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Created over ten years ago to fight against discrimination of minorities of religion or belief in France, the European Coordination for Freedom of Conscience which I represent wishes to highlight the French policy of stigmatization of parent members of religious minorities and their children.

OSCE Human Dimension Freedom of religion or belief 1st October 2012
« Sects » and children : Miviludes 2009 report

OSCE Human Dimension Freedom of religion or belief 1st October 2012

FRANCE : “Sects” and children: the official figures

On 6 September 2012, Rudy Salles, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will present a report on « The protection of minors against sectarian influence ». A year ago, Rudy Salles, a member of the French National Assembly, was appointed at the PACE as rapporteur to draft such a report. This issue has been pushed for a long time by French anti-cult groups and MIVILUDES (Inter-Ministerial Mission of Vigilance and Fight against Sectarian Drifts).

But this « About-Picard » law, named after its authors, contravenes the Council of Europe’s  Recommendation 1412 in which it considered that major legislation on sects was undesirable on the grounds that such legislation might well interfere with the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights as well as harm traditional religions.

According to this guide, a child born in a family in which the parents are followers of a religious minority, is immersed in their beliefs, which for MIVILUDES can be analyzed as a symbolic confinement in the family. For MIVILUDES, the world of the grown-ups imposes itself to the child as a reference in terms of behaviour, values, ideas and beliefs. Under constant construction, the future identity of the child will thus be deeply marked according to MIVILUDES by the beliefs of his parents.

CAP LC wishes to set the record straight regarding discrimination of minority belief groups in France. We also wish to address the response made in February 2010 by the French government to the request of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief for updated information following her 2005 measures taken to implement them” in the event similar representations were made by the French government to ODIHR.

With a whiff of Committee of Public Salvation which used to organise State repression in the name of “public salvation” and “general safety” during the troubled times of the French Revolution, the Interministerial Mission of Watch and Fight against Sectarian Deviations, headed by its new President Georges Fenech, organises the repression of groups it considers as “deviating” in the name of public interest.

On 19 September 2008, Prime Minister Fillon appointed Mr. Georges Fenech, former Magistrate and Member of Parliament, as Chairman of MIVILUDES (the Inter-Ministerial Mission of Vigilance to Fight against Sectarian Drifts). MIVILUDES was formed on 28 November 2002 by the Prime Minister. MIVILUDES is an inter- ministerial government entity tasked to collect data on religious movements and inform the public about the “risks of sectarian deviances”. MIVILUDES is composed of a President, a Secretary General with a task force of twelve
Officials assigned from government ministries, an Executive Committee composed of 18 government officials from nine ministries, and an Advisory Council composed of eight members of Parliament, eight associations, and 14 experts.