Religious Apartheid 1997 – Continuing Official Repression of Minority Religious Rights in Germany

There is a close relationship between Article 27 of the Covenant which protects the right of religious minorities to profess and practice their own religion, the Declaration on the Elimination of Religious Intolerance, and Article 18 of the Covenant. The rights of religious minorities articulated in Article 27 of the Covenant are further enhanced by The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities passed by the UN in 1992. This Declaration specifically prohibits the German government’s policy of blacklisting and ostracizing Scientologists by protecting the right of persons belonging to minorities to participate effectively in “cultural religious, social, economic and public life” (Article 2) and protecting their right to “participate fully in the economic progress and development in their country.”(Article 4(5)).⁸⁶

The right to full and equal political participation which is denied to Scientologists is also recognized in the draft general principles on freedom and nondiscrimination in the matter of political rights formulated by the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which require that:

(a) Every national of a country is entitled within that country to full and equal political rights without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 4 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany also guarantees the “undisturbed practice of religion” and the “inviolable” freedom “to profess a religion or particular philosophy.”

The German government has not only failed to fulfill its obligations under these specific instruments, it has initiated and encouraged a systematic policy of discrimination amounting to religious apartheid directed at German nationals who are associated with the religion of Scientology.

The religious character of Scientology has been unequivocally recognized in hundreds of administrative and judicial decisions around the globe. As the religion moves into its fifth decade, it continues to grow with thousands of Churches and Missions and related organizations and millions of parishioners on six continents in more than 90 countries. After more than 40 years of history as a distinct religious denomination, there is no legitimate issue as to the “religiosity” of Scientology.

In the case X and Church of Scientology vs. Sweden, the European Commission on Human Rights expressly ruled that the Church, as a religious community, is entitled in its own right to the guarantee of freedom of thought, conscience and religion.⁸⁷

Germany’s Conduct Violates International
Legal Requirements Continued...

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