Will we finally see the implementation of more substantial means to fight against sectarian excesses? The problem is becoming pressing: these abuses have been on the rise in recent years, particularly since the rise of social networks and especially the Covid-19 crisis.
The findings established by the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes) are clear. In 2021, 4,020 reports were recorded, compared to 1,875 in 2010. The figures for 2022 and 2023 will be revealed in the next activity report, which will appear at the beginning of 2024, but the ministry assures us: “We are on the same trend of evolution. Faced with this increase, the same problem frequently arises: the lack of resources provided by the authorities to deal with it. Miviludes, the leading actor in this fight, has suffered for years from reduced staff numbers (8 members in 2020, 14 in 2022, including temporary staff) and aging IT equipment.
A new national strategy
While awaiting a possible announcement concerning additional resources, the government has validated a new “National Strategy to combat sectarian abuses”, led by Miviludes. In the sights of the authorities, the “multitude of groups or individuals who invest in the fields of health, food, well-being but also personal development, coaching or training […] 2.0 gurus who now disseminate their doctrine on digital platforms and unite real communities around them.”
This strategy provides for three main axes. The first concerns prevention, which will involve a national campaign in the coming months, but also through support for research projects on sectarian aberrations and through the distribution of educational guides and practical sheets to elected officials, members of local authorities and digital players.
The second aims to improve the reception of victims of sectarian abuses and their loved ones. A designated representative in each ministry will thus be trained and made aware of these issues under the coordination of Miviludes. Collaboration with associations should also be increased and their subsidies of 1 million euros per year, allocated since 2021 by the State, should be maintained in the years to come.
Finally, the legal arsenal will be strengthened. Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Secretary of State for Citizenship and the City, will present, this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, a bill aimed at better repressing the perpetrators of sectarian excesses and their acts, particularly in the field of health.
Miviludes seizures have been increasing steadily for more than 10 years and in particular since 2015.
© / Miviludes/Ministry of the Interior
Two new crimes, deviant practitioners targeted
The text, detailed during a press conference organized Tuesday, November 14 in the early evening, provides for five articles. The first establishes an offense in order to repress, in addition to the abuse of weakness linked to a state of psychological or physical subjection – already provided for by law –, the fact of placing or maintaining a person in a state of psychological or physical subjection physical. The maximum penalty incurred will be three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros.
Article 2 creates an aggravating circumstance when certain crimes or offenses – murder, acts of torture and barbarism, violence and fraud – are committed in a sectarian context. Article 3 provides for the establishment of ministerial approval to authorize victim assistance associations to become civil parties. Today, only the National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and Individuals Victims of Sects (Unadfi) has the possibility.
Article 4 also creates a new offense of “provoking the abandonment or abstention of care or the adoption of a practice which clearly exposes the person concerned to a serious or immediate risk for his or her health.” health”, which can be punished with one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros. Enough to respond to the numerous cases where figures of conspiracy and various alternative therapies suggest, for example, abandoning cancer treatments. Article 5 targets deviant practitioners. The orders of health professionals (orders of doctors, midwives, pharmacists, dental surgeons, masseurs-physiotherapists, chiropodists, podiatrists or nurses) will thus be compulsorily informed by the public prosecutor’s office of the convictions of the professionals subject to their control, as well as placements under judicial supervision.
Finally, article 6 provides that in the event of prosecution for certain offenses, the public prosecutor or the court seized may request any State service to provide useful information, in particular the Miviludes, on the sectarian movements in question or on the phenomenon of psychological or physical subjection.
Enough to strengthen the information of the justice system on sectarian abuses and help them, but also better inform Miviludes of current procedures. The project should go through the Senate then the National Assembly in the coming months. However, it does not provide for new sanctions against large digital platforms like Google or Facebook. The Secretary of State’s office indicated that this question fell under the European regulation on digital services (Digital services act), which entered into force on August 25, which aims to regulate the activities of platforms. Its gradual implementation should ultimately make it possible to strengthen the fight against illegal content online.