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The Humanist Party was launched on 8 March 1984 by the Department of Social Affairs of the Community for Human Development. Around the world many Humanist Parties started to emerge and on January 4, 1989, in Florence, Italy, the first congress of the Humanist International was held.
Contents
In this event, the foundational documents were adopted, including the Declaration of Principles, The Thesis, Foundations for political action and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In December 1989, in Chile, Laura RodrÃguez became the first elected representative of any Humanist Party in the world after winning a seat as part of the Concertación coalition, after Augusto Pinochet handed over power.
In October 1993, the second congress of the Humanist International was held in Moscow, Russia, whereupon the Document of the Humanist Movement was also incorporated as a foundational document. This document had previously been circulating as chapter six of the book Letters to my friends.
In 1999, regional coordination bodies of Humanist Parties were formed in South America and Europe. The regional bodies of Africa and Asia are expected to be formed in 2006.
In addition to the Humanist Party, the Community for Human Development later recommended also the formation of a party based on a new humanist approach to ecology. The subsequent formation of a party called "The Greens" caused much confusion in Europe where The Greens and the Green Party were fighting elections against one another. This led to a great deal of bad feeling from the Green Party. Eventually, the environmental policies of The Greens were incorporated within the Humanist Party, which resulted in their merger.
The official documents of the Humanist Party can be found in the Book of the Humanist International.
Humanist Parties
The Humanist Party exists in many countries as a member of the Humanist International:
United Kingdom
The Humanist Party is a minor political party in the politics of the United Kingdom. It was launched in 1984. In August 1985 the first issue of The Humanist was published and in 1987 the first Humanist Party candidate contested a parliamentary by-election. Since then the party has contested elections at all levels, including the Scottish and European Parliamentary elections and the Greater London Authority elections, receiving few votes.