FRANCE

Public controversy about MIVILUDES


FECRIS Side Event - left to right: Daniele MULLER, Alexander DVORKIN, Friedrich GRIESS, Tomasz NOWAKOWSKI

HRWF (17.10.2007) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net – On 10 October 2007, Miviludes published a press release on the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the OSCE/ ODIHR which took place in Warsaw from 24 September to 5 October (1). The press release stresses that the delegation of Miviludes was led by its president, Jean-Michel Roulet, and its secretary general. Miviludes also mentioned that Fecris participated for the first time in this meeting.

During the side-events organized by Fecris, numerous criticisms were voiced by the participants, mainly representatives of minority communities of faith and belief, who complained about the climate of intolerance and the stigmatization fostered against them by its member-organizations. In the last few years, a number of member-organizations of Fecris and/or their leaders have been condemned on grounds of defamation towards various religious groups and/or of their members.

Miviludes was also heavily attacked in public sessions. The French ambassador representing his country at the OSCE went to the rescue of both Fecris and Miviludes. In his right to answer, he repeated the message of Fecris in their two side-events, "denouncing those who reverse the roles when they take the position of victims of religious discrimination." He was hereby targeting religious groups from France who publicly criticized French religious policy at the HDIM. He also stressed that Miviludes was under the "democratic control" of the National Assembly and enjoyed the confidence of the authorities. The ambassador however failed to comment on the negative statement of U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief about Miviludes (2) quoted by Human Rights Without Frontiers during the HDIM as well as on its proposal to transfer the mandate of the controversial Miviludes to the Ministry of the Interior, the ministry officially in charge of religious affairs.

While the website of Miviludes announces that it "fait peau neuve" (adopts a new look), it failed to announce on 11 October that its president, Jean-Michel Roulet has been put under investigation on grounds of defamation against Tradition, Famille, Propriété (TFP), a group of Catholic laymen.(3)

(1) http://www.miviludes.gouv.fr

(2) UN, conomic and Social Council, E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.4, 8 March 2006. Commission on Human Rights, 62nd session, Item 11 (e). Civil and Political Rights, Including the Question of Religious Intolerance. Report submitted by Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Addendum 2. Mission to France (18 to 29 September 2005). See par. 111-113, and also 108 and 110.

(3) See the website of Coordination des Associations et Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience http://www.coordiap.com/view05311-secte-miviludes-justice.htm : Press release of Attorney Gérard Ducrey
Avocat à la cour
Ancien chargé de cours à la Sorbonne
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129 Av du Général Leclerc
75014 Paris
Tél : 01 45 41 39 59
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See also the website of the plaintiffs (TFP) http://www.tfp-france.org