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SPEARHEADING SOCIAL REFORM
In 1991 Scientologists also assisted passage of a new law in France providing individuals greater access to the files of Renseignements Généraux (General Information), the French intelligence police, known as the “RG.”
In 1992 an international conference on freedom of information, organized by a Scientologist, was held in Hungary with speakers from the United States, Canada, Sweden, Portugal, Scotland and Germany, and delegates from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, Latvia and Poland. This three-day international meeting, attended by 120 people and cosponsored by the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, brought a vital message on the subject for all those emerging from former political repression.
Broad public education concerning freedom of information is essential if people are to understand their rights. In the mid-1970s the Church of Scientology published the first of its informative booklets on freedom of information – a layman’s guide for filing requests and overcoming arbitrary refusals to provide valid information.
A revised and updated edition has since been published. It has been distributed as a public service to more than 60,000 individuals and groups. Entitled How to Use the Freedom of Information Act: Holding the Government Accountable for Its Actions, the revised handbook received countless accolades by letter and in the media, and the Church still receives numerous requests for copies years after its publication.
 
More Social Reform Activities
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