Search for "airline tickets international cheap flights phone number 1-800-299-7264"

United Nations Affirms the Human Right to Blaspheme

By Austin Dacey

…hes between competing claims of conscience. This stance is defended by the International Humanist and Ethical Union and elaborated in my forthcoming book, The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights. The message of General Comment No. 34 is not only a clear condemnation of the blasphemy laws of countries such as Pakistan, which despite having ratified the ICCPR in 2008, continues to impose the death sentence for blasp…

Global LGBT Recap: Adventists Talk About, Not To, LGBT People; British Muslim Group Welcomes Gay-Rights Activist; Homophobia Exports Continue

By Peter Montgomery

…l countries are passing brutal anti-LGBTI legislation. Uganda and Nigeria: International Fallout Continues The European Parliament passed a resolution last week condemning anti-gay laws in Nigeria and Uganda. In response, the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Parliament reportedly “said it will discourage African heads of state and government from attending the EU-Africa summit scheduled for May should Western nations impose sanctions on Uganda and…

Countering the “Countering Violent Extremism” Program

By Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

…t two years, the Obama administration has dramatically elevated CVE in the international agenda” in developing a “preventative, civilian-led framework.” USAID and others have taken steps to incorporate CVE into their programming. There is talk of women’s CVE initiatives. According to Sewall, “women’s empowerment is not only essential for defeating violent extremism; defeating violent extremism is essential for women’s empowerment. CVE is a feminis…

Anti-Gay Celebration in Uganda; Weddings in England; ‘Francis Effect’ at the Vatican

By Peter Montgomery

…ts at the United Nations and the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. In international bodies, the Holy See regularly teams up with groups like Family Watch International and the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute as well as groups of Islamic and African nations to oppose any effort to apply human rights language or principles to same-sex relationships, or to extend the definition of “family.” The Holy See, Feder concludes, “seems to rem…

Ahmadinejad Aside, Anti-Racism Conference Was Deeply Flawed

By Austin Dacey

…abide by ICERD. What’s more, the text calls for an elaboration of existing international standards in order to keep pace with new forms of intolerance (read “Islamophobia”). Now the Algeria-chaired Ad Hoc Committee on Complementary Standards, under the influence of the Islamic states and their African allies, is seeking to add to ICERD a protocol that would outlaw religiously offensive speech as “incitement.” This is the real action that’s taking…

Global LGBT Recap: Promise and Peril in the New Year

By Peter Montgomery

…il terms for hate crimes. Russia: Principle 6 Campaign & It Gets Better An international cast of athletes has joined the Principle 6 campaign, which as created by Athlete Ally and All Out to give athletes, spectators, and others a way to raise awareness of anti-LGBT laws in Russia before and during the Sochi Olympics. The campaign is built around Principle 6 of the Olympic charter, which states: “Sport does not discriminate on grounds of race, rel…

Reports of the Death of the Episcopal Church are Greatly Exaggerated

By Becky Garrison

…of England. Also, the Archbishop is an official patron of Greenbelt UK, an international social justice and arts festival that draws close to 20,000 international visitors each year. Such developments point to a phoenix rising from the Anglican ashes. One has to wonder why the media ignores initiatives endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury—choosing instead to profile a group of errant evangelicals, who are riding roughshod over centuries of chu…

Sharbat Gula’s Experience Exemplifies the ‘White Savior’ Lens Through Which Most Americans View Afghanistan

By Sara Kamali

…la’s name was erased and her image subsumed into a larger narrative of the international community doing good. A charity named The Afghan Girl’s Fund was set up by National Geographic (its name was changed to The Afghan Children’s Fund in 2008). Illustrative of the misguided international aid programs that saturated Afghanistan for decades, the aid ultimately bolstered the image of the magazine instead of supporting Afghans directly themselves thr…

Brexit Boosters: Why the Religious Right Hates the European Union

By Peter Montgomery

…tin Ruse, who has worked for years to keep abortion and LGBT rights out of international agreements, complained back in 2003 that Justice Anthony Kennedy, in his opinion overturning laws criminalizing consenting sex between adults, referred to an amicus brief submitted by former UN High Commission for Human Rights Mary Robinson. Ruse fumed, “If the Supreme Court continues to be guided by the decisions of the UN and the EU, US recognition of same-s…

Arrest the Pope: New Atheist Effort to Seek Justice in Sexual Abuse Crisis Should Be Applauded

By Frances Kissling

…erra Leone until 2007. Robertson claims “the Holy See can no longer ignore international law, which now counts the widespread or systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.” Moreover, he challenges the Vatican’s claim of diplomatic immunity from legal action. While Robertson is not the first lawyer to make these claims, he may have a better chance to get them heard in an international court than others have had. US lawyers att…