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Editorial Introduction to the 2019 edition By Bob Churchill Bob Churchill is Editor of the Freedom of Thought Report and Director of Communications and Campaigns at Humanists International The push to abolish ‘blasphemy’ laws is proceeding apace in many western countries. This is a trend that must be welcomed as […]

Preface to the 2024 edition By Andrew Copson Andrew Copson is the President of Humanists International The freedoms of expression, thought, conscience, and belief are the foundations upon which our humanist ideals are built. They are the measure of an open, modern, democratic society. They are also legal human rights, […]

Foreword to the 2024 edition By Leena Manimekalai, award-winning Indian poet and filmmaker ‘A Trial by Fire’ In December 2021, when I received word that my submission to the i am…project’s call for proposals1“Landing page”, iamstory.org, accessed 4 November 2024, https://iamstory.org/#Landing_page had been selected as part of Toronto Metropolitan University’s […]

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 of the 2024 edition Editor Emma Wadsworth-Jones Associate Editors Elizabeth O’Casey & Céline Grey Contributors Leena Manimekalai Volunteer researchers Jessica Marvatta, Lawrence Rickard, Petra Schmidt, Caitlin Windle, Scott Jacobsen,and our anonymous volunteer contributors Special thanks to the following Humanists International Members and Associates: Association for Republicanism and Secularism, Associação […]

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 […]