World Humanist Congress: Better Democracies through Humanist Values
Humanists International is a global membership organization that brings together the humanist movement from around the world. Members—the American Humanist Association (AHA) was one of the five founding organizations in 1952—include both humanist organizations and individual supporters. Inspired by humanist values, Humanists International builds, supports, and represents the global humanist movement and works to champion human rights and secularism by encouraging democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
This year, Humanist International’s World Humanist Congress 2023 will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 3rd – 6th. Humanists from all over the world will congregate to celebrate the first Congress since 2014. (The Congress is typically held every three years, but gatherings in 2017 and 2020 were cancelled because of global/economic instability in the host country and then the pandemic.)
This year’s hosts—a group of humanist organizations representing Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland—cordially invite you to join them for a conference built around a theme of “Humanism and Democracy”. According to the hosts,
Democracy is, as a humanist value, part of a system of values, like rationality, equality, accountability, and rule of law. And democracy is at its best when these values co-exist and strengthen each other. The theme of this congress is “Building Better Democracies Through Humanist Values”. We will look at what constitutes a well-functioning democracy, and what threatens it. But first and foremost, we will focus on how humanist values can contribute to the building of strong and well-functioning democracies.
In addition to keynote talks on Threats to Democracy, Democracy and Humanism, On Hope, Strengthening Ukraine After the War, and Freedom of Religion and Belief Around the World, there will be Parallel Sessions and workshops on a wide variety of topics for a range of humanist interests and groups. Participants can also take advantage of opportunities to explore Copenhagen and the surrounding area with tours, meals, and arts events.
Though humanists have met online and on regional and local levels (including the AHA’s own annual conferences), this is the first time in almost a decade that we’ve come together as a global movement. The World Humanist Congress is an opportunity to consolidate ourselves in a changing world and to participate in a humanist conversation on who we are going to be as a movement in the world of today—and tomorrow.