E/CN.4/1989/44 page 23 "Appointment to posts in both the voluntary and State sectors is by way of open competition. Religious affiliation is not generally a consideration in the filling of such posts. However, it is generally a condition, either explicit or implicit, that staff employed in such institutions will respect the ethical character of the institutions concerned. It is in this respect that the contract of consultant medical staff in certain public voluntary hospitals differs from the standard conditions applicable throughout the State hospital sector. Such a requirement can by no means be represented as requiring the individual so appointed to forego his personal rights to freedom of conscience or of expression. It follows that these conditions of employment cannot represent intolerance or discrimination based on religion or belief. Indeed were the conditions of employment to be otherwise, it is difficult to see how the specific ethos of the hospitals in question could be maintained. The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief clearly envisages at article 6 (b) that hospitals, as charitable or humanitarian institutions, can be maintained by religious organizations. The State is entitled as a matter of public policy to make use of the services provided by such institutions on an equitable basis and to integrate them into the system of delivery of health care to the entire population, without discrimination, on the basis of service priorities. Were institutions or individuals to be denied an opportunity to participate in the delivery of such services on the basis of their religious affiliation, such action would surely amount to discrimination by the State in breach of the Declaration. "It should be noted that the particular arrangements made with voluntary hospitals for the provision of service apply to hospitals associated with the minority denominations on the same basis as those associated with the religious denomination of the majority." Italy 49. In a communication of 19 October 1988 addressed to the Government concerned, the followinq information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "It has been alleged that the lengthy criminal proceedings initiated in 1981 against the Milan Association of the Church of Scientology (on charges includinq criminal association, fraud and the illegal practice of the medical profession), which are still pending completion, do not allow for a fair hearing or trial within a reasonable time. It has been reported that after seven years of investigation, the Milan Examining Judge conducting the investigation has ordered the closure of all 20 Italian churches and missions of Scientology and the church related Narconon drug rehabilitation groups. All religious literature has reportedly been seized. On 28 May 1988, the Examining Judge reportedly issued an arrest warrant which resulted in the arrest of 28 church members. As of September 1988, several were reported to be held under house arrest and five to be still in prison."