The AHA is a contributor to the report issued by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) on Dec. 10, 2012, Human Rights Day. We also initiated a meeting with Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador At Large for International Religious Freedom at the U.S. State Department, earlier this year to discuss the issue of discrimination against nontheists across the globe.

Details on our meeting and a copy of the previous report submitted to Ambassador Cook can be found here.

Additional news coverage: NBC, The Himalayan Times, The Jakarta Globe, Fiji News, Russia Today.

By Robert Evans

GENEVA | Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:15am IST

(Reuters) - Atheists, humanists and freethinkers face widespread discrimination around the world with expression of their views criminalized and subject in some countries to capital punishment, the United Nations was told on Monday.

In a document for consideration by the world body's Human Rights Council, a global organization linking people who reject religion said atheism was banned by law in a number of states where people were forced to officially adopt a faith.

"Extensive discrimination by governments against atheists, humanists and the non-religious occurs worldwide," declared the grouping, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) which has some 120 member bodies in 45 countries.

To read the rest of this Reuters story, click here.