On 3 March, 2014, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a report with a resolution and a recommendation drafted by Rudy Salles, member of the French Delegation at PACE. The resolution will be voted upon in the plenary session starting 7 April 2014 in Strasbourg.
This report, while having the appearance of being designed to protect children, is nothing more than an export of the French anti-religious system that has proven to be very discriminatory and have catastrophic effects for families and children in France.
First of all, the term “sect” is at odds with international standards on human rights. It is also inconsistent with earlier deliberations by the Assembly Recommendation 1412 (1999) where the Assembly chose the wording “groups of a religious, esoteric or spiritual nature” as opposed to the word “sect”.
