For the winter semester 2021/22, the humanistic Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk (BvS) is awarding scholarships to students and doctoral candidates for the first time. In addition to financial support, the Suttner scholarship holders receive comprehensive non-material support.
More than a year ago, the Federal Constitutional Court declared Section 217 of the German Criminal Code (prohibition of commercial assisted suicide) null and void, but there is still a need for regulation. The Humanist Association of Germany therefore welcomes today’s Bundestag debate on the subject and appeals to MPs to take the will of the vast majority of the population seriously.
On April 28, 2020, Mubarak Bala was arbitrarily arrested for allegedly making blasphemous statements. After a year, he is still in custody without charge. Humanists around the world, including the Humanist Association of Germany, have sent an open letter to the governor responsible calling for his immediate release.
We mourn for the people who have died in the context of the pandemic, side by side with their families, companions, friends, neighbors and colleagues. The HVD is calling on people to symbolically participate in a central memorial service on Sunday by lighting a candle.
Many non-denominational people do not feel sufficiently recognized in our society. This is why secular groups are pushing for greater visibility. To this end, the Coordination Council of Secular Organizations (KORSO) wants to present itself more strongly as a secular lobby organization in the future. The Humanist Association of Germany – Federal Association (HVD) will no longer be represented.
In a joint appeal, a broad alliance of more than 100 organizations, including the Humanist Association of Germany, is calling on the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag and the federal states to agree by the summer break on a law to incorporate children’s rights into the Basic Law that meets the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a global setback in terms of equality for women. Women are more disadvantaged and burdened by the pandemic, and precarious working conditions and traditional role distributions have even deepened. We need to take a close look and act to ensure that these setbacks are not cemented and gender equality is not set back by years.
After many years of preparation, the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD), the Giordano Bruno Foundation (gbs), the Humanist Academy of Germany (HAD) and the Federal Association of Humanist Students (BAG) have founded the Bertha von Suttner-Studienwerk. With its help, humanist students are to receive the same support as their religious fellow students.
The Humanist Association of Germany (Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands – Bundesverband) welcomes the fact that, one year after the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, a draft law to regulate assisted suicide has been put forward by the German parliament. To date, doctors in Germany have continued to use an unsuitable cocktail of drugs for assisted suicide or have used an euthanasia association for a four-figure sum.
Our history, the remembrance of Germany’s Nazi past, means a special responsibility for our actions in the present. We must not just pay lip service to this. A statement by Erwin Kress, spokesman of the board of the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands – Bundesverband, on today’s Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism.
