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Revision as of 12:39, 8 May 2007
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.



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Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California at 1332 L. Ron Hubbard Way, whose stated mission is "To teach youth around the globe about human rights, thus helping them to become valuable advocates for the promotion of tolerance and peace." Specifically, it promotes [1][2] what Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard said about human rights[3] and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, primarily by sponsoring essay and art contests and by providing materials for students and teaching guides for schools. [4]

Leadership

YHRI's president and founder is Mary Shuttleworth (formerly Mary Untiedt), former president of YHRI's parent organization International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance. She also founded the Applied Scholastics schools "Shuttleworth Academy" and "Mary's Schoolhouse".[5] Shuttleworth holds an executive position at TXL Films[6] the company who created the music video UNITED with YHRI.[7] She is a Scientologist.

According to the newsletter Church of Scientology International, YHRI's Executive Director is Tim Bowles[8][9], former law partner of Bowles & Moxon, serving as general legal council for the Church of Scientology. Bowles also acts as an advisor to Scientology's Citizens Commission on Human Rights. [10]

Lynsey Bartilson, who appears on the television series "Grounded for Life," is YHRI's most visible spokesperson. She was raised and remains a Scientologist, and her mother Laurie Bartilson was a former law partner at Moxon & Bartilson. In her online biography, she states that she worked as creative director and choreographer for the Scientology Celebrity Center’s “Kids on Stage for A Better World.”

Programs

YHRI has teamed with TXL Films (founded by Taron Lexton, son of YHRI founder Mary Shuttleworth [11]) to create the award-winning music video, "UNITED." [12] In June 2006, they released 30 public service announcements for TV, illustrating each of the 30 rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[13], which were created by the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International for YHRI.[14]

Activities

YHRI distributes materials related to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and YHRI programs, to schoolchildren in a variety of developed nations, such as the United States[15], Australia, [16] the United Kingdom [17] and the Czech Republic.[18] YHRI is also active in Germany. [19] In Belgium, it handed out a prize, and also held an awards ceremony in Bulgaria for the same prize.[20] YHRI awarded one prize to a Chinese actress, who promoted human rights on her web site, [21] and another to a young Israeli Scientologist who screened the film, UNITED, and distributed YHRI materials in his school. [22]. It held a conference in Zurich. [23] It discussed plans to lecture and distribute its materials to schoolchildren in Ghana and Liberia. [24][25][26][27] It advocated lower school fees in Uganda, [28] and held a peace rally in Nigeria.[29] In South Africa, Mary Shuttleworth's country of origin, it is pushing for a "human rights month."[30] The organization's work is supported by the actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise[31] and cooperates with other human rights organizations, such as local chapters of Amnesty International.[32]

Controversy

Controversy over Youth for Human Rights International is twofold.

The first stems from the repeated failure on the part of the group to clearly identify its ties to the Church of Scientology. YHRI was founded by, and is largely staffed and financed by, Scientologists, and its message is based to a large extent on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and L. Ron Hubbard's writings. This has led to concerns that YHRI is operating as a "front organization" for Scientology.[19]

In a 1977 raid on Scientology, the FBI seized a memo entitled "PR General Categories of Data Needing Coding" that contained a list of what the memo called "Secret PR Front Groups." Leading the list was "APRL, Alliance for the Preservation of Religious Liberty".[33]

YHRI's undisclosed Scientology connection led to trouble with sponsors -- among them the Florida Holocaust Museum -- at a human rights march the group organized in St. Petersburg, Florida in March 2007.[34] In another instance, the group was accused of luring unwitting high-schoolers to a forum run by Scientologists at the New South Wales State Parliament House in Sydney.[2]

In each of the above cases the YHRI organizer responded that, while the Church of Scientology supported their group, it was a YHRI event, not a Church event and the message was human rights, not Scientology. Nevertheless, on the materials handed out at the event in Australia, L.Ron Hubbard's image and quotes figured more prominently than those of such activists as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.[2]

Another controversy stems from the problematic nature of Scientology's relationship to human rights in Europe. The Church of Scientology's Human Rights Department is concerned with religious tolerance there, and YHRI is part of its overall campaign. [35] YHRI, known in German as "Jugend für Menschenrechte," is active in both Switzerland and Germany, organizing human rights conferences for youth to promote religious tolerance. [36] Referring to the campaign, Antje Blumenthal, a member of the German parliament, expressed concern that the good intentions of the young were being misused. [37]

Scientology sees the stance of these countries as discrimination, [38] and is presently conducting a campaign through the Church of Scientology International European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights, and with the help of YHRI, in Europe. [39] In Brussels last year, Julie Barreau, a reporter for Le Soir magazine, recorded the speaker of a Scientology meeting as saying: "We must take control of Belgium. Their intentions are the same as the Nazis. We have to educate the forces of the fourth Reich about human rights." [40]

Ursula Caberta, the Commissioner for the Scientology Workgroup of the Hamburg Interior Authority, has accused the YHRI of being one of a number of Scientology-linked groups that mask their connection to the church and seek to attract and recruit the young. [19]

Germany considers Scientology to be a commercial organization and a form of political extremism that poses a threat to its democracy and constitution, themselves the basis of human rights in Germany. [41] [42]

In 2005, administrators at a Los Angeles high school required students have their parents' permission before attending a YHRI event, after discovering the group's ties to Scientology. [43]

Other European governments have concerns regarding Scientology and human rights. After the 1988 suicide of a Scientologist and the subsequent conviction of several Scientologists for fraud and abuse of trust, France began to monitor Scientology as a sect. [44] [45] A French human rights commission submitted to the Assemblee nationale in December 2006 a report including testimony of abuses on Scientology's part that harmed the physical and mental health of children. [46] [47]

See also

References

  1. ^ International Youth Movement Turns To 20th Century Humanitarians for Inspiration, youthforhumanrights.org
  2. ^ a b c Patty, Anna (2007-03-27). "Unwitting high-schoolers lured to forum run by Scientologists". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2007-03-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Article of L. Ron Hubbard
  4. ^ (n.d.) About YHRI
  5. ^ (n.d.) About Mary Shuttleworth
  6. ^ (n.d.)Mary Shuttleworth
  7. ^ (n.d.) About United
  8. ^ International Youth Delegates Spark Human Rights Initiative at David Starr Jordan High School, Church of Scientology International, Human Rights News, October 7, 2005
  9. ^ Youth For Human Rights International - Ghana Human Rights Tour, Church of Scientology International, Human Rights News Forum, June 3, 2006
  10. ^ (n.d.)About Tim Bowles
  11. ^ [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb336245.htm Pepsi Honors Mother and Son as Everyday Freedom Heroes], Press Release, January 23, 2006
  12. ^ (n.d.) About "United"
  13. ^ (n.d.) Watch Ads
  14. ^ http://www.theta.com/human-rights-education/20070314_hre_1.php
  15. ^ St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), September 15, 2006, Title: Hoech sixth-grader attended U.N. human rights meeting
  16. ^ The Analyst, May 31, 2006, Title: YHRI Holds Aids Awareness in Paynesville,
  17. ^ Cornish Guardian, September 1, 2005, Title: Cornwall plays host to human rights festival
  18. ^ Czech News Agency CTK, December 9, 2006, SCHEDULE OF CTK GENERAL NEWS IN ENGLISH, DECEMBER 10,
  19. ^ a b c Thomas Klatt (2007-01-09). "A form of political extremism". Die Welt. Retrieved 2007-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  20. ^ New Vision, June 14, 2006, Title: Mande Wins Rights Award
  21. ^ South China Morning Post, August 31, 2006, Title: Crusading for human rights
  22. ^ The Jerusalem Post, June 23, 2006, Friday, Title: Haifa boy receives European Human Rights Award. Scientology-linked group rewards Scientologist's project,
  23. ^ Hindustan Times, March 8, 2006, Title: Human rights is everyone's business,
  24. ^ Public Agenda, May 29, 2006, Title: Human Rights Education Ventures to Be Established in Schools,
  25. ^ Accra Mail (Ghana) - AAGM, November 6, 2006 Monday, Title: INCULCATE HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION INTO SCHOOL CURRICULUM
  26. ^ The Analyst, June 7, 2006, Title: Youth Activist Suggests Edu Rights Ventures,
  27. ^ Africa News, December 7, 2005, Title: Liberia; Take a Fresh Look At Liberia, Says Journalist, Activist
  28. ^ The Monitor, February 27, 2007, Title: Youth Want Govt to Abolish School Fees,
  29. ^ Africa News, March 21, 2007, Title: Human Rights Group Organises Peace Rally
  30. ^ BuaNews, February 7, 2007, Title: Youth Group Urges South Africans to Celebrate Human Rights Month,
  31. ^ SUNDAY HERALD SUN, January 1, 2006, Title: Tom and Katie's gift of rights,
  32. ^ YHRI Collaborateurs]
  33. ^ Kent, Stephen A. (1988). "When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters". Skeptic. 6 (3): 36–44. Retrieved 2007-05-05. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ Meg Laughlin (2007-04-07). "Tie to rights march wasn't revealed". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-04-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ CoS Human Rights web site: Actions for Human Rights in Washington, D.C. http://www.scientology.org/humanrights/photo/washington-dc/index.htm
  36. ^ Stamm, Hugo. "Scientologists tempt the young". Tages Anzeiger.
  37. ^ Ibid.
  38. ^ CoS HR Dept: Documenting and Exposing Government Discrimination http://www.scientology.org/humanrights/photo/government-discrimination/index.htm
  39. ^ Church of Scientology International European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights, News http://www.scientology-europe.org/
  40. ^ Barreau, Julie (2006-05-17). "Scientology takes aim at Brussels". Le Soir Magazine. Retrieved 2007-04-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  41. ^ "German Embassy statement on Scientology".
  42. ^ "Baden-Wuerttemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Scientology".
  43. ^ "Scientology group sponsors school event". UPI Newstrack. 2005-10-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ Barry James (1996-10-02). "Scientology Is Fighting For Its Future in France". The International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  45. ^ Craig Whitney (1996-11-23). "French Scientologist Sentenced After Church Member's Suicide". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  46. ^ Fenech, Georges (2006). "Investigative commission on the influence of sects and the consequences of their practices on the mental and physical health of children" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-04-16. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  47. ^ Curtis Krueger (1991-11-10). "SCIENTOLOGY'S CHILDREN". The St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.

External links

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