 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2002; 23 years ago (2002) |
| Headquarters | France |
| Website | miviludes |
TheInterministerial Mission for Vigilance and Action Against Sectarian Deviations (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires,MIVILUDES) is a Frenchgovernment agency created bypresidential decree in 2002. It is charged with observing and analyzing the phenomenon of cult movements, coordinating the government response, informing the public about the risks arising from sectarian aberrations, and facilitating the implementation of actions to aid the victims.[1]
According to the first article of the Decree Number 2002–1392 of 28 November 2002, the MIVILUDES is charged with:
MIVILUDES provides information related to "cultic deviances" to the media, the French government, and individual members of the public. It recommends contacts and other organizations, and produces and archives documentation and discussion papers on groups considered cults.[2]
The French authorities created MIVILUDES as the successor to MILS (Mission interministérielle de lutte contre les sectes; English: "Interministerial Mission for Action Against Cults"), which itself functioned from 7 October 1998 as the successor to theObservatoire interministériel sur les sectes (English: Interministerial Observatory on Cults) established on 9 May 1996. These organizations were in charge of coordinating government monitoring ofcults.
In February 1998, MILS, headed byAlain Vivien, released its annual report on their monitoring of cults in France. The operations of MILS, and Vivien's background as the head of ananti-cult organization (he had served as President of theCentre Roger Ikor from 1997 to 1998[3][failed verification]), had occasionally received criticism from severalhuman-rights organizations, such as theInternational Helsinki Federation for Human Rights,[4] as well as theUnited States Commission on International Religious Freedom,[citation needed] a U.S. government agency. In January 1999, Vivien requested and received police protection following threats and theburglary of his home.[5] Vivien resigned in June 2002 under criticism.[6]
The MIVILUDES was created by a decree[7] ofPresidentJacques Chirac on 28 November 2002.[8] Jean-Louis Langlais, a senior civil-servant at theMinistry of the Interior, served as its president from 2002 to 2005. Announcing the formation of MIVILUDES, the French government acknowledged the criticism that MILS had received from outside France for certain activities that could be considered in violation ofreligious freedom. Then this decree repealed the decree of 7 October 1998 establishing MILS.
In an interview in March 2003, Langlais categorized the fight as not against "sects", but against "sectarian deviances". He stated that current French law lacks a definition for a "sect" and, therefore "the law cannot define sectarian deviances". Nevertheless, he portrayed the role of MIVILUDES as contributing to "defining what could simply be an administrative jurisprudence".[9]
A 2004 report by theUnited States Commission on International Religious Freedom concluded with an assessment that the restructuring of the main French agency concerned with this issue – referring to MILS being replaced by MIVILUDES – had improved religious freedoms in France.[10]
Theprefect Jean-Michel Roulet became president of MIVILUDES in October 2005, followed by thejudgeGeorges Fenech in October 2008 and thephysicianSerge Blisko in August 2012.[8]
Each year, the MIVILUDES published a report on its activities and a thematic study. Some of them were translated into English:
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
