In Turin, UNESCO’s national councillor for Italy (above, top) signed her name in support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Directly above, a Hispanic community leader in Los Angeles put her name to a pledge commemorating the Declaration’s 55th anniversary on December 10, 2003.

It began with a marathon by a team of Scientologists who used the medium of sport to convey the importance of human rights to the peoples of Europe. The participants in the first of these, called the European Journey for Religious Freedom, ran 3,225 kilometres through Britain, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany, to raise public awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its 50th anniversary year.

Meeting thousands of people, from government officials, human rights leaders and church leaders to the public-at-large, the marathoners acquainted them — most for the first time — with the details of this fundamental human rights charter. They went out of their way to stop at every hamlet, village and town they passed to talk to the people and distribute handouts that explained the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its importance. Sometimes the marathon team would leave the beaten track and travel into the hills to speak with local shepherds or, for example, to meet with a monk in a distant monastery.

Carrying the national flags of their countries, they made a colourful procession, and were often surrounded on their arrival in a town by local residents, curious as to the purpose of their journey and soon asking questions about human rights. Taking into account the literature they distributed and the numerous television and radio programmes they appeared in, the marathon team brought the UDHR to an estimated 30 million people.

Many Scientologists, young and old, donate several months a year to human rights initiatives, helping to organise the marathons and other sporting events to promote human rights.

The European Journey was succeeded the following year by an even more ambitious human rights marathon, which started in the historic birthplace of democracy, Athens, and ended 13 weeks later in Hamburg. A key feature of the Church’s marathons is that officials and community leaders meeting the runners sign their names to a pledge, which the athletes carry with them from town to town. The pledge sets forth the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and commits the signatory to abide by and practice them. In 1999, several members of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly incorporated the pledge into an official declaration.

In subsequent years, the human rights marathons have crossed Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and France — with each ending at a destination of significance for human rights. In 2001, for example, the marathon concluded in Geneva. Representatives of a dozen nations and 47 nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) attended a specially arranged Celebration of Human Rights at the United Nations Human Rights Office.

In 2002, the marathon expanded to become a “multathlon,” a coined word meaning “many contests” in the sense that participants run, walk, cycle, sail, ride, swim, in-line skate or engage in any sporting activity for the cause. The multathlon began in St. Petersburg, commencing with a free concert to promote human rights attended by an audience of 12,000. As the team travelled across Europe, they distributed human rights literature to the public and spoke to hundreds of officials, members of parliament and community leaders, as well as thousands of general public. Ultimately, they travelled more than 4,000 kilometres through nine countries, crossing the finish line in Paris.

That same year, the United States witnessed its first human rights multathlon, a five-day run that criss-crossed through many different ethnic communities in Southern California, and helped to bring those cultures and peoples together. The Los Angeles City Council recognised the value of this human rights project in a proclamation that commended the Church’s Human Rights Department and the United Nations Association USA (UNA-USA)¹ for jointly sponsoring the event. This event was so popular and effective that a second multathlon was held the following year, and looks to become an annual fixture. In addition, the popularity of the multathlons has spread and events are now being scheduled across the world in such places as Ukraine, Hungary, Russia and Mexico.

The dedication and generosity of the many Scientologists from the United States and Europe, who donated several months of their year to these initiatives, cannot be overlooked. Not only did they take part in the run itself, they also spent innumerable weeks of man-hours preparing for the event and organising logistics. The results speak for themselves — wherever these marathon teams have travelled, their message has been clear: Discord and violence begin with acts of intolerance, and respect for and adherence to human rights law is the only chance for lasting peace and stability.

It is a message that churches of Scientology have sought to spread far and wide, through a wide range of media.

1 UNA-USA is a not-for-profit, non partisan organisation that supports the work of the United Nations. It describes itself as the United States’ largest grassroots foreign policy organisation and the leading centre of policy research on the UN and global issues.