Computational geometry is a branch of computer science devoted to the study of algorithms which can be stated in terms of geometry. Some purely geometrical problems arise out of the study of computational geometric algorithms,
and such problems are also considered to be part of computational
geometry. While modern computational geometry is a recent development,
it is one of the oldest fields of computing with a history stretching
back to antiquity.
Computational complexity
is central to computational geometry, with great practical significance
if algorithms are used on very large datasets containing tens or
hundreds of millions of points. For such sets, the difference between O(n2) and O(n log n) may be the difference between days and seconds of computation.
The main impetus for the development of computational geometry as a discipline was progress in computer graphics and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), but many problems in computational geometry are classical in nature, and may come from mathematical visualization.
Combinatorial computational geometry, also called algorithmic geometry, which deals with geometric objects as discrete entities. A groundlaying book in the subject by Preparata and Shamos dates the first use of the term "computational geometry" in this sense by 1975.
Numerical computational geometry, also called machine geometry, computer-aided geometric design (CAGD), or geometric modeling,
which deals primarily with representing real-world objects in forms
suitable for computer computations in CAD/CAM systems. This branch may
be seen as a further development of descriptive geometry
and is often considered a branch of computer graphics or CAD. The term
"computational geometry" in this meaning has been in use since 1971.
Although most algorithms of computational geometry have been
developed (and are being developed) for electronic computers, some
algorithms were developed for unconventional computers (e.g. optical
computers).
The primary goal of research in combinatorial computational geometry is to develop efficient algorithms and data structures for solving problems stated in terms of basic geometrical objects: points, line segments, polygons, polyhedra, etc.
Some of these problems seem so simple that they were not regarded as problems at all until the advent of computers. Consider, for example, the Closest pair problem:
Given n points in the plane, find the two with the smallest distance from each other.
One could compute the distances between all the pairs of points, of which there are n(n-1)/2, then pick the pair with the smallest distance. This brute-force algorithm takes O(n2)
time; i.e. its execution time is proportional to the square of the
number of points. A classic result in computational geometry was the
formulation of an algorithm that takes O(n log n). Randomized algorithms that take O(n) expected time, as well as a deterministic algorithm that takes O(n log log n) time, have also been discovered.
Problem classes
The
core problems in computational geometry may be classified in different
ways, according to various criteria. The following general classes may
be distinguished.
Static problems
In
the problems of this category, some input is given and the
corresponding output needs to be constructed or found. Some fundamental
problems of this type are:
Convex hull: Given a set of points, find the smallest convex polyhedron/polygon containing all the points.
The computational complexity for this class of problems is estimated
by the time and space (computer memory) required to solve a given
problem instance.
Geometric query problems
In geometric query problems, commonly known as geometric search problems, the input consists of two parts: the search space part and the query part, which varies over the problem instances. The search space typically needs to be preprocessed, in a way that multiple queries can be answered efficiently.
Some fundamental geometric query problems are:
Range searching: Preprocess a set of points, in order to efficiently count the number of points inside a query region.
Point location:
Given a partitioning of the space into cells, produce a data structure
that efficiently tells in which cell a query point is located.
Nearest neighbor: Preprocess a set of points, in order to efficiently find which point is closest to a query point.
Ray tracing: Given a set of objects in space, produce a data structure that efficiently tells which object a query ray intersects first.
If the search space is fixed, the computational complexity for this class of problems is usually estimated by:
the time and space required to construct the data structure to be searched in
the time (and sometimes an extra space) to answer queries.
For the case when the search space is allowed to vary, see "Dynamic problems".
Dynamic problems
Yet another major class is the dynamic problems,
in which the goal is to find an efficient algorithm for finding a
solution repeatedly after each incremental modification of the input
data (addition or deletion input geometric elements). Algorithms for
problems of this type typically involve dynamic data structures.
Any of the computational geometric problems may be converted into a
dynamic one, at the cost of increased processing time. For example, the range searching problem may be converted into the dynamic range searching problem by providing for addition and/or deletion of the points. The dynamic convex hull
problem is to keep track of the convex hull, e.g., for the dynamically
changing set of points, i.e., while the input points are inserted or
deleted.
The computational complexity for this class of problems is estimated by:
the time and space required to construct the data structure to be searched in
the time and space to modify the searched data structure after an incremental change in the search space
the time (and sometimes an extra space) to answer a query.
Variations
Some
problems may be treated as belonging to either of the categories,
depending on the context. For example, consider the following problem.
Point in polygon: Decide whether a point is inside or outside a given polygon.
In many applications this problem is treated as a single-shot one,
i.e., belonging to the first class. For example, in many applications of
computer graphics a common problem is to find which area on the screen is clicked by a pointer.
However, in some applications, the polygon in question is invariant,
while the point represents a query. For example, the input polygon may
represent a border of a country and a point is a position of an
aircraft, and the problem is to determine whether the aircraft violated
the border. Finally, in the previously mentioned example of computer
graphics, in CAD
applications the changing input data are often stored in dynamic data
structures, which may be exploited to speed-up the point-in-polygon
queries.
In some contexts of query problems there are reasonable
expectations on the sequence of the queries, which may be exploited
either for efficient data structures or for tighter computational
complexity estimates. For example, in some cases it is important to know
the worst case for the total time for the whole sequence of N queries,
rather than for a single query. See also "amortized analysis".
Darwin Day is a celebration to commemorate the birthday of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin's contributions to science and to promote science in general. Darwin Day is celebrated around the world.
History
The
celebration of Darwin's work and tributes to his life have been
organised sporadically since his death on 19 April 1882, at age 73.
Events took place at Down House, in Downe on the southern outskirts of London where Darwin and members of his family lived from 1842 until the death of his wife, Emma Darwin, in 1896.
In 1909, more than 400 scientists and dignitaries from 167 countries met in Cambridge
to honour Darwin's contributions and to discuss vigorously the recent
discoveries and related theories contesting for acceptance. This was a
widely reported event of public interest. Also in 1909, on 12 February, the 100th birth anniversary of Darwin and the 50th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin of Species were celebrated by the New York Academy of Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. A bronze bust of Darwin was unveiled. On 2 June 1909 the Royal Society of New Zealand held a "Darwin Celebration". "There was a very large attendance."
On 24–28 November 1959, The University of Chicago held a major celebration of Darwin and the publication of On the Origin of Species, the largest event of the Darwin Centennial Celebration. Scientists and academics sometimes celebrated 12 February with "Phylum
Feast" events—a meal with foods from as many different phyla as they
could manage, at least as early as 1972, 1974, and 1989 in Canada. In the United States, Salem State College in Massachusetts has held a "Darwin Festival" annually since 1980, and in 2005, registered "Darwin Festival" as a service mark with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The Humanist Community of Palo Alto,
California, was motivated by Dr. Robert Stephens in late 1993 to begin
planning for an annual Darwin Day celebration. Its first public Darwin
Day event was a lecture by Dr. Donald Johanson (discoverer of the early hominid "Lucy"), sponsored by the Stanford Humanists student group
and the Humanist Community on 22 April 1995. The Humanist Community continues its annual celebration.
Independently, in 1997, Professor Massimo Pigliucci initiated an annual Darwin Day event at the University of Tennessee.
The event included public lectures and activities as well as a
teachers' workshop meant to help elementary and secondary school
teachers better understand evolution and how to communicate it to their
students, as well as how to deal with the pressures often placed on them
by the creationism movement.
Darwin's alma mater, Christ's College, Cambridge, commemorated the bicentenary with the unveiling of a life-sized bronze statue of the Young Darwin, sculpted by their graduate Anthony Smith.
Prince Philip (then-Chancellor of the University) unveiled the statue
and it was later shortlisted for the Marsh Award for Excellence in
Public Sculpture 2009. The same year, two well known evolutionary biologists, Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne, published book length treatments covering the evidence for evolution.
The Perth Mint, Australia launched a 2009 dated commemorative 1-ounce silver legal tender coin depicting Darwin, young and old; HMS Beagle; and Darwin's signature.
Later
On 9 February 2011, California RepresentativePete Stark
introduced H. Res 81 to Congress designating 12 February 2011 as Darwin
Day, calling Darwin "a worthy symbol of scientific advancement... and
around which to build a global celebration of science and humanity."
The resolution was a culmination of collaboration between Stark and the
American Humanist Association, which had awarded Stark the Humanist of
the Year award in 2008. In a statement on the House floor, Rep. Stark
said, "Darwin's birthday is a good time for us to reflect on the
important role of science in our society." In a press release from the
American Humanist Association, executive director Roy Speckhardt said,
"Stark's Darwin Day resolution is a thrilling step forward for the
secular movement. Not only is this an opportunity to bring the
scientific impact of Charles Darwin to the forefront, but this also
signifies the potential for greater respect for scientific reasoning on
Capitol Hill."
House Resolution 67, introduced by Representative Jim Himes
in the United States House of Representatives on 2 February 2015 would
designate 12 February as Darwin Day in the United States. It would recognise Darwin as "a worthy symbol on which to focus...a global celebration of science and humanity."
Darwin Day Program and Darwin Day Celebration
In
the late 1990s, two Darwin enthusiasts, Amanda Chesworth and Robert
Stephens, co-founded an unofficial effort to promote Darwin Day. In
2001, Chesworth moved to New Mexico and incorporated the "Darwin Day
Program". Stephens became chairman of the board and President of this nonprofit corporation with Massimo Pigliucci as Vice-President and Amanda Chesworth as member of the Board, Secretary, and Executive Director.
Stephens presented the objectives of the organisation in an article titled "Darwin Day An International Celebration."
In 2002, Chesworth compiled and edited a substantial book entitled Darwin Day Collection One: the Single Best Idea, Ever.
The objectives of the book were to show the multidisciplinary reach of
Charles Darwin and to meld academic work with popular culture.
In 2004, the New Mexico corporation was dissolved and all its assets assigned to the "Darwin Day Celebration", a non-profit organisation incorporated in California in 2004 by Dr. Robert Stephens and others
and the Mission Statement was expanded.
Darwin Day Celebration redesigned the website, from a static
presentation of information about the Darwin Day Program to a
combination of education about Darwin and the Darwin Day Celebration
organisation, including automated registration and publication of
planned and past celebratory Events and the automated registration of
people who want to receive emailings or make public declaration of
support for Darwin Day. The website is now operated by the International
Darwin Day Foundation, an autonomous program of the American Humanist Association.
Darwin Day is also celebrated by the University of Georgia. The event is co-sponsored by the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Division of Biological Sciences, Odum School of Ecology and the departments of cellular biology, plant biology, and genetics.
Mark Farmer, a professor and division chair of biological sciences and
organiser of Darwin Day at UGA. Farmer said he got the idea from the
International Darwin Day Foundation and brought the event to UGA in 2009
in time for the 150th anniversary of the publication of "Origin of
Species" and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The University
celebrates the impact that Darwin's work had on the scientific community
through a series of lectures around campus.
The Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island celebrates with programs that appeal to children and adults both. The Clergy Letter Project
encourages evolution-affirming churches to participate in Evolution
Weekend, on the Sunday closest to this date, to learn about and discuss
evolution.
Darwin Day and Darwin week is also celebrated at Southern Illinois University, and has been celebrated annually since 2006 when it commenced with a talk by Tim Berra.
Events
Various events are conducted on Darwin Day around the world. They have included dinner parties with special recipes for primordial soup and other inventive dishes, protests with school boards
and other governmental bodies, workshops and symposia, distribution of
information by people in ape costumes, lectures and debates, essay and
art competitions, concerts, poetry readings, plays, artwork, comedy
routines, re-enactments of the Scopes Trial and of the debate between Thomas H. Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, library displays, museum exhibits, travel and educational tours, recreations of the journey of HMS Beagle,
church sermons, movie nights, outreach, and nature hikes. The Darwin
Day Celebration Web site offers free registration and display of all Darwin Day events.
Some celebrants also combine Darwin Day with a celebration of Abraham Lincoln,
who was also born on 12 February 1809. Still others celebrate the many
noted individuals that influenced or were influenced by Darwin's work,
such as Thomas H. Huxley, Charles Lyell, Alfred Russel Wallace, Carl Sagan, and Ernst Mayr.
With Robert Stephens, a scientist, as its President, Darwin Day
Celebration has received support from scientists and science enthusiasts
across the globe. Educators began to participate by offering special
lessons to their students on or around 12 February. Darwin Day
Celebration has joined COPUS, the Coalition on the Public Understanding
of Science, reflecting an increased emphasis on science education and appreciation.
In 2004, Michael Zimmerman, a professor of biology and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University, founded the Clergy Letter Project
in which over 11,100 clergy, as of 18 April 2008, have signed a
declaration that a person of faith does not have to choose either belief
in God or belief in evolution. In 2006 Zimmerman developed the Evolution Sunday
movement. In 2007 lectures and sermons were presented to roughly 618
congregations across the United States and five other countries, on
Darwin's birthday.
Evolution Sunday is intended to show that faith and evolutionary science
are compatible in many religious traditions. In 2008, Evolution Sunday
was expanded to an Evolution Weekend to incorporate a wider range of
faith traditions and 814 congregations from nine countries participated.
Humanists International campaigns globally on human rights
issues, with a specific emphasis on defending freedom of thought and
expression and the rights of the non-religious, who are often a
vulnerable minority in many parts of the world. The organisation is
based in London but maintains a presence at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and the Council of Europe
in Strasbourg, among other international institutions. Its advocacy
work focuses on shaping debates on issues associated with humanism, the
rights of the non-religious, and promoting humanist attitudes to social
issues.
Outside of its advocacy work, Humanists International functions
as the democratic organ of the global humanist movement. It holds a
general assembly each year and a World Humanist Congress usually every
three years; its next World Congress will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2023. Humanists International works to stimulate the growth of humanism and freethought and the spread of Enlightenment values
around the world by supporting activists to form effective
organisations in their home countries. In 2002, the Humanists
International general assembly unanimously adopted the Amsterdam Declaration 2002, which presents as "the official defining statement of World Humanism". Its official symbol, the Happy Human, is shared with its member organisations worldwide.
Humanism as a life stance
In 2002, at the organisation's 50th anniversary World Humanist Congress, delegates unanimously passed a resolution known as the Amsterdam Declaration 2002, an update of the original Amsterdam Declaration (1952).
The Amsterdam Declaration defines Humanism as a "lifestance"
that is "ethical", "rational", supportive of "democracy and human
rights", insisting "that personal liberty must be combined with social
responsibility"; it is "an alternative to dogmatic religion"; it values
"artistic creativity and imagination" and is aimed at living lives of
"fulfillment" through the powers of "free inquiry", "science" and
"creative imagination".
In addition to the Amsterdam Declaration's "official statement of
World Humanism", Humanists International provides a "Minimum Statement
on Humanism":
Humanism is a democratic and ethical
life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and
responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands
for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on
human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry
through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.
Member Organisations of Humanists International are required according
to its membership regulations to have objects that are "consistent" with
this understanding of Humanism.
Other major resolutions
At the World Humanist Congress in 2005, in France, the General Assembly adopted The Paris Declaration 2005, on state secularism, which states:
There
can be no freedom of conscience when religions rule societies.
Secularism is the demand for equal rights for those who belong to any
religion as well as for those who belong to none... For IHEU and its
member organizations, the State must be secular, that is, neither
religious not atheist. But demanding genuine democratic equality,
recognized by the Law, between believers and humanists does not mean
that the member associations of IHEU treat all philosophical points of
view equally. We have no duty to respect irrationalism, however ancient
its origins. True Humanism is the flourishing of freedom of conscience
and the methods of free inquiry.
In 2007, in an "unprecedented alliance" of the (then) International Humanist and Ethical Union, the European Humanist Federation and Catholics for Choice, launched the Brussels Declaration, a secular response to a proposed Berlin Declaration, under which the amended EU Constitution would have made references to "God" and the "Christian roots of Europe".
It made specific reference to policy positions on equality and human
rights for different minority groups, concluding: "The principles and
values on which European civilisation is founded are once again under
threat. We call upon the people of Europe and all who care for freedom,
democracy and the rule of law to join us in promoting and protecting
them."
At World Humanist Congress 2011, in Norway, the Humanists International General Assembly adopted The Oslo Declaration on Peace,
which concludes: "We urge each of our member organizations and
Humanists globally to work for a more peaceful culture in their own
nations and urge all governments to prefer the peaceful settlement of
conflicts over the alternative of violence and war."
At World Humanist Congress 2014, in the United Kingdom, the Humanists International General Assembly adopted The Oxford Declaration on Freedom of Thought and Expression,
which asserts: "Freedom of thought implies the right to develop, hold,
examine and manifest our beliefs without coercion, and to express
opinions and a worldview whether religious or non-religious, without
fear of coercion. It includes the right to change our views or to reject
beliefs previously held, or previously ascribed. Pressure to conform to
ideologies of the state or to doctrines of religion is a tyranny."
In 2017, Humanists International held a special conference on threats to humanism and liberal democracy from rising authoritarianpopulism and extremism as part of its general assembly in London At the following general assembly in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2018, Humanists International members agreed The Auckland Declaration on the Politics of Division, which condemned a recent global resurgence of demagogy, "exemplified in a new generation of so-called “strong men”
politicians, who purport to stand up for popular interests, but who are
eager to diminish human rights and disregard minorities in order to
gain and retain power for their own ends". The Declaration commits
humanist organisations "to addressing the social causes of the politics
of division: social inequality, a lack of respect for human rights,
popular misconceptions about the nature of democracy" and affirms the
"values of democracy, rule of law, equality, and human rights."
In 2019, Humanists International members unanimously passed the
Reykjavik Declaration on the Climate Change Crisis, acknowledging the
scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change
committing the international humanist movement to "foster a social and
political commitment to urgent action and long-term policymaking to
mitigate and prevent climate change."
Organisation
Founding in 1952
Five Humanist organisations, the American Ethical Union, American Humanist Association, British Ethical Union (later the British Humanist Association and now Humanists UK), Vienna Ethical Society and the Dutch Humanist League hosted the founding congress of the International Humanist and Ethical Union in Amsterdam, 22–27 August 1952.
On the last day of the congress five resolutions were passed, which
included a statement of the fundamentals of "modern, ethical Humanism", a
resolution which would come to be known as the Amsterdam Declaration (1952).
Current structure
The former IHEYO logo, prior to rebranding as Young Humanists International.
Humanists International is a democratic organisation, the Board of which is elected by representatives of the Member Organisations at annual General Assemblies. The President as of 2015 is Andrew Copson (who is also the Chief Executive of Humanists UK as of 2010). The IHEU headquarters is in London. It shared an office with Humanists UK for many years until 2019.
Representatives of Humanists International Member Organisations
ratify new memberships annually during a General Assembly. Following the
2017 General Assembly, the IHEU listed its membership as 139 Member
Organisations from 53 countries from a variety of non-religious traditions.
The organization's 2017 General Assembly passed a resolution
"mandating the Board to oversee a transition to a revised identity for
the organization". The rebrand to Humanists International, a new operating name for the IHEU, was completed in February 2019.
Board members
Humanists International is governed by an international board of directors, whose body is elected by member organisations at annual general assemblies, including a directly elected president.
As of October 2020, the Board of Humanists International comprises:
The
aim of Humanists International is to "build, support and represent the
global humanist movement, defending human rights, particularly those of
non-religious people, and promoting humanist values world-wide".
As a campaigning NGO Humanists International aims "to influence
international policy through representation and information, to build
the humanist network, and let the world know about the worldview of
Humanism."
The Freedom of Thought Report
Cover of the downloadable 2016 edition of the IHEU Freedom of Thought Report - Key Countries Edition
In 2012 Humanists International began publishing an annual report on
"discrimination against humanists, atheists and the non-religious"
called The Freedom of Thought Report.
The report centres around a "Country Index" with a textual entry for every sovereign state.
Each country is measured against a list of 64 boundary
conditions, which are categorised into four thematic categories
("Constitution and government", "Education and children's rights",
"Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals", and
"Freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values") at five levels of
overall "severity" ("Free and equal", "Mostly satisfactory", "Systemic
discrimination", "Severe discrimination" and "Grave violations").
The 64 boundary conditions include for example: "'Apostasy' or
conversion from a specific religion is outlawed and punishable by
death", which is placed at the worst level of severity, and under the
category "Freedom of expression", and: "There is state funding of at
least some religious schools", which is a middle severity condition,
under the category "Education and children's rights". The data from the
report is freely available under a Creative Commons license.
Findings of the Freedom of Thought Report
In
2017, the report found that 30 countries meet at least one boundary
condition at the most severe level ("Grave violations"), and a further
55 countries met at least one boundary condition in the next most severe
level ("Severe discrimination").
This
composite map overlays the results from four separate categories of
assessment in Humanists International Freedom of Thought Report, as to
how countries discriminate against non-religious people. Countries
block-filled in darker, redder colors are rated more severely in the
report, while lighter, greener shades are more "free and equal".
Responses to the Freedom of Thought Report
The
various annual editions of the Freedom of Thought Report have been
reported in the media under headlines such as: "How the right to deny
the existence of God is under threat globally" (The Independent, UK); "Most countries fail to respect rights of atheists – report" (Christian Today); and "Stephen Fry's mockery of religion could land him the death penalty in these countries" (The Washington Post).
The report has received coverage in the national media of countries
that are severely criticised, for example "Malaysia's free thought,
religious expression under 'serious assault', study shows" (the Malay Mail).
In his foreword to the first edition of the Freedom of Thought Report, Heiner Bielefeldt wrote:
As
a universal human right, freedom of religion or belief has a broad
application. However, there seems to be little awareness that this right
also provides a normative frame of reference for atheists, humanists
and freethinkers and their convictions, practices and organizations. I
am therefore delighted that for the first time the Humanist community
has produced a global report on discrimination against atheists. I hope
it will be given careful consideration by everyone concerned with
freedom of religion or belief.
At a panel event at the European Parliament for the launch of the 2015 edition, Bielefeldt said he "unambiguously welcomed" the report and reiterated with regard to "freedom of religion or belief"
that it is "only a kind of short-hand", and "Formulations such as
"religious freedom" obfuscate the scope of this human right which covers
the identity-shaping, profound convictions and conviction-based
practices of human beings broadly."
The report was the subject of a question in the UK Parliament in 2013, to which David Lidington
MP responded for the government asserting, "Our freedom of religion or
belief policy is consistent with the key message of the International
Humanist and Ethical Union's (IHEU) report: that international human
rights law exists to protect the rights of individuals to manifest their
beliefs, not to protect the beliefs themselves. The report records a
sharp increase in the number of prosecutions for alleged criticism of
religion by atheists on social media. Protecting freedom of expression
online is a priority for the British Government and we have consistently
argued against attempts to create a new international standard in order
to protect religions from criticism."
Individuals
persecuted for expressing their non-religious views (actual or
perceived) have frequently been the subject of IHEU campaigns. Some
prominent cases include:
In the 1990s IHEU was instrumental in highlighting the threats against Taslima Nasrin who lives in exile from Bangladesh, and who also acted as a representative of the IHEU at UNESCO.
In 2013 the IHEU urged the authorities in Egypt to ensure the safety of Alber Saber after he was accused of "offending religion" for allegedly linking to the YouTube video "Innocence of Muslims".
In 2014 the IHEU blew the whistle on the case of Mubarak Bala from Nigeria, who was detained in a psychiatric hospital after he talked openly about being an atheist. He was freed following international media coverage.
In 2017, after a government minister in Malaysia said members of an atheist meetup group would be "hunted down", the IHEU called for respect of the atheists' human rights, and the organization's condemnation of the minister's remarks was reported in Malaysian media.
Humanists International similarly highlights cases where individuals are accused of "apostasy", such as the blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir currently on death row in Mauritania, and the poet Ashraf Fayadh currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. In June 2016 at the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council the IHEU's delegate took the unusual step of reading one of Ashraf Fayadh's poems during General Debate.
Humanists International complained that fundamentalists linked to the
government were "terrorising" secular activists, including individuals
in connection with its Member Organisations, as far back as 2006. However, a series of machete attacks primarily targeting secular and atheist bloggers and freethinkers in Bangladesh has been especially severe since 2013, and the IHEU has campaigned persistently in response and highlighted the murders at the UN Human Rights Council.
Humanists International responded in 2013 to the murder of blogger and activist Ahmed Rajib Haider and the machete attack on his friend Asif Mohiuddin, and highlighted the subsequent arrest and imprisonment of Mohiuddin and others for "hurting religious sentiments".
When author and prominent leader of the Bengali freethought movement Avijit Roy
was murdered, 26 February 2015, Humanists International revealed that
he had been advising them on the situation in Bangladesh; Humanists
International Director of Communications commented, "This loss is keenly
felt by freethinkers and humanists in South Asia and around the world.
He was a colleague in humanism and a friend to all who respect human
rights, freedom, and the light of reason."
Following the murder of Washiqur Rahman Babu (or Oyasiqur Rhaman), 30 March 2015, Humanists International republished some of his final writings.
Following the murder of Ananta Bijoy Das, 12 May 2016, Humanists International leaked parts of the letter Bijoy Das had recently received from Sweden rejecting his visa application, despite his having been invited to the country by Swedish PEN.
The organisation highlighted "the failures of the Bangladeshi
authorities to bring to justice the individuals and to break the
networks behind this string of targeted killings", and also criticised
Sweden's rejection of his visa application, commenting, "We call on all
countries to recognise the legitimacy and sometimes the urgency and
moral necessity of asylum claims made by humanists, atheists and
secularists who are being persecuted for daring to express those views."
Following the murder of Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy
(or Niloy Chatterjee, also known by his pen name Niloy Neel), 7 August
2015, Humanists International again attacked the government and
authorities, saying, "Apparent failure to pursue the most obvious lines
of inquiry even when initial arrests are made, and media manipulation resulting in conflicting stories, further makes reportage difficult and police operations opaque."
A coordinated attack against two separate publishing houses in Dhaka, 31 October 2016, killed the publisher Faisal Arefin Dipon and seriously injured the publisher Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury. The IHEU later published an interview with Chowdhury about the attack and his escape to Norway.
In August 2015 Humanists International coordinated a joint open
letter in English and Bangla by a coalition of "Bloggers, free speech
campaigners, humanist associations, religious and ex-Muslim groups"
calling on the president and prime minister of Bangladesh to "ensure
the safety and security of those individuals whose lives are threatened
by Islamist extremists... instruct the police to find the killers, not
to harass or blame the victims... disassociate yourself publicly from
those who call for death penalties against non-religious
Bangladeshis..." and repeal the laws under which secular bloggers faced
arrest and imprisonment.
Following the murder of a student and secular activist Nazimuddin Samad, 6 April 2016, and then the murder of university lecturer Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique,
23 April 2016, Humanists International president Andrew Copson said
"Unless the government [of Bangladesh] immediately begins to defend the
right to speak and write freely, without adding the unprincipled and
anti-secular qualifications that it keeps applying to freedom of
expression, then very soon the only voices that will be heard will be
those of murderous extremists."
The range of targets for these attacks began to broaden in the
later part of 2015 and throughout 2016 to more often include minority
religious individuals and foreigners, culminating in the July 2016 Dhaka attack in Gulshan Thana.
End Blasphemy Laws campaign
In January 2015, in part as a response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Humanists International alongside other transnational secular groups the European Humanist Federation and Atheist Alliance International and a two-hundred strong organisational coalition, founded the End Blasphemy Laws Campaign. End Blasphemy Laws is "campaigning to repeal "blasphemy" and related laws worldwide."
Other campaigns
The "First World Conference on Untouchability" was organised by Humanists International in London, June 2009. Anticipating the event, the BBC News quoted then-Executive Director Babu Gogineni
as saying that legal reforms alone would not end caste discrimination:
"There are Dalit politicians in India, but nothing has changed. The
answer is to educate Dalits and empower them." The event was preceded by questions in the UK Parliament and guests included Lord Desai and Lord Avebury from the UK House of Lords; Binod Pahadi, Member of the Constituent Assembly, Nepal; and Tina Ramirez, US Congressional Fellow on International Religious Freedom. The Second World Conference on Untouchability was held in Kathmandu, in April 2014.
In 2013 Humanists International criticised the US-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation for awarding their "World Statesman Award" to then-president of IndonesiaSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono; it argued that the award "is a slap in the face to prisoners of conscience across the world. While Alexander Aan
suffers in an Indonesian jail for posting his beliefs to Facebook, his
jailer will be honored in New York as a champion of freedom of belief."
In 2014 Humanists International as part of a "coalition of
secular groups" led a campaign around the hashtag "#TwitterTheocracy" to
protest the social media website Twitter's implementation of tools blocking "blasphemous" tweets in Pakistan.
2014: Gulalai Ismail (Pakistan), the founder and chair of Aware Girls, a charity which promotes the developmental and human rights of young women in Pakistan and Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), Nobel Prize-winning author
Distinguished Service to Humanism Award
The
Distinguished Service to Humanism Award recognises the contributions of
Humanist activists to International Humanism and to organised Humanism.
