Parliamentary Commission On Cults In France
The parliamentary committees of inquiry on sects in France are investigating committees composed of members of parliament that aims to make an inventory of the extent of sectarian France.
The reports made by these commissions are still one piece of information and proposals, they do not carry legal force, and the French government has reiterated several times that they could not justify discriminatory measures the against groups listed therein.
The first official report dating from 1995 has established a list of sects, now considered obsolete; a second report presenting an overview of the financial situation of these movements was developed in 1999 , and a third report on the influence of movements sectarian and the consequences of their practices on the physical and mental health of minors was released December 19 2006.
These reports are based on information provided by the General Information and by associations specialized, like the UNADFI , who are recognized in this way a quasi-official status. They take even a few references to publications (often estimated the number of members) and individuals.
Summary |
The first Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France began in 1995, but the sects had long been monitored by the General Information.
A report had already been done on this issue in 1983 by Alain Vivien , at the request of the Prime Minister.
The Committee of 1995 has attempted to measure the magnitude of the sectarian phenomenon at that time and has compiled a list of 172 sects fulfilling at least one of the ten criteria of dangerousness as defined by background information. Nevertheless, it was not a definitive or exhaustive classification. The day after the publication of the report is December 23, 1995 .
Following this report an interdepartmental observatory was established in 1996 and 1998, the government adopts a new inter-ministerial body, the MILS , which later became the MIVILUDES. This organism produces when its own studies, which are frequently confused with the parliamentary reports.
The second royal commission on sects issued its report in 1999 , it more commonly called "parliamentary report on cults and money" was intended to make an inventory of financial position, asset Tax and sects, and their economic activities and their relationships with business and financial.
In 2001, the About-Picard law strengthens the law against sectarianism.
In 2006, the National Assembly decided to establish a new parliamentary inquiry on the influence of the sectarian movements and the consequences of their practices on the physical and mental health of minors.
In 2008, the UMP deputy mayor of Maisons-Laffitte, Jacques Myard filed a proposed "Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on sectarianism, especially in the medical and paramedical" .
The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Cults, 1995
His report was adopted unanimously on 20 December 1995, but by 7 members present (21), other members who have not received their invitation because of a strike position. Jean-Pierre Brard , vice-chairman of the commission, for its part felt that the proposed measures were "insufficient" and wanted to adopt a "special legislation" to effectively combat dangerous cults. He said: "This vote is thus not representative of the whole committee. Had I been present, I would have failed . "
Respect to the rules of the National Assembly the report is still valid regardless of the number present .
Summary of the parliamentary report of 1995
Definition of the term "sect"
The report explains that "Twenty interviews were conducted in these conditions, for a total period of twenty-one hours. They have allowed the Commission to take note of information, experience and analysis of people who, for various reasons, a thorough knowledge of the cult phenomenon, whether administrative officers, doctors, lawyers , clergymen, representatives of associations for victims of cults, and of course, former followers of sects and sectarian leaders of associations. The Commission has also requested assistance from various agencies in an attempt to refine the best knowledge of the scope of his study. "Among them is mainly the Ministry of Interior ( General Information ) which provided its information.
Before the great difficulty of defining the concept of sect , the Committee decided to resume the criteria followed by General Information , which it regards as "a set of indices, each of which could lead to lengthy discussions. "
- Dangers to the individual:
- mental destabilization;
- the exorbitant financial demands;
- the separation from one's home environment;
- damage to physical integrity;
- indoctrination of children;
- Hazards to the community:
- discourse more or less anti-social;
- disturbances to public order;
- the importance of legal disputes;
- possible diversion of traditional economic circuits;
- attempts to infiltrate public.
The Committee believes that it "was aware that neither the novelty nor the small number of followers, or even eccentricity could be retained as criteria" and explains that "The scope of his research has been voluntarily restricted to a certain number of associations together, usually around a spiritual leader, people sharing the same belief in a being or a number of transcendental ideas, lying or not at odds with "traditional" religions (Christian, Muslim , Hindu, Buddhist) who were excluded from this study and which have at one time or another, with suspicion of any activity contrary to public policy or individual freedoms. "
Mindful not to give a result exactly impartial, the Committee nevertheless chose these criteria to conduct a partial analysis of reality, holding the common sense that the public ascribes to the notion of sect.
A difficult phenomenon to measure
In addition to the problem of vagueness surrounding the definition of the concept of sect, the commission has encountered several obstacles:
- Quantifying the activity and movement of these multiple associations. For example, a regular listener of conferences organized by an association close to a cult is it to be regarded as a follower of the latter?
- Choice of criteria for measuring the phenomenon: should we keep the number of followers or sympathizers of the (concepts to be defined)? Should we include the entourage of the persons concerned to count the number of "victims"? Moreover, the sects themselves do not know exactly how many of their members, not to mention the risk of distortion of the figures in one way or the other ...
- Quantification of the international significance of the sect, its financial capabilities and its strategy possible infiltration contribute significantly to its audience, its ability to interfere, his dangerousness.
Controversies and criticisms
Criteria and Sources of General Information
The criteria chosen by the General Inquiry to establish the dangerousness of a movement are not unanimous: they are considered vague and can encompass many organizations, religious or not.
An early criticism comes from Bishop Vernette , national secretary of the French episcopate to the study of sects and new religious movements, which stresses that state they can be applied to almost all religions installed .
On the other hand sociologists like Bruno Etienne emphasize that this may not be the police of General Information that should be left to define what mental manipulation .
The list of movements classified as dangerous sects according to the report has been prepared according to criteria defined by the RG, but without specifying which of their practices are specifically criticized.
Besides the fact that the movements concerned do not know precisely what they are accused, this secrecy has led to questions about the presence or absence of certain organizations in the famous list.
Bruno Etienne questions for example on the company's presence CEDIPAC SA, formerly known as European Association of Marketing Professionals (LEG), while its activity, although reprehensible, is essentially pyramid .
The absence of the Opus Dei or the Freemasons also raised questions , .
In addition, Yves Bertrand, Managing Director of General Intelligence from 1992 to 2003, returned in 2007 on his collaborative work with the parliamentary reports on cults, and felt that Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses did not deserve to be demonized and "Just put on the same level of thinking and some companies authentic sects that alienate members of their freedom, we arrive at the inverse of the goal. " .
Some movements have sought access to documents that led to their classification from the list of sects by the parliamentary inquiry. They met with refusal by the state, invoking the risk to public safety and security of the state where disclosure of such information from the Background.
Several movements are then engaged in legal proceedings that have lasted several years before they can access documents that the accused. And the Association of Jehovah's Witnesses she finally got win in 2006, after the demand was rising to the State Council. The first judgments in this sense had been pronounced in 2005 by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris the use of interior minister and confirmed the same day the cancellation of the decision of the Minister of Interior refused to communicate to the Christian Federation Jehovah's Witnesses in France documents concerning applications and investigations conducted with the Jehovah's Witnesses in France by the central management information under the general request for assistance from the fact-finding mission on sects and money incorporated December 15, 1998. The court asked the minister to reconsider the request for disclosure of administrative documents made by the Christian Federation of Jehovah's Witnesses in France.
On December 18, 2006, during a press conference in Paris, Jehovah's Witnesses have released a dossier prepared by General Information about them to the royal commission on sects in 1995 . According to Le Monde "This" white notes ", which was communicated to them after eight years of litigation, includes only a form of presentation and list their places of worship."
The Church of Scientology , who also fought for years to finally get access to documents of the French General Inquiry, would be provided by the voice of his spokesman: "There was nothing in the files" .
The association " Universal Church of the Kingdom of God "has also been granted access to the file held by the central management background information justifying its classification by the National Assembly from among the sects in the parliamentary report released January 10, 1996. In a decision dated 1 December 2005 validated by the State Council , the Administrative Court of Appeal in Paris overturned the refusal of the Minister of the Interior to grant the request of the association and ordered him to disclose the disputed documents.
The lack of adversarial proceedings and the possibility of rectification
This parliamentary report has been strongly criticized by American authorities. In 1999, a report on religious freedom around the world conducted by the State Department accuses him of one hand not to have heard the groups accused the other of the lack of adversarial proceedings .
When creating the new committee in 1999, the group Tradition Family Property complained to her of the impossibility of rectifying the work of the previous committee that can not be reopened : "the list established Report by - useful otherwise, of the Parliamentary Commission of 1996 contained similar qualifications unfair for certain groups falsely pinned as a cult, with disastrous consequences for all their members and their activities, the list being published widely in the media. Yet none had been heard. None could get rehabilitation or new trial because no authority is recognized qualified to take the case. The thing is serious in a state of law and there is concern that it may renew itself by other means. "
The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on "Sects and money" of 1999
The second royal commission on sects issued its report in 1999 , it more commonly called "parliamentary report on cults and money" was intended to make an inventory of financial position, asset Tax and sects, and their economic activities and their relationships with business and financial.
Content
Regarding the financial situation of the so-called sectarian movements, the 1999 report notes that Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Scientology are the richest, with an annual budget estimated respectively at 30,500,000 and 9,147,000. Then come the Soka Gakkai , the AMORC , Sukyo Mahikari , the New Apostolic Church , the Unification Church (Moon) , Dianova , the Triumphant Vajra Association (Mandarom) and Anthroposophy , with revenues year are between 3,000,000 and 7,600,000.
A report defamatory: the case of anthroposophy
The publication of this report provoked strong reactions, but by its nature and its source (the parliamentary fact-finding mission), it was not possible to go to court to quash (as would have been possible for an act government) or to make convicted perpetrators (for defamation), although the anthroposophical movement will attempt the latter type of action.
After the presentation of the report on France 2 , a defamation suit was filed against the chairman of the parliamentary inquiry commission on sects in relation to anthroposophy, the member PS Jacques Guyard.
The XVII Magistrate's Court High Court of Paris found that Mr. Guyard was "unable to justify a serious investigation" to support his accusations that Mr. Guyard "repeatedly refers the "secret" character of the work of the committee, "and that" the contradictory nature of the investigations carried was summarized only to send a questionnaire to sixty movements considered sectarian " . In addition, "the judges ruled that the injury of plaintiffs was" important (...) when the defamatory statements were made by an MP, Chairman of the Committee, whose authority and competence have been doubted by the public "." On appeal in September 2001 before the Court of Appeal of Paris, the ruling upon the report will be maintained but Jacques Guyard obtain the release for the benefit of good faith .
The royal commission on sects and the miners of 2006
Organization
The National Assembly adopted on 28 June 2006 , unanimously, the proposed resolution for the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on the influence of the sectarian movements and the consequences of their practices on the physical and mental health of minors, "co-signed by 129 MPs sitting on the benches of the assembly." During the general discussion, the floor was given to Mr. Philippe Vuilque for the Socialist Group, Mr Olivier Jard for the group UDF , Mr Jean-Pierre Brard for the group of Republican and Communist deputies and Mrs. David Martin for the Socialist group .
Following that vote, in a press release, the spokesman of the parliamentary groups of the National Assembly and Georges Fenech ( UMP ) as Rapporteur for the Law Committee, said that the fight against sectarianism, the adoption of the proposed resolution, unanimously by the Commission and by the vote of the National Assembly in public session, was again a demonstration that the sectarian phenomenon challenges the government at the highest level of their responsibilities. They added that the parliamentarians have created the conditions for the broad principles underpinning the state Republicans are not subjects of disagreement or confrontation and partisan consensus that prevails even today, more than 10 years after adoption of the first parliamentary report on sects .
Georges Fenech (UMP, Rhne) and Philippe Vuilque (PS, Ardennes) were appointed respectively President and Rapporteur of the Commission of Inquiry on the influence of sects. David Martin (PS, Rhne) and Alain Gest (UMP, Somme) were appointed vice-presidents, Jean-Pierre Brard (app-PCF, Seine-Saint-Denis) and Rudy Salles (UDF, Alpes-Maritimes) secretaries . The Commission decided unanimously that the hearings would open to the press except when it is deemed useful, in each case . In the interest of transparency and information-LCP National Assembly broadcast and put online archive of interviews with the parliamentary committee of inquiry on the influence of the sectarian movements and the consequences of their practices on health physical and moral health of minors .
Proposals
The 30-member commission issued its public report 19 December 2006 at the meeting, in which it recommended 50 proposals to protect "special danger" .
- 1. Precisely define the conditions for the choice of instruction at home: disease, disability of the child, family moving or otherwise real and serious.
- 2. Require the use of educational resources offered by the National Centre for Distance Education or by private distance learning reported.
- 3. Explicitly limit the instruction to be home to two families, the school off contract binding beyond that threshold.
- 4. Make effective the obligation of the Ministry of Education to make checks on the modalities of instruction at home.
- 5. Impose for the use of distance learning social investigation of the mayor required for instruction at home.
- 6. Submit Organization Leaders distance learning the following requirements:
- Not having incurred a disability referred to in Article L. 911-5 of the Education Code; - not having been sentenced to a term of at least two months' imprisonment without parole for crimes under Article 223-15-2 of the Penal Code 182 - have either a bachelor's degree or bachelor's degree or a certificate of fitness to primary or secondary.
- 7. Enforce the reporting requirement imposed on educational institutions by articles L. 471-1 et seq of the Education Code.
- 8. Require simultaneous approval of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour for-profit organizations engaged in educational support services.
- 9. Align the requirements for leaders of school support organizations with those of their counterparts in distance education
- 10. Provide awareness of sectarianism in civic education programs at the college and high school.
- 11. Coordinate policies of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and the Voluntary Sector for the accreditation of institutions, inviting youth to offer them recreational or vacation , offer educational activities.
- 12. Provide education about sectarianism in units of academic training and research (UFR) of psychology, science education and in the teacher training institutes.
- 13. Introduce, in faculties of medicine, dedicated to teaching the mental influence and victimology.
These modules are specifically proposed end of the course, students choosing to become GPs or psychiatrists, and could be open to students in their final year degree in psychology. These modules should be open to all professionals concerned by the fact sectarian.
- 14. Training institute legal trainees and junior lawyers in fact sectarian, including on the specific disputes relating to family law and law of child protection.
- 15. Mandating an annual medical examination performed by the medical school for children over 6 years who are either educated in their families or attending schools outside the contract.
- 16. Unify the systems of penalties for parental refusal of immunization for their children.
- 17. Recalled by circular of the Minister of Justice criminal penalties for failure to vaccination.
- 18. Override parental refusal of blood transfusions for their children.
- 19. Request an evaluation of unproven therapies and ensure wider publicity of the findings of these studies.
- 20. Cause an immediate inspection of certain places of "treatment" of troubled teenagers and an administrative inquiry into the conditions under which they were opened.
- 21. Improving the management of outgoing sects and support in terms of mental health.
- 22. Ask the Ministry of Health to produce a monograph describing the social and health consequences of
membership of young people in sectarian organizations.
- 23. Specify the conditions for awarding the title of psychotherapist.
- 24. Defining the best practices of psychotherapists.
- 25. Specify penalties for theft of securities.
- 26. Enter iboga on the list in order of February 22, 1990 as amended establishing the list of substances classified as narcotics.
- 27. Amend section 910 of the Civil Code, restoring power to opposition from the administration with inter vivos or by will in favor of religious associations.
- 28. Authorize the formation of this opposition, when the association is not to the exercise of worship, where the exercise of this cult is not the sole purpose of the association, where activities of that will affect, in whole or part, to public order and infringe the interests of the child.
- 29. Ensure the counsel for the minor.
- 30. Allow grandparents of a child to appeal directly to the juvenile court, where the health, safety or morals of such child is endangered.
- 31. Harmonize government policy on the amenities of carers and adopters.
- 32. Sanction social confinement of minors.
- 33. Enhance the penalty to lack of registration of children on marital status, making it a crime.
- 34. Open a new limitation period for minors who are victims of the offense of abuse of weakness in sectarian movements, as of the date of their majority.
- 35. Redefine the terms of the undertaking prosecutions for proselytism against sectarian movements.
- 36. Systematically send alerts to the prosecution.
- 37. Increase the role of "reference sects" of prosecutors' offices.
- 38. Mainstreaming the fight against sectarianism in law publications for youth.
- 39. Consider the fight against sectarianism in the legislation relating to the digital economy.
- 40. Give the benefit of legal aid without means to people starting proceedings under the fraudulent abuse of the state of ignorance or weakness.
- 41. Promote training in sectarian made toward judges and lawyers.
- 42. Encourage councils to set up training in sectarian made towards their personal social services, in charge of approval procedures for carers or adopters.
- 43. Train regional referents "sects" of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Youth and Sports, so they qualified to educate officers about the dangers of decentralized sectarian.
- 44. Create a focal point responsible within the department, follow the sectarian problems and propose action policies, training and information.
- 45. Awareness among ministry officials stationed abroad at the risk of sectarian aberrations.
- 46. Invite the general inspection of National Education, Social Affairs and Administration to conduct a study aimed, firstly, to identify children who are not enrolled in the registry and, hand, to make proposals to strengthen more generally the reporting requirements of childbirth.
- 47. Involve the Child Advocate in the fight against sectarianism in MIVILUDES.
- 48. Promote coordination of the associations involved in the fight against sectarianism.
- 49. Strengthen the activities of MIVILUDES internationally.
- 50. Reaffirm the specificity of the fight against sectarianism at the departmental level.
Reviews
Criticism of the establishment and conduct of the Committee
The Coordination of Associations of individuals to freedom of conscience (CAPLC), which brings together individuals and groups who consider themselves victims of religious intolerance, expressed doubts about the hasty creation of conditions of the commission: it would have been setting the agenda June 27, 2006, passed the next day, with eight of the ten members only members present at the discussion . The association also puts into question its appropriateness, citing various references administrative confirmed by this Prime Minister's response to a question from MP Philip Vuilque : "Cases of physical or psychological abuse of minors in connection with membership of a parent or a movement known as sectarian are exceptional "
According CICNS , the numbers of children at risk provided at the hearings "are approximate and random interpretation, even inadequate, when they simply indicate that the character of this non-existent problem of society" .
Le prsident de la Fdration protestante de France s'est galement inquit galement de la direction suivie par la nouvelle commission d'enqute parlementaire, qui selon lui se focalise contre les Tmoins de Jhovah et contre les protestants vangliques. voquant un questionnaire diffus auprs de directeur d'hpitaux, visant nommment les Tmoins de Jhovah, le monde protestant et le monde musulman, Jean-Arnold de Clermont dnonce les troubles que cela risque de provoquer : Je trouve cela discriminatoire. Nous sommes sur une pente trs dangereuse. Une commission parlementaire comme celle-l risque de crer des troubles plus grands que ceux contre lesquels elle prtend lutter. " . Georges Fenech et Philippe Vuilque ont rpondu par un communiqu que la Commission n'tait pas l'origine de ce questionnaire et que ces remarques taient une ingrence manifeste dans le droulement de travaux parlementaires indpendants .
Critiques des propositions
Georges Fenech , prsident de la commission d'enqute, a accus les pouvoirs publics et particulirement le bureau des cultes du ministre de l'Intrieur, de ngligence, voire complaisance leur gard. Il s'est dit tonn de voir que la profession de psychothrapeute ne soit pas mieux dfinie alors que c'est une mine pour les sectes dans laquelle prosprent les gourous. Il s'est aussi inquit du manque de contrle des organismes de soutien scolaire qui peuvent galement tre les faux nez des sectes. Enfin, il a expliqu que cette commission tait alle plus loin que les commissions prcdentes, puisque les dputs ont adress un questionnaire aux mouvements rentrant dans leur champ d'investigation, auquel tous n'ont pas rpondu .
Christian Vanneste , membre de la Commission (UMP), n'a pas vot ce rapport souhaitant une dfinition juridique de la secte sur le modle du droit belge qui fait une distinction entre les mouvements nuisibles et les autres, il a not dans sa contribution que le risque d'une attitude de suspicion est difficilement compatible avec une socit dmocratique et librale .
La a crit Nicolas Sarkozy pour dnoncer la volont affiche de la Commission parlementaire de modifier l'article 910 du code civil et dans une certaine mesure de revenir sur la comprhension que don does the Act of 1905 of the nature of a religious association. " Its chairman, Jean-Arnold de Clermont, expresses surprise that "associations designed to" sectarian "religious associations that are not likely to be sectarian associations that are implicated." In an analysis report attached to this letter Movements discussed in the reports for 1995 and 1999 The French government has reiterated several times that the parliamentary reports on cults were not law and could not justify discriminatory measures against the groups listed therein. The Department of Employment and Solidarity, for example, notified in 1998 that the 1995 report "has no legal value" . As for the interior minister, he clearly explained to the prefects in 1999: "These reports are only one element parliamentary information and proposal, they do not claim to be prescriptive and should not rely nor distinctions between associations described as "sectarian" and those who are not in the light of these reports nor any sanctions " . The list of sects of 1995 despite these recommendations used by some municipalities, which led to lawsuits. The administrative courts have confirmed the presence in the parliamentary report on cults can justify interference with the practice of religion. Thus, the Administrative Tribunal of Rennes in 2002 annulled the mayor's refusal to put Lorient at the disposal of a local association of Jehovah's Witnesses a municipal hall . Similarly, the Administrative Tribunal of Poitiers annulled the same year another communal denial because "the city of La Rochelle was founded not on any ground of public order, but on the character attributed to the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses the investigation report of the National Assembly of 22 December 1995 that this report, devoid of legal value, could serve as legal basis for the contested decision " . This difficulty has prompted the French government to state in 2002 at the Annual Conference on Human Rights of the OSCE in Warsaw that he meant that the French administration does not use this list of sects, and that all administrative actions based on it had been annulled by the courts . Since 2005, the contents of this list of sects of 1995 is also considered obsolete by both the government and parliamentary representatives by the Miviludes. In its circular dated 27 May 2005 on the fight against sectarianism , the Prime Minister again recommends avoiding the use of lists of sects in favor of using beams of criteria, recognizing that the attached list of movements parliamentary report of 1995 is becoming less and less relevant, given the complexity of the cult phenomenon. A list, by its rigidity, does not understand the fluctuations of these movements and this report discusses the difficulty caused by the formation of small structures, diffuse, shifting and less easily identifiable. However, this text indicates that this change, far from weakening the action, is there to better ensure its effectiveness, exercising particular vigilance on any organization purporting to exercise a dangerous influence for individual freedom of its members. As for Jean-Michel Roulet, the new president of MIVILUDES in 2005 , he believes that the parliamentary list of sects of 1995 is "completely obsolete," but acknowledges that it "has identified the phenomenon even if it was so sometimes incomplete and partially incorrect. " He says he wants to help cult victims to denounce what they have suffered, intends to promote the formation of jurisprudence, with concrete evidence, and would "move forward even if only five verdicts" during his presidency. He insists that the fight is not anti-cult "politician" as "sectarianism is an issue too serious to be purely political . " In a recent press release, several deputies spokesman of the parliamentary groups of the National Assembly, said that "some thought they could look forward to a so-called turning point in French policy of defending individual freedoms and collective cons the dangerous activities of sects and a questioning of parliamentary reports in 1995 and 1999, to mark the publication of the circular of the Prime Minister cited above. In reality, the question asked by the Prime Minister was in their view, the aging of information collected in 1995 and 1999. They added that the creation of a new commission of inquiry on sects in the area of health and the protection of minors will allow to "initiate a new inventory of the sectarian movement" . The interior minister recalled in his circular of 25 February 2008 on the fight against sectarian it is not in government intervention to stigmatize currents of thought, but address "hard facts and criminally reprehensible," "constitute a breach of public order, property or persons." It rejects any idea of establishing a new list of sects: "The Prime Minister's circular dated 27 May 2005 on the fight against sectarian clearly indicated the need to abandon the search for any reference to sectarian lists, and chose instead a logic of facts has the advantage of broadening the scope of the investigation without limiting them to previously identified groups. " Consequences
Legal status of the parliamentary reports
Refusal to use official lists of sects
Sources
List of reports of parliamentary committees on cults in France
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