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According to the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Aberrations, dubious therapies and conspiratorial discourse on health have exploded in the past two years.
It’s a spine-chilling report. According to Miviludes, the covid-19 epidemic and repeated confinements have favored the emergence of dubious alternative therapies and conspiratorial discourse.
+ 33% reports during the first Covid year
The first observation of this activity report is the constant increase, from year to year, in the number of reports to MIVILUDES: “more than 33% between 2020 and 2021, more than 44% between 2018 and 2021 and more than 86% between 2015 and 2021“.
In addition, the 4020 reports recorded for the year 2021 “represent a record”, specifies the organization. Figures that only represent the visible part of a much larger phenomenon.
Of these 4,020 reports, 20% concern the health sector (unconventional therapies offered without scientific basis and often without any medical follow-up), 10% concern minors and 4% concern conspiracy movements and the anti-vax movement.
These unreliable therapies have recently been the subject of several investigations, as evidenced by the latest (CompaRe study) on “endo specialists”, accused of surfing on the suffering of women.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology and Guru 2.0
The other interesting finding of the report? The evolution of the sectarian phenomenon.
Although the Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses remain “the multinationals of spirituality“and continue to be the subject of multiple reports, smaller structures – just as dangerous as their elders – have recently emerged.
Difficult to identify, they perform well in the fields of health, well-being and food and are attracting more and more followers – especially on social networks.
Faced with these excesses, Sonia Backès, Secretary of State in charge of Citizenship, will hold at the beginning of 2023, the first meetings of sectarian excesses and conspiracy.
A three-pronged action plan will be detailed:
- Sensitize public opinion to sectarian aberrations;
- Create new forms of cooperation promoting the identification and reporting of sectarian aberrations;
- Develop a multi-year action plan to adapt the organization as well as the legal arsenal to the evolution of the phenomenon.