From the 30th of October to the 1st of November I had the honour of representing HSS at the IHEYO General Assembly in Oslo, Norway.

IHEYO (International Humanist and Ethical Youth Organisation) is the organisation responsible for promoting the engagement of young humanists within IHEU (International Humanist and Ethical Union). IHEYO acts as a networking organisation for young Humanists across the world, and the General Assembly was no exception.

The purpose of this event was to bringing together young Humanists and representatives of various Humanist organisations to work through required business whilst also incorporating a social element in order to make the most of this excellent opportunity to network with fellow Humanists from across the globe.

Josh McGinlay, HSS volunteer

One of the main orders of business involved the representatives of member organisations of IHEYO to vote on various issues. One of the main areas of business involved elections. Over the course of the weekend a new committee comprising roles such as treasurer, secretary, management of social media, and fundraiser.

In addition to this an ‘advisory committee’ was elected which is made up of previous IHEYO committee members. The function of this is to provide advice, to bridge the gap between the different generations of committee and to provide any additional assistance. Non-committee roles were also available within the various continental ‘working groups’ whose responsibility is to provide assistance and maintain communication with the Humanist and Ethical organisations on their continent. The General Assembly did not only involve elections but motions were voted on regarding the operation, structure and rules of IHEYO.

Motions were passed to adopt a Code of Conduct for members, for individuals to become members opposed to membership being solely available for organisations, the structure of working groups was altered, and new member organisations were accepted (for example ‘The Future of Ethical Societies’ from the USA). But, the General Assembly was not solely business orientated.

As this was the weekend of Halloween the attendees enjoyed an escape from voting and elections in dressing up and attending the IHEYO Halloween party.

Humanist Society Scotland is currently in the process of applying for membership to IHEYO but from our attendance at the General Assembly we can safely say that this is only the beginning of our engagement with the young Humanist international community. A community that is gathering strength and from what we have seen, has a lot to offer to this world and this is time for Scottish young Humanists to reach out and get involved too.

Josh McGinlay, HSS volunteer