A sub-caste of Dalits; suggesting aboriginality; esp. in Andhra Pradesh and of Telegu speakers

A sub-caste of Dalits; suggesting aboriginality; esp. in Tamil Nadu; originally tanners and leather-workers but now predominantly landless labourers; rivals of Malas

A group of sub-castes of Dalits; suggesting aboriginality; esp. Andhra Pradesh; encompasses Malas, Madigas, Adi-Dravidas, Mahars, Mangs and Chamars

A sub-caste of Dalits; suggesting aboriginality; esp. Kannada speakers

A scheduled tribe

Dr B R Ambedkar 1891-1946. Born a Dalit; a lawyer, Dalit leader, politician and architect of India's first constitution

Hatred, prejudice, oppression, or discrimination against Jews or Judaism

A synonym for Dalit

A persons born of a high-caste mother and a low-caste father

A Dalit sub-caste

A disputed theory of the origin of the caste system and untouchability, now mainly espoused by Hindu nationalists, that the Indian Vedic culture arose from an ancient influx of "Aryans" into India

Lit. "beyond shudra". A synonym for Dalit

A synonym for Dalit

The lowest sub-caste of Dalits (Nepal); women are frequently forced into prostitution

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally carpenters

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally fishermen

A low-status sub-caste of Dalits, sometimes euphemistically called janitors or sweepers but generally forecd to perform the dirtiest and most unpleasant tasks

Formerly the policy-making body of IHEU; now replaced by the General Assembly

The highest caste, traditionally priests, teachers and scholars

rationalist

An oppressed minority in Japan, often compared to Dalits. Most are descendents of outcaste hereditary occupational groups dating back to feudal Japan. Estimates of their numbers range from 1 to 3 million

A synonym for Dalit

The Hindu system of rigid hereditary social classes, especially in India. There are four castes: Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras, plus the out-castes or Dalits, who are not part of the caste system. Within each caste, there are many sub-castes or "Jati"

Leather-workers, cobblers; a Dalit sub-caste (Uttar Pradesh)

A Dalit sub-caste, esp. in Bengal and Sri Lanka

A synonym for Dalit, esp. Punjab

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, composed of 53 States, met annually in Geneva. Over 3,000 delegates from member and observer States and from non-governmental organizations participated. In 2006, the Commission was replaced by a new UN Human Rights Council.

Lit. "broken people". The group name adopted by many out-castes, previously classified as "untouchable"

A synonym for Dalit, traditionally tailors and drummers, esp. Nepal

A euphemism for Dalits, esp. in formal documents. Adopted by the British in 1919.

A "religious" practice in South India whereby parents marry young girls to a deity or the temple: they become prostitutes for upper-caste men. Outlawed in 1988, the practice remains widespread

A resident of a Muslim state who is a member of an officially-tolerated non-Islamic religion, such as Judaism or Christianity. In theory and in practice, a dhimmi has fewer legal rights and obligations than a Muslim.

A synonym for Dalit

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally tanners

See Twice born

A synonym for Dalit, esp. West Bengal

According to the Aryan invasion theory, Dravidians were the original inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. Dravidian languages include Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada, spoken especially in southern India and northern Sri Lanka

European Humanist Federation

ERNST VAN BRAKEL was an IHEU staff member from 1965 until the mid-1990s. He was also IHEU's representative at UNESCO from 1967 to 1980. In 1997 and 1992, he outlined the history of IHEU in the magazine.

A sub-caste of Dalit; a major community in Kerala; traditionally farmers

An intellectual and cultural movement. A freethinker is a religious unbeliever who forms his or her judgments about religion using reason rather than relying on tradition, authority, faith, or established belief.

(1902-1975) The founder of Atheist Centre in India and the Positive Atheism movement. Gora is the nickname of Goparaju Ramachandra Rao, coined from the initial syllables of his original name

A euphemism for Dalit (lit. "child of God"), coined by Gandhi in 1931 but quickly rejected by the Dalits themselves

HAROLD J BLACKHAM (1903-2009) was born near Birmingham. He studied literary theory and was a teacher for two years. Then he addressed himself to philosophy and adult education. In the early thirties, he became a leader in the British Ethical Union. Together with leaders of the main churches, he set up a 'moral education program' in Great Britain, of which he was justly proud. Blackham played a key role in founding IHEU and acted as its Secretary until 1967. In 1965, he represented IHEU in its contacts with the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Believers. At the 1974 Amsterdam Congress, he received the International Humanist Award for his long and creative service to Humanism in England and the world.

HENRY MORGENTHALER (1932-) was born in Poland. Being of Jewish descent, he was deported to Auschwitz and Dachau, which he survived. After medical studies in Brussels, he emigrated to Canada and settled as a general practitioner in Montreal. In 1968, he became the founding president of the Humanist Association of Canada, which immediately became a member of IHEU, with Morgenthaler representing it on the IHEU Board. Morgenthaler became well-known for his struggle for legalization of abortion in Canada, spending 10 months in prison: his letters from prison were published in the Canadian Humanist. 1n 1988, he received the Humanist of the Year Award at the Buffalo IHEU Congress for upholding his Humanist principles at great personal cost.

An adherent of Hinduism

The world's third-largest religion. Hindus represent over 80%% of the population of India. Most Hindus recognise a single deity and view other gods and goddesses as manifestations of that supreme god

A word coined in 1923 (lit. Hinduness) to describe political Hindu nationalist movements, with the slogan "United Hindus, strong India"

A Dalit sub-caste

HOWARD B RADEST (1928-), an American philosopher and former director of the American Ethical Union, he was elected secretary general of IHEU in 1970 and served as one of its Co-Chairmen from 1975 to 1985.

Universal rights to which every person is entitled because they are justified by a moral standard that stands above the laws of any individual nation; best enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, composed of 53 States, met annually in Geneva. Over 3,000 delegates from member and observer States and from non-governmental organizations participated. In 2006, the Commission was replaced by a new UN Human Rights Council.

Created in 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the United Nations and in international human rights laws and treaties. The mandate includes preventing human rights violations, securing respect for all human rights and promoting international cooperation to protect human rights.

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. See also the Amsterdam Declaration.

A person who adheres to or advocates humanism, 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.

IHEU builds and represents the global humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes humanist values world-wide. Founded in 1952, IHEU is the sole world umbrella organisation for humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, laique, ethical cultural, freethought and similar organisations world-wide.

The World Congress of Humanists, held approximately every three years. Records of previous Congresses are available on this web site.

The policy-making body of IHEU; replaced the Board of Directors

The International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation

IHEU builds and represents the global humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes humanist values world-wide. Founded in in 1952, IHEU is the sole world umbrella organisation for humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, laique, ethical cultural, freethought and similar organisations world-wide.

IHEU builds and represents the global humanist movement that defends human rights and promotes humanist values world-wide. Founded in in 1952, IHEU is the sole world umbrella organisation for humanist, atheist, rationalist, secularist, skeptic, laique, ethical cultural, freethought and similar organisations world-wide.

IHEU's print magazine

A political doctrine that promotes the supremacy of Islam over all other religions and systems of governance and is based on Sharia Law

JAAP VAN PRAAG (1911-1981) was born in Amsterdam in a modern Jewish socialist environment. He studied Dutch language and history and became a teacher. In the pre-war period, he was active in various pacifist youth organizations, where he met people with whom he would later found the Dutch Humanist League. During the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940-1945), van Praag had to go into hiding. In this period, he developed his theory of Humanism. In February 1946, van Praag was one of the principal initiators of establishing the Dutch Humanist League, and became its Chairman from 1946 to 1969. From 1954 to 1974, he was a member of a provincial Executive. Van Praag was one of the first professors in Humanist studies (University of Leiden, 1964-1979). He stressed the importance of a non-religious Humanist life stance, which, as an alternative to the churches, could give meaning to life. Van Praag played a major role in founding IHEU. As its first Chairman, he was actively engaged in the work of consolidating and enlarging IHEU. He resigned as Chairman in 1975, but continued as an Honorary Board Member.

A Dalit sub-caste

Sub-caste

A synonym for Dalit, traditionally blacksmiths, esp. Nepal

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally blacksmiths

KAREL CUYPERS (1907-1986) was born in Antwerp. He became an astronomer, but also published on educational and philosophical topics. His pedagogical view was that pupils should above all learn the method of thinking rather than accumulating facts. Initially a freemason and open-minded atheist, in 1951 he became one of the founders of the Belgian Humanist League. From 1955 to 1965 he was its president. He was a member of the IHEU Board of Directors from 1952 to 1975.

KRISTIAN HORN (1903-1981) and his wife Ester were from 1951 onwards the driving force behind the introduction of secular civil confirmation ceremonies in Norway. Horn was typical example of an IHEU 'filed representative' of the time who established, with IHEU support, a national Humanist organization. The organization he founded in 1956 was Human-Etisk Forbund (Norwegian Humanist Association) and he remained the main ideologist and leader until 1976. Horn was a member of the IHEU Board of Directors from 1957 until his death, when Levi Fragell took over.

The second-ranked caste, traditionally warriors and rulers

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally potters

A French concept that is difficult to translate into English: approximately, the principle of separation of civil society and religious society, the State exercising no religious power and the Church exercising no political power.

A French concept that is diificult to translate into English: approximately, the principle of separation of civil society and religious society, the State exercising no religious power and the Church exercising no political power.

LEVI FRAGELL (1939-) is Norway's best-known Humanist. Originally, he was a preacher in a Pentecostal church. He has an MA in Christianity, History of religions and Sociology. From the 1970s, he became active in Human-Etisk Vorbund i Norge (Norwegian Humanist Association). He was its second leader from 1976 to 1991, except for one year when he worked as a teacher. In 1976, Fragell became a member of the IHEU Board of Directors (the predecessor to the present General Assembly). In 1987, he was elected Co-Chairman and from 1998 to 2003 he served as President of IHEU. In 1999, he received the World Humanist Award from the Council for Secular Humanism in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Humanism around the world.

MANABENDRA NATH ROY (1887-1954) arrived at Humanism by way of a long journey. Staring as a Comintern Marxist, he became active in the Indian movement for independence. His undogmatic Marxism gradually became less collectivistic and more individualistic, until in 1947 he proclaimed his own interpretation of 'new' or 'radical' Humanism in the form of a manifest with the famous '22 statements'. He then transformed his Radical Democratic Party into a social movement, the Indian Renaissance Movement. Roy was elected IHEU vice-chairman in 1952.

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally cobblers

A Dalit sub-caste

A Dalit sub-caste

A sub-caste of Dalit; the caste into which Ambedkar was born; esp. Marathi-speakers

A sub-caste of Dalit

The practice of manual removal of human and animal waste from dry latrines, invariably by Dalits; widespread in rural India; ineffectively outlawed in 1995

Hindu scripture

MIHAILO MARKOVIC (1923-) as Director of the Institute of Philosophy at Belgrade University was one of the 'six of Belgrade', who in the late 1960s were fired by the Communist regime. The journal that he had founded, Praxis, was banned. Markovic participatred in the IHEU from 1971 and was elected Co-Chairman in 1975. In Markovic's view, Marxism was a kind of Humanism. When in the early 1990s he became an active member of the Yugoslavian Socialism and cooperated with Slobodan Milosevic, the Board froze its relations with him.

A warrior sub-caste (Kerala)

A sub-caste of Dalit; a name adopted by the people inhabiting the swamps of Eastern Bengal as an alternative to the opprobrious term Chandal

A sub-caste of Dalit, traditionally weavers

NETTIE KLEIN (J W F Klein-von Baumhauer, 1927-2008) had her first contact with international Humanism at the 1962 Oslo Congress. In 1966, she became honorary (volunteer) organizing secretary of IHEU and from 1982 to 1996 she was general secretary. In the 1990s, she wrote "Nettie's Column" in International Humanist News. In 1996, at the Mexico City Congress, she received the International Humanist Award.

Non-Governmental Organization; any organization that is not a part of national or local government

Association of more than 50 Islamic states promoting Muslim solidarity in economic, social, and political affairs

A synonym for Dalit; one who is without caste

Lit. fifth; a synonym for Dalit

An elected village council

A learned man; a Brahmin who has memorised a substantial portion of the Vedas

A synonym for Dalit

A synonym for Dalit; esp. Tamil Nadu

A synonym for Dalit

PAUL KURTZ (1925-) was professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1965 to 1991. As a protagonist of secular Humanism, scepticism, rationalism and atheism, Kurtz is respected and feared by many in the United States as 'the pope of unbelievers'. He has founded several important Humanist institutions, among which are Prometheus Books, the world's largest Humanist publishing company, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and the magazines Free Enquiry and Skeptical Inquirer. From 1969, Kurtz was a member of the IHEU Board, at first representing the American Humanist Association and later Prometheus Books and the Council for Secular Humanism. From 1986 to 1994 he was Co-Chairman. At the Mumbai World Congress in 1999, Kurtz received the International Humanist Award.

(1879-1973) E V Ramasamy, founder of the self-respect movement in Tamil Nadu, India

PIET THOENES (1921-1995) was a Dutch sociologist with a special interest in the welfare state and the caring society and their future development. He was actively involved with several scientific organizations within the Dutch Humanist movement. He was an IHEU Co-Chairman from 1975 to 1978.

Atonement

A Dalit sub-caste, traditionally agricultural labourers, esp. Kerala

The view that knowledge is aquired through reason, without the aid of the senses. Perhaps the best example of such knowledge would be mathematical knowledge, but rationalists typically argue that many other important truths can also be grasped by reason.

Rationalists believe that reason alone is sufficient to gain knowledge of the world. Rationalists started with Plato, and include Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza.

ROB TIELMAN (1946-) played a prominent, pioneer role in the Dutch gay movement and in gay studies in the 1970s. From 1977 to 1987, he was president of the Dutch HV. He is a proponent of the Dutch model of Humanism as a modern social movement that pays much attention to the translation of Humanist principles into education and counselling, and the implementation of the principles into legislation. His involvement with IHEU began in 1972, when he joined the organizing committee of volunteers, with special responsibility for dialogues. Three years later, he became a Board member. From 1986 to 1996, he was a Co-Chairman and from 1996 to 1998 President of IHEU. Tielman has contributed significantly to establishing the European Humanist Professionals, the European Humanist Federation and the Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands. For many years, he was the face of IHEU and of international Humanism.

ROY BROWN (1937-) was born in London. With his wife Diana, he founded the World Population Foundation. In 1999 he became a member of the Committee for Growth and Development. He became a vice-president of IHEU in 2001 and president from 2003 to 2006. Since 2004 he has been the IHEU representative at the UN Human Rights Commission (now Council) in Geneva. He received the Danish Free Press Society's Free Press Prize in 2006 and the IHEU Distinguished Service to Humanism award in 2008.

A Dalit sub-caste, traditionally cobblers, esp. Nepal

Indian official euphemism for Dalit, originally defined by the British in 1935 and reinforced in the 1948 Indian constitution; similar to Scheduled Tribe

see Scheduled Caste

A neutral attitude, especially of the State, local government and public services, in matters relating to religion; non-religious rather than anti-religious.

Hindu scriptures

The fourth- and lowest-ranked caste

A Dalit sub-caste; suggesting aboriginality

SIDNEY HENRY SCHEUER (1893-1987) had a career in the textile business and took part in several mission for the American government. He was active in the American Ethical Union and helped found IHEU. He was IHEU's Treasurer from 1952 to 1987. In 1966, Scheuer delivered an important address to the Paris World Congress, "An ethical humanist approach to peace and a practical suggestion for implementation." In 1978, Scheuer was elected Honorary Member of the IHEU Board. At the London Congress of the same year, Scheuer was presented with a Special Award for his services to IHEU.

A philosophical position in which people choose to critically examine whether the knowledge and perceptions that they have are actually true, and whether or not one can ever be said to have absolutely true knowledge

Also called "Jati". Within each caste there are many sub-castes, also called "birth", "life" or "rank"

The fourth- and lowest-ranked caste, traditionally labourers. The only caste not "twice-born"

A name chosen by a scavenger community in preference to the derogatory Valmiki

VITAL MAHADEV TARKUNDE (1909-) was inspired by M N Roy's Humanism and played a crucial role in the Indian Humanist movement. Justice Tarkunde started his career by helping the so-called 'untouchables' in India. He was a judge of the Mumbai High Court, a senior advocate before the Supreme Court and co-founder of Citizens for Democracy and of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights. Tarkunde was an IHEU Board Member for over 40 years. At the 1978 London Congress, he received the International Humanist Award.

A Dalit sub-caste

A Dalit sub-caste

A Hindu ceremony restricted to the three upper castes by which males become full members of the Vedic religion, eligible to learn Sanskrit, study the Vedas and perform Vedic rituals. Similar to confirmation or Bar Mitzvah. A thread is given and worn around the waist. The equivalent ceremony for females is marriage

A collective description of members of the three upper castes who have been through the thread ceremony; Sudras and Dalits are excluded

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; promotes international co-operation among its member states and others in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

A synonym for Dalit

The third-ranked caste, traditionally farmers, merchants and artisans

A Dalit sub-caste; traditionally sweepers

Lit. colour; the Varna system is the caste system

Lit. the class system

The sacred writings of Hinduism

WIM KOPPENBURG (1904-1972), a chartered accountant, had been appreciated in the 1950s as Treasurer of the Dutch HV for his skilled handling of financial problems. In 1959, he became organizing secretary of IHEU and from 1966 until his death, he was deputy treasurer. After his death, in recognition of his capable financial management, the IHEU Endowment Fund was named after him.

The World Congress of Humanists, held approximately every three years. Records of previous Congresses are available on this web site.