“Sects” and children: the official figures
Under the cover of fighting “sects” minority faiths are widely discredited in the media and often their right to answer is simply scoffed. The word “sect” has already proved discriminatory in History; it has no legal definition and is charged with a strong emotional...Religious Discrimination in France: report 2011
Introduction International human rights organizations have warned that the French government has retreated from its mandate toward respecting religious pluralism. In spite of the principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment, the French government has...Appeal to the Constitutional Court likely against Belgian new “Anti-Sect” Law
HRWF (09.08.2012 ) – On November 26, 2011, the Belgian Parliament voted a Law adding articles to the Penal Code criminalizing “Abuse of Weakness”. Obviously, every citizen agrees that a person in a situation of weakness because of his age, physical...Italy enters into concordates with Mormons, Apostolic Pentecostals, and an Orthodox Church
CESNUR (21.07.2012) – The Italian Senate approved on July 18, 2012 “intese” with the Mormon Church, the Italian Apostolic Church – a Pentecostal body tracing its origins in the Welsh revival – and the Orthodox Church loyal to the...MIVILUDES and Jehovah’s Witnesses
MIVILUDES issued a press release which said: “The Inter-ministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances takes note of the court decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights on 5 July 2012 but makes clear it was a decision about a purely fiscal dispute. It will go on exercising vigilance regarding the Jehovah’s Witnesses because of denouncements of “sectarian deviations” that it regularly receives from former members or from relatives of members of this religious community.”
France must reimburse 4.6 million Euros to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (CEDH) decided that France must reimburse the French branch of the Jehovah Witnesses nearly 4.6 million Euros. This amount had been seized at the end of a reassessment of taxes owed on gifts made by faithful members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Libel and lies in MIVILUDES’ reports denounced
The Russian media dealing with religious issues have widely echoed the 1 June 2012 decision of the Paris Criminal Court convicting Georges Fenech, the president of MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances), for public defamation, as it can be seen hereafter.
