E/CN.4/1987/35 page 20 departments to prepare lists of members of the sect employed in the departments. In another country, a large number of public officials of a particular faith were dismissed from their posts for belonging to that faith; retired officials were deprived of their pensions for the same reason; furthermore, in the same country, a decree has been adopted requiring the former officials belonging to that faith to pay back to the State the salaries they were paid as officials. 64. Discrimination may also occur in the exercise of the right to health. In one country, for example, the members of a religious community are denied access to medical care. Obstacles, on religious grounds are sometimes put in the way of obtaining housing. Thus, in one country, housing has on occasion been refused to believers, quite illegally, however, according to the laws of the country. Similarly, premises used, sometimes with legal permission, for religious meetings have been attacked, their windows broken and doors smashed. 65. Discrimination in education may take a variety of forms. It may occur in the form of vexations suffered at school by the children of believers on the part of teachers or other pupils; in certain countries, young believers are excluded from access to higher education. Sometimes, the discovery of a student's adherence to a particular religious denomination may lead to his expulsion from the university. Elsewhere, women belonging to a certain religious congregation do not have the right to train to become nurses. In one country, even access to education is denied to members of an outlawed sect; a decree issued by the Ministry of Education stipulates that access to teaching establishments is reserved for members of officially recognized religions. Accordingly, hundreds of students at all levels, primary, secondary and higher, were expelled from educational establishments for belonging to this sect. It was proposed that they should be readmitted provided they abjured their faith. 3. Infringements of the right to bring up children in accordance with the religion or belief chosen by the parents (art. 5 of the Declaration) 66. Under the terms of article 5, paragraph 1, the parents or the legal guardians of the child have the right to organize the life within the family in accordance with their religion or belief. Article 5, paragraph 2, recognizes that each child has the right to have access to education in the matter of religion or belief in accordance with the wishes of his parents or guardians, and not to be compelled to receive teaching on religion or belief against their wishes. This paragraph stipulates that the best interests of the child are the guiding principle in that regard. Article 5, paragraph 3, stresses the need to protect the child from any discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, and to bring it up in a spirit of understanding and çolerance for the beliefs of others. 67. As far as the organization of family life in accordance with the religion or belief chosen is concerned, and bearing in mind, as specified in article 5, paragraph 1, the moral education in which the parents or legal guardians believe the child should be brought up, several examples clearly show that this principle is not always respected. In a certain country, for instance, parents belonging to a particular ethnic and religious community are forcibly prevented, in spite of their beliefs, from performing certain rites on their children, such as the circumcision of male children, or from giving them names

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