Religious Apartheid 1997 – Continuing Official Repression of Minority Religious Rights in Germany
n November of 1996, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, composed of 18 independent human rights experts of international repute, issued a report criticizing Germany’s noncompliance with its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This report specifically included the illegal campaign by certain German states against Scientology and other minority groups.89
Likewise, in November of 1996, the Chairman of the Central Commission of the Jews in Germany criticized Bavaria’s law banning Scientologists from civil service.90
For the last two years, the annual report on religious intolerance by the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations regarding the application of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief has included information regarding religious intolerance directed at Scientologists in Germany. Indeed, the 1994 report detailed case after case of human rights violations. The entire section of the Report on Germany concerned reports of religious intolerance directed at Scientologists.91
For the last three years, the Department of State of the United States Government has noted the plight of Scientologists in Germany in its Human Rights Reports for 1993, 1994 and 1995. The 1995 report noted the banning of Scientologists from membership in political parties; boycotts—sometimes with government approval—against firms owned or run by Scientologists; discrimination against Scientology artists; and announcements by one Cabinet member calling for the banning of Scientologists from certain professions.92 In the 1994 report on the Federal Republic of Germany, the State Department noted the following:
Members of the Church of Scientology continue to complain of harassment such as being fired from a job or expelled from (or not permitted to join) a political party. Scientologists continued to take such grievances to court. Musician Chick Corea, a Scientologist, was permitted to appear in a government-subsidized concert hall in the state of Hesse only after an agreement with local officials that he would not proselytize during his performance.93
The State Department Human Rights Report for 1993 noted that parishioners of the Church of Scientology have been expelled from and are not permitted to join political parties solely due to their religious beliefs.94
International Concern Continued...
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