reedom of Religion as a Human Right: The Council of Europe’s Upcoming Vote on Establishing “Sect Observatories”

The famous Moscow Helsinki Group, by the voice of its co-founder Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a very well known freedom fighter since the 70s in the Soviet Union, wrote to Mrs Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to alert her about a report drafted by the member of the French delegation Mr Rudy Salles, which should be voted on April 10, 2014 by the Assembly.

The Evropress Club of Journalist, in Bulgaria, sent a letter to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to protest against a report drafted by French MP Rudy Salles, deemed to violate basic human rights standards and to be “very counter-productive for the eastern-European countries as well as for all Europe”.

I am writing not only to support FOREF’s complaint against Mr. Salles but to alert you to newly discovered facts that provide further proof that Mr. Salles is in breach of the PACE rules requiring objectivity and neutrality for Rapporteurs. In October 2012, the newspaper Nice Martin interviewed Mr. Salles and reported he had been appointed to the Board of MIVILUDES in October 2012. A copy of that news article dated 22 October 2012 is attached. Given MIVILUDES position and policies on the subject, this, in and of itself, constitutes a serious breach not only of the Code of Conduct for Rapporteurs but also of the Code of Conduct for Members of the Parliamentary Assembly. Mr. Salles should, at the very least, have removed himself as Rapporteur upon acceptance of this appointment.

Mr. Salles is a long-time associate of Mr. Georges Fenech, member of the French National Assembly and former head of the Miviludes,

30 civil society and religious leaders and 10 organizations have joined EIFRF in a supportive letter regarding Motion for a Resolution 13333 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The letter has been sent to every member of the Committee on equality and non-discrimination. Here are the text of the letter and the signatories.

On 10th December 2013, Soteria International co-hosted a conference on the subject of “Freedom of conscience and belief at a crossroads in Europe – self-determination and spiritual teachings”. It is already an established tradition of Soteria International to observe the International Human Rights day by organizing public conferences and roundtables.

Some other speakers will speak of the good practices that exist in Europe regarding the treatment of religious minorities but I will have the difficult task of describing a country with a system which is known for its discriminatory and bad practices. Unfortunately, I know this country pretty well, as it is mine: France.

For years, France has had a policy of stigmatization and negative stereotyping of minorities of religion or belief it has labeled as “sects” or, more recently as “sectarian movements”. This derogatory classification corresponds to the improper assessment of religion or beliefs and the consideration that some of them, new or minority ones not belonging to traditional Churches or Institutions, are “deviant” and constitute “sectarian drifts”.