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GERMANY, February 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A mother of twelve has been sentenced to 43 days in jail in the German town of Salzkotten for refusing to enroll her children in the sex education program in a local elementary school, according to two German Catholic news sites, Kath.net and Katholishes.info.

The woman, whose name is not revealed in the articles, is reportedly a Baptist who is opposed to the program based upon her religious convictions. The couple says that their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Germany is a signatory, are being ignored.

They cite article 2 of the convention’s first protocol, which states: “the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”  The local elementary school has reportedly ignored this right since 2005, and is being supported by the judiciary.

The woman’s husband says that “his wife has really missed her family, but finds her solace in God” according to Kath.net, which also reports that the younger children “miss their mother,” but that suffering injustice is part of the experience of being Christian.

The persecution of Germans who homeschool or reject government sex education is an ongoing phenomenon.  In April of last year the website Kopp Online reported several cases of German mothers who reside in Salzkotten spending up to a week in jail for refusing the local sex ed program for their children.  Similar persecution was reported in the same town, which is located in the district of Paderborn, in December of 2009.

In January of 2010 a German family was granted asylum in the United States after years of harassment by the German government for homeschooling their children.

 Find a full listing of LifeSiteNews' coverage of the Ontario government's explicit sex-ed program here.

Contact information:

Embassy of Germany in the United States
2300 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
Phone (202) 298-4000
Email: https://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/Kontakt.html

Embassy of Germany in Canada
1 Waverley Street
Ottawa, ON, K2P 0T8
Tel.: 613-232-1101 Fax: 613-594-9330
Email: [email protected]

Embassy of Germany in the United Kingdom
23 Belgrave Square
London
SW1X 8PZ
Phone: 020 7824 1300
Fax: 020 7824 1449
Email: https://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/london/en/Kontakt.html