Human Rights Day 2011: Church of Scientology Spearheading Human Rights Education

Human rights are the rights that belong to everyone without exception—topeople of any color, creed, age, ethnicity or gender. But as United NationsSecretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pointed out in his Human Rights Day message thisyear, “…unless we know them, unless we demand they be respected, and unless wedefend our rights — and the right of others — to exercise them, they will beTo make the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rightsknown to all, the Church of Scientology has undertaken a massive human rightseducation initiative, reaching more than 180 million people in 2011 with theinformation on human rights in 17 languages.

Get More Information On The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at http://www.HumanRights.com and http://www.YouthForHumanRights.org

The United Nations estimates that 2.45 million people are trafficked eachyear, nearly a billion live in hunger, and almost half the world’s populationsubsists on less than $2.50 a day, making it clear any momentum generated thisyear must continue and that education and insistence on human rights has neverbeen more vital.In a global demonstration of support for the Universal Declaration of HumanRights and its 30 rights, Scientology Churches and Missions marked Human Rights
Day with seminars, rallies, concerts, round tables, forums and festivals, andhelped organize more than 80 human rights walks in 26 countries to raiseawareness of the Declaration and the need for its full implementation.In 1969, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “The United Nations came up with the answer.An absence of human rights stained the hands of governments and threatened theirrules. Very few governments have implemented any part of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights. These governments have not grasped that their verysurvival depends utterly upon adopting such reforms and thus giving theirpeoples a cause, a civilization worth supporting, worth their patriotism.”For more than four decades, the Church has worked to make the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights broadly known. The Declaration appeared in the firstedition of Freedom Magazine, the Church’s human rights journal, in 1968. In1998, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, the Churchcarried out the first of five annual cross-European marathons, reaching anestimated 33 million with its message in support of human rights.Ten years ago, the Church began publishing materials that present theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in terms anyone can understand. Thesebooklets, award-winning public service announcements and human rightsdocumentary videos are available free of charge to any individual or group.“There are many examples in history of what individuals can accomplish bydemanding their rights and insisting on the rights of others,” says Rev. RobertAdams, Vice President of the Church of Scientology International. “But aknowledge of these rights comes first. The United Nations adopted the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights in 1948, yet in many ways, despite advances, theviolations of its articles are as abhorrent today as they were six decades ago.We work with many dedicated groups, organizations, agencies and governmentbodies to make human rights a reality. To achieve this goal, education in humanrights must be mandatory, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must begiven the force of law.”

Since Human Rights Day 2010, through direct action and sponsorship of activities and materials, the Church of Scientology has reached hundreds ofmillions of people with humans rights information, distributing more than 2million publications and providing educational materials to more than 45,000human rights organizations and 4,500 educators and educational institutions.

Links: http://www.HumanRights.com and http://www.YouthForHumanRights.org

The Scientology religion was founded by author and philosopher L. RonHubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954

and has grown to more than 9,000 Churches, Missions and affiliated groups andmillions of members in 165 countries. More information: http://www.Scientology.org

Opening the Door to Opportunity for an Entire Generation of Youth

Meet a Scientologist—Mary Shuttleworth, Opening the Door to Opportunity for an Entire Generation of Youth

Overcoming her own study difficulties through L. Ron Hubbard Study Technology, Dr. Mary Shuttleworth became an educator and touched the lives of millions of youth with her human rights education initiative.

Scientologist Dr. Mary Shuttleworth,
President and Founder of Youth for Human Rights International

"Education is a bridge to human rights and other positive social change"

Los Angeles, CA June 16, 2011

How many bright, creative children give up on their goals, frustrated with learning difficulties they simply cannot overcome?

Mary Shuttleworth had personal experience with the despair caused by such a dilemma. Overcoming it and accomplishing her academic goals, she dedicated herself to enabling children to achieve their full potential by helping them learn how to learn.

Grade school was academically difficult for Shuttleworth, who came from a highly educated family. Her father, a Scientologist, introduced her to Study Technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

“This knowledge changed my life,” says Shuttleworth, who went on to become a teacher and earn a doctorate in education.

“In today’s information-overload world, illiteracy is not just a handicap, it is a severe disconnect from available opportunities,” she says. “So many of my students arrive saying ‘I hate math’ or some other subject. It is a thrill every time I see the ‘light go on’ for the student—that ‘ah-ha!’ moment when they realize they can understand.”

Her love of children and the earnest desire to help them accomplish their goals prompted Shuttleworth’s concern with human rights education.

Born and raised in apartheid South Africa, Shuttleworth saw firsthand the devastation that results from discrimination and abuse of human rights. In 2001 she founded Youth for Human Rights International, a nonprofit group dedicated to teach youth about human rights, specifically the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations more than 60 years ago, human rights issues abound. Ten years ago when we began Youth for Human Rights International, 90 percent of those surveyed were unable to name more than three of the 30 rights granted by the Declaration,” she says.

In meeting with government, civic and community leaders on eight annual Youth for Human Rights International World Tours, Shuttleworth found that while most are concerned and well-meaning, the majority could not define human rights, let alone enumerate the specific rights the Declaration guarantees. Here too, education is key.

“Such vital knowledge must be disseminated,” says Shuttleworth. “If Edison’s ‘secret’ of electricity had only been available to the few, we might all still be living in the dark.”

The problem was how to get across the concepts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to youth. Shuttleworth’s teenage son Taron had the answer—get their attention by using an audiovisual approach.

“Following Taron’s vision, we set out to produce, on a shoestring budget, the hip-hop music video, UNITED,” says Shuttleworth.

They premiered UNITED at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in August 2004, and its universal appeal made it a favorite for youth in countries from Guyana to Great Britain and Thailand to Tanzania, winning more than a dozen awards around the world.

Based on the resounding success of UNITED, they developed further human rights education materials, inspiring youth from diverse backgrounds to themselves become human rights educators.

A teenage singer in Canada combined human rights education with entertainment in local schools. Youth in Taiwan circled the island on bicycles, visiting schools and meeting with officials to promote human rights education. In South Africa, students produced plays depicting human rights abuses followed by scenes to illustrate the human right that would remedy each scenario. A 12-year-old girl in India met with the president of her country to tell him the importance of teaching human rights.

Shuttleworth says the effectiveness of the program lies in its simplicity.

“With these materials, anyone can teach human rights,” she says. “Education is a bridge to human rights and other positive social change.”

The Church of Scientology International and individual Scientology Churches and Missions support and sponsor human rights education initiatives. For more information on how Scientologists improve the world around them, watch the “Meet a Scientologist” videos at http://www.Scientology.org.
The Church of Scientology International and individual Scientology Churches and Missions support and sponsor human rights education initiatives. For more information on how Scientologists improve the world around them, watch the “Meet a Scientologist” videos at http://www.Scientology.org.

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.


Contact

Karin Pouw
Church of Scientology International
(323) 960-3500

Three Cups of Tea » Home

Three Cups of Tea » Home

Posted using ShareThis

Purchases of Three Cups of Tea (and all Amazon purchases) made through this link on Amazon.com will generate up to 7% of proceeds to benefit Central Asia Institute, a non-profit organization. Click Here

Get Active

Get Started Now

Things Anyone Can Do for Human Rights
Start a Youth for Human Rights Club

Order the booklets and distribute them

Download and distribute the electronic versions of the booklets

Download the PSAs and show them to your friends

Raise Your Voice – Sign the Petition
Use the power of your signature to help protect your rights and make Human Rights for the world a reality.

Seed Newsvine

Scientology Religion in the News

Youth for Human Rights #20

Artists for Human Rights Southern Africa

Arts Festival of Southern Africa
Sunday 21 Oct 2007

Click here for more info

The Arts Festival of Southern Africa takes place at the beginning of March each year.
The Festival is there to encourage artists in any and every field of the arts. Artists are an invaluable part of our society. A nation in which its artists are suppressed - and there have been a great number - is a drab and unhappy nation. Fortunately, South African arts and artists are booming. The nation is booming. It's no coincidence that the two are linked!

Based on the now famous Saint Hill® International Arts Festival, our Arts Festival has gone from strength to strength and is the highlight of the year for performers, artists, and audiences alike!

The philosophy behind the festival...

"The rehabilitation of that art-ability of a culture is a tremendously valid undertaking, and will repay a culture a thousand times over for any effort made in that direction. A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists."

L. Ron Hubbard
(Science of Survival Book 2, Chapter 18)

This statement by world-renowned humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard, is the inspiration and philosophy behind the Arts Festival of Southern Africa, which has as its purposes:

To rehabilitate the art-ability of people;
To create a safe environment for Artists that is without criticism, invalidation or evaluation, and where Artists of all levels feel confident to create their art;
To provide a platform where professional Artists or people who are considered to be experts in their field can deliver workshops to help, assist and train would-be Artists, thereby awakening the art-ability of people;
To impart the technology in the field of Arts as contained in the works of L. Ron Hubbard.
Our concerts are renowned for their friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Our audiences are there to see you win, not fail!

The arts can be tough, especially when lack of recognition or invalidation of your skills is used to put you down. Our Festival is intent on building up your confidence while having a great time, to the point where previous fears of performing or showing your art, fades away and you will finally know your own worth.