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Preface to the 2022 edition By Andrew Copson Andrew Copson is President of Humanists International The Freedom of Thought Report offers an annual insight into the state of human rights around the world with a special focus on the situation of humanists, atheists and other non-religious people. It highlights violations […]

Foreword to the 2022 edition By Rishvin Ismath Rishvin Ismath is the Founding President of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka Experiencing freedom is something as rare as finding hen’s teeth to me. When I was a kid, my freedom was either stolen or controlled by elders such as […]

EMBARGOED FOR 5 DECEMBER 2017 – 00:01 (GMT) This page is not navigable from the site menu and is only made available for press contacts prior to the launch of the Report. A preview of The Freedom of Thought Report 2017 “Key Countries” edition is available for press contacts: > Download the preview […]

Today in Brussels we launched the fifth edition of the Freedom of Thought Report. And in a huge change this year the report is no longer primarily a downloadable PDF. We have been busy building an online system so that each country in the world now has its own individual […]

Credits for the 2022 edition Editor Emma Wadsworth-Jones Contributing Editor Elizabeth O’Casey Volunteer researchers Lawrence Rickardand our anonymous contributors Contributors Gary McLellandRishvin Ismath Special thanks to the following Humanists International Members and Associates: Humanists BarbadosCouncil of Ex-Muslims of Sri LankaFederation of Indian Rationalist AssociationsFilipino FreethinkersHumanist Alliance Philippines, International Special thanks […]

We defer to the United Nations geo-schema1<unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm> in general to list and organize nation states. We endeavor to include all fully independent and sovereign states in the report; while some disputed territories, overseas territories, dependencies, constituent countries, or non-self-governed territories are not included. If there is known information pertinent to a […]

By Bob Churchill Bob Churchill is Director of Communications at the IHEU, and Editor of the Freedom of Thought Report This report records discrimination against the non-religious, from the relatively minor to the most serious. At that most serious end of the scale, we record how numerous states continue to systematically […]

By Andrew Copson Andrew Copson is President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) Published by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), the Freedom of Thought Report is now in its fifth annual edition. In 2012, our first edition was an expanded version of a submission by several […]

By Ahmed Shaheed Dr Shaheed is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, as of 1 November 2016. The right to freedom of religion or belief is a right that is frequently misunderstood by its conflation with narrowly defined views on religious freedom. Such narratives often overlook the […]

The Freedom of Thought Report by Humanists International is a unique annual report and online resource which looks at the rights and treatment of humanists, and the non-religious generally, in every country in the world. Specifically, this report looks at how non-religious individuals—whether they call themselves atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, […]