Church of Scientology International Supports Blue Heart Campaign

March 17, 2009

The European Office of the Church of Scientology International has joined the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking, launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The European Office of the Church of Scientology supports the Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Launched on March 5th, 2009 by the Executive Director UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, the purpose of the Blue Heart Campaign is to raise awareness and fight human trafficking.

In 2004 the US State Department estimated that some 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children, the majority of whom are forced into the commercial sex trade.

The Church of Scientology sponsors a human rights education campaign consisting of booklets, ads, events and a series of 30 short films or public service announcements (PSAs) about the 30 rights laid out in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). As part of this campaign, the Church produced a short film called “No Slavery,” which illustrates that slavery is not just a study in history, but is rather a fact of life in the world today.

Human rights is a core Scientology belief. As early as 1954, the year the Scientology religion was founded, L. Ron Hubbard began the Creed of the Church of Scientology with the statement “…all men of whatever race, color, or creed were created with equal rights….”