Human Rights Violations and European Social Unrest - France Riots
With violence escalating in France and other European nations it is time to examine and effectively tackle those factors that cause riots.
In the late 1960’s when American cities were torn by civil unrest, L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology Religion, investigated the cause of the riots that were racking the country. What he found was a common denominator: riots are caused by injustice.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was endorsed by all UN member states, contains the following clauses:
Article 11.
1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
In an essay of 19 March 1969,
Until there is justice for the little people, not just for the rich, there will be riots. And these riots can easily swell into complete raw red revolution. ...
As a minister, going amongst the people, I have witnessed enough injustice to overturn a state only waiting for a spark to ignite the suppressed wrath into revolution.
Until justice applies to all, until a person is really assumed innocent until proven guilty, until it no longer costs a tenth of a million to get to an upper court, the government is at risk. >>
The Church of Scientology International European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights urges an honest assessment of the status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and an all-out effort see that the rights provided by this document are implemented in full, to counter injustice and end social unrest.