has been in force since 2019, does not meet its objectives. A broad civil society alliance, including the HVD, is therefore calling for significant improvements and a clear commitment to the further development of the framework conditions in child daycare through a new federal quality law.
160 candidates applied for a scholarship from the humanist Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk (BvS), and ten young people finally made it: they will now receive two years of non-material support and 300 euros a month for their studies.
The European Humanist Youth Days (EHYD) are back! Young humanists from all over the world can take part in online workshops and virtual workshops in October. Participation in all workshops and studios is free of charge.
International Safe Abortion Day on September 28 is an annual international day of action for safe, unpunished and free access to abortion. In 2021, the day of action in Germany will be held under the motto: “150 years of resistance to Section 218 StGB – enough is enough!”
61 associations, trade unions, civil society organizations and individuals are calling on the next federal government to finally combat child poverty effectively and to include concrete measures in the coalition agreement.
The Humanist Association of Germany has asked the democratic parliamentary groups represented in the Bundestag about eight key issues. The answers to our election test stones for the 2021 Bundestag elections have now been published.
