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BELGIUM: Media fabrication of religious hostility: the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses

BELGIUM: Media fabrication of religious hostility: the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses

HRWF (21.08.2023) – A Jehovah’s Witness has telephoned someone to talk about the Bible and the Apocalypse, according to a journalist from a well-known French-language daily, who artificially turned it into a sensational article dated 15 August 2023. Headline: “How Jehovah’s Witnesses try to recruit by telephone“.

 

We all receive unsolicited phone calls for commercial purposes, but they don’t make the headlines. We simply get rid of them by hanging up the phone.

 

Clearly, the journalist wanted to stigmatize Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW). Indeed, she added and developed the idea that “they use the telephone, especially in cases of the death of a family member, according to a specialist.”

 

What specialist? Not a person, but a French anti-JW organisation (UNADFI) well known for having lost several libel cases.

 

Other ‘proof’ dating back several years, according to the same journalist: “Bereaved people are among the preferred targets of these telephone calls. They use the telephone especially when a family member dies. They get their information from obituaries and their message is to tell their loved ones that they shouldn’t despair because the end of the world is coming soon’, explains Sandrine Mathen, former director of CIAOSN (Information and Advice Centre on harmful cult-like organizations).

 

Concerning this source closely linked to the Ministry of Justice, it should be pointed out that in 2022 the CIAOSN lost a case brought to court by the Jehovah’s Witnesses for defamation about their alleged concealing of sexual abuse in their midst. According to the court decision, the CIAOSN was to post the judgement on its website, but it did so in a very curious way. Moreover, strange though it may be, the link of the journalist did not lead to the CIAOSN website but to another of her own articles protected by a paywall that we managed to go through and in which there is no mention of the declaration of the CIAOSN former director…

 

If the journalist had not been ill-intentioned, she would have contacted the central office of the Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Belgium to find out their position on the possible use of the telephone for their missionary activities and whether targeting bereaved persons were part of their policy.

 

If she had done it, there would not have been any reason to write an article about a phone call from a private person to another private person, but she didn’t.

 

We did and here’s the answer:

 

Regarding the article in the DH ‘Comment les Témoins de Jéhovah tentent de recruter par téléphone’, we can confirm that this is not a method recommended by us. It is possible that some individual Witnesses use this method because each Witness considers it a personal assignment and will carry it out in the way that suits him or her personally.

 

At the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw, there is a specific unit dealing with hate speech, the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department. They collect cases of hate speech in the OSCE Participating States for their annual report. The next OSCE/ ODIHR two-week international conference with all the country delegations (57) and hundreds of NGOs will take place in Warsaw in early October and hate speech is on the agenda.

Photo: Jehovah’s Witnesses’ bethel (headquarters) in Belgium

Further reading about FORB in Belgium on HRWF website





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FRANCE: Une ONG française dénonce l’UNADFI à la Cour nationale des comptes

Une ONG française dénonce l’UNADFI à la Cour nationale des comptes

L’association fondatrice de la FECRIS, l’UNADFI, a fait l’objet d’un signalement officiel à la Cour des comptes française pour mauvaise gestion financière et activités discriminatoires présumées.

CAP LC (29.10.2021) – https://bit.ly/2ZIk1El  – Le 23 septembre 2021, l’association CAP LC (CAP Liberté de conscience), une ONG européenne laïque dotée du statut consultatif auprès des Nations unies, a effectué un signalement à la Cour des comptes française concernant l’association UNADFI (Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l’individu victimes de sectes), principale association fondatrice de la Fédération européenne des centres de recherche et d’information sur les sectes (FECRIS).

 

Le rapport officiel a été déposé par le cabinet d’avocats De Guillenchmidt (Michel de Guillenchmidt est un ancien juge du Conseil d’Etat français). Il contient plusieurs accusations graves contre l’UNADFI.

 

L’UNADFI reçoit plus de 75% de ses fonds du gouvernement français, soit une moyenne de 155 000 euros par an. C’est pour cette raison que les finances de l’UNADFI peuvent être soumises à un contrôle public. Selon le rapport, et malgré tous ces financements, l’UNADFI dépense tellement, apparemment sans aucun contrôle financier, qu’elle accuse chaque année un déficit compris entre 150 000 et 285 000 euros. La seule raison pour laquelle elle peut encore fonctionner est qu’elle a vendu son bâtiment en 2013, pour un montant de 1 million 750 000 euros et que cet excédent est utilisé pour couvrir les déficits annuels. Cependant, ce bâtiment avait été payé avec des fonds fournis par le gouvernement, et en dehors de toute préoccupation éthique concernant l’utilisation de l’argent des contribuables pour couvrir leur dette annuelle, cela s’ajoute à l’énorme montant que l’association coûte au contribuable.

 

Le rapport souligne qu’en plus de la mauvaise gestion financière, un autre problème découle du fait que l’activité réelle de l’UNADFI, utilisant des fonds publics, ne peut être quantifiée correctement, et semble être très faible par rapport aux coûts impliqués. Alors que l’UNADFI prétend travailler à la protection des victimes de ce qu’on appelle les “sectes”, la majeure partie de son budget est dépensée pour son personnel et ses administrateurs. 250 000 euros sont versés chaque année à ses quatre membres du personnel à temps plein et un à temps partiel :

 

L’UNADFI fonctionne donc principalement en vase-clos, pour assurer sa propre existence et celle de ses salariés et administrateurs- et les deniers publics sont engloutis sans qu’il soit justifié d’une activité effective, vérifiable et mesurable, et encore mois de résultats concrets.

 

Le rapport souligne également que l’argent dépensé pour payer les avocats pourrait finalement aller dans la poche de l’actuelle présidente de l’UNADFI, Joséphine CESBRON, puisque l’un des avocats habituels de l’UNADFI n’est autre que son mari, Jean-Baptiste CESBRON.

 

En outre, une section entière du rapport est consacrée à l’inefficacité totale de l’activité judiciaire de l’UNADFI.

 

D’abord, la principale activité de l’UNADFI est de se constituer partie civile dans des affaires pour lesquelles des poursuites sont déjà engagées. L’intérêt de telles constitutions de partie civile n’est donc pas évident. L’UNADFI intervient davantage pour tenter de justifier son existence que pour apporter une réelle plus-value dans les instances en cours, surtout lorsque ces affaires n’ont qu’un rapport lointain avec les dérives sectaires.

 

En termes d’activité réelle, ils sont intervenus au cours des 10 dernières années dans seulement sept cas, et seulement deux d’entre eux ont été couronnés de succès, tandis que pour les autres, les défendeurs ont été acquittés. L’UNADFI a même été condamnée pour “abus du droit d’engager une procédure judiciaire”, ce qui a coûté une somme énorme au contribuable.

 

Une autre section du rapport aborde l’aspect du non-respect par l’UNADFI des réglementations gouvernementales en matière de financement public. Soulignant les fautes techniques, cette section encourage la Cour des comptes à examiner s’il y a ou non une “violation massive des règles de financement public”.

 

Enfin, la dernière partie du rapport développe la manière dont l’activité principale de l’UNADFI est discriminatoire envers certaines minorités religieuses,

 

D’abord, l’action de l’UNADFI est contraire aux principes républicains et aux normes conventionnelles supérieures. Il est d’ailleurs tout à fait symptomatique que l’UNADFI s’oppose ouvertement à l’application de la Convention européenne des droits de l’Homme. L’UNADFI admet en effet que son ancienne présidente, Catherine Picard,« [ . …. ]  déplore que la CEDH applique l’article 9 de la Convention européenne sans regarder qui sont les auteurs des faits » ! 

(…)

ensuite, l’action de l’UNADFI révèle une dérive dans l’utilisation des fonds publics. Une association reconnue d’utilité publique et financée quasi-exclusivement par les deniers publics ne devraient pas pouvoir impunément se livrer à des activités et tenir des propos ouvertement discriminatoires. L’UNADFI apparaît ainsi davantage comme un instrument étatique destiné à museler certaines idéologies et croyances qui ne présenteraient pourtant aucun caractère illégal.

 

L’UNADFI a fondé la FECRIS en 1995. La FECRIS a été récemment condamnée par le tribunal de district de Hambourg, en Allemagne, le 27 novembre 2000, pour diffamation à l’encontre des Témoins de Jéhovah. En 2020, l’USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom), une commission bipartisane du gouvernement fédéral américain, a qualifié son idéologie de menace majeure pour la liberté religieuse internationale, déclarant également que “le mouvement anti-sectes continue de mener une campagne de désinformation très efficace contre les minorités religieuses avec des conséquences dévastatrices pour leurs droits humains” (voir le livre blanc “L’idéologie anti-sectes et la FECRIS : Dangers pour la liberté religieuse” ici).

 

Le rapport complet de CAP LC en français est disponible ici sur son site web.

 

HRWF suivra les résultats de l’examen du rapport par la Cour nationale des comptes française. Cependant, la Cour n’est pas tenue de rendre ses conclusions publiques.

 

Photo : fr.wikipedia.org

Further reading about FORB in France on HRWF website





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FRANCE: A French NGO denounces UNADFI to the National Court of Audit

A French NGO denounces UNADFI to the National Court of Audit

FECRIS founding association UNADFI formally reported to the French National Court of Audit for alleged gross financial mismanagement and discriminatory activities

CAP LC (29.10.2021) – https://bit.ly/2ZIk1El – On September 23, 2021, the Association CAP LC (CAP Freedom of Conscience), a secular European NGO with United Nations Consultative Status, made a report to the French National Court of Audit (Cour des comptes – the court responsible for determining whether public funds have been properly used) about the association UNADFI (Union Nationale des Associations de Défense des Familles et de l’Individu victimes de sectes), the main founding association of the European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Cults and Sects (FECRIS).

 

The formal report has been filed by the Lawyer firm De Guillenchmidt (Michel de Guillenchmidt is a former French Council of State judge) and contains several serious accusations against the UNADFI.

 

UNADFI receives more than 75% of its funds from the French government, an average of 155,000 euros per year. It is for this reason that UNADFI’s finances can be submitted to public scrutiny. According to the report, in spite of all this funding, UNADFI spends so much, apparently without any financial control, that every year it has an annual deficit amounting to between 150,000 euros and 285,000 euros. The only reason it is still able to operate is because they sold their building in 2013, for an amount of 1 million 750,000 euros and this surplus is used to cover the yearly deficits. However, this building had been paid for with funds provided by the government, and apart from any ethical concerns about the taxpayers’ money being used to cover their yearly debt, it adds to the tremendous amount of money that the association costs to the taxpayer.

 

The report highlights that besides the gross financial mismanagement, another problem stems from the fact that the actual activity of the UNADFI, using public funds, cannot be quantified properly, and seems to be very poor compared to the costs involved. While UNADFI pretends to work in order to protect victims of so called “cults”, most of its budget is spent in direction of its staff and its administrators. 250,000 euros are paid every year to its four full time and one part time staff members:

 

UNADFI therefore operates primarily in a vacuum, to ensure its own existence and that of its employees and administrators – and public funds are swallowed up without there being any justification for an effective, verifiable and measurable activity, let alone concrete results.

 

The report also points out that the money spent to pay lawyers may finally be going into the pocket of the current president of the UNADFI, Josephine CESBRON, as one of UNADFI regular lawyers is no less than her husband, Jean-Baptiste CESBRON.

 

In addition, a whole section of the report is devoted to what is alleged to be the complete ineffectiveness of UNADFI’s judicial activity.

 

The main activity of UNADFI is to bring criminal indemnification proceedings (become a civil party) in cases for which proceedings have already been initiated. The interest of such civil party constitutions is therefore not obvious. UNADFI intervenes more to try to justify its existence than to bring real added value to the current cases. 

 

In terms of actual activity, they intervened in the last 10 years in only 7 cases, and only two of them were successful, while for the others, the defendants were acquitted, and UNADFI has even been convicted for “abuse of the right to engage legal proceedings”, which cost a huge amount to the taxpayer.

 

Another section of the report tackles the aspect of the non-compliance by UNADFI with government regulations with regards to government funding. Pointing out the technical faults, this section encourages the Court of Audit to examine whether or not there is a “massive violation of the rules of public funding”.

 

Finally, the last part of the report develops on how UNADFI’s main activity is discriminatory against some religious minorities,

 

First, the action of UNADFI is contrary to republican principles and higher conventional standards. It is also quite symptomatic that UNADFI openly opposes the application of the European Convention on Human Rights. UNADFI indeed admits that its former president, Catherine Picard, “[…] deplores that the ECHR applies article 9 of the European Convention without looking at who are the perpetrators”!

(…)

Then, the action of UNADFI reveals an abuse in the use of public funds. An association recognized as being of public utility and financed almost exclusively by public funds should not be able to engage in discriminatory activities with impunity and make openly discriminatory remarks. The UNADFI thus appears more like a state instrument intended to muzzle certain ideologies and beliefs which would not, however, present any illegal character.

UNADFI founded FECRIS in 1995. FECRIS has been recently convicted by the District Court of Hamburg, Germany, on November 27, 2000, for defamation against the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In 2020, the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom), a bipartisan commission of the U.S. federal government identified its ideology as a major threat to international religious liberty, also stating that “the anti-cult movement continues to conduct a highly effective disinformation campaign against religious minorities with devastating consequences for their human rights” (see the white paper The Anti-Cult Ideology and FECRIS: Dangers for Religious Freedom here).

 

The full CAP LC report in French is available here on the website of CAP LC. HRWF will monitor the outcome of the French National Court of Audit review of the report. However, the Court is not bound to make its findings public.

 

Photo : fr.wikipedia.org

Further reading about FORB in France on HRWF website


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