Cultic Studies Journal
Psychological Manipulation and Society
Vol. 9, No. 1, 1992

4/8

The Council of Europe's Report  on Sects and New Religious Movements

8. Should There Be Special Laws or Regulations on Sects?

Most of the activities of which certain sects are accused constitute common law offenses. And when manifest offenses are repeated, a sect can be banned.

Even so, there are certain difficulties which should not be overlooked. In the case of minors, for example, children of sect members, where the problem of initiating proceedings to protect them arises, two measures are advisable:

firstly, states which have not yet done so should be urged to ratify the European Convention on custody of children;

secondly, public prosecutors' departments should be given authority to institute judicial proceedings, whenever this is not already possible.

The problem of a possible legal vacuum arises particularly in the case of adult "victims" of sects. This would seem harder to solve, since it involves questions of individual freedom and ethics.

Should there be regulations on "dangerous" sects as such? How to distinguish between them? Should the risk be taken of interfering with the freedom of conscience or religion of a large number of people for the sake of protecting a minority?

Surely the solution should be to prevent rather than cure? Preventing would primarily mean informing the public for, as we have seen, sects are mainly dangerous because people know so little about them.

9. Conclusions

To permit genuine monitoring of their activities:

--sects should be obliged to register, indicating all their offshoots, and a priori supervision should be possible on the basis of their statutes;

--it should be possible to give the status of religious or cultural associations to all movements whose aims satisfy the relevant statutory criteria;

--information on the nature and activities of sects should be provided, particularly for adolescents. Independent bodies could be given the task of collecting and circulating this information;

--to protect minors and prevent abductions and transfers abroad, the member states should ratify the European Convention on recognition and enforcement of decisions concerning custody of children and on restoration of custody of children (1980; STE 105) and adopt legislation giving it effect;

--to protect members who work for sects, often without pay, the authorities should ensure that they are registered and enjoy social welfare protection, such as health insurance, unemployment insurance (upon leaving the sect), pension scheme contributions, etc.

Reporting committee: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

Budgetary implications for the Assembly: None.

Reference to committee: Doc. 5737 and 5767, Reference No. 1568 of 1 July 1987.

Draft recommendation: unanimously adopted by the committee on 13 November 1991.

Members of the committee:^* Lord Kirkhill (Chairman), Mr. Altug (Vice-Chairman), Mrs. Ekman (Vice-Chairwoman), MM. Akcali, Amaral, Arnalds, Bindig, Brincat, Collette, Colombo, Columberg, De Decker, Espersen, Esteves, Fodor, Fuhrmann, Ghalanos, Gundersen, Stig Gustafsson, Hyland, Jansson, Karcsay, Mrs. Lentz-Cornette, MM. Meimarakis, Negri, Nunez, Oehry, Petitpierre (Alternate: Mrs. Haller), Pontillon, Posluch, Rodota, Rokofyllos, Ruiz (Alternate: Cuatrecasas), von Schmude (Alternate: Zierer), Schwimmer, Sir Dudley Smith, Mrs. Soutendijk van Appeldoorn, Mrs. Staels-Dompas, MM. Stoffelen, Vogel, Ward, Worms.

Secretaries of the committee: Mr. Plate and Ms. Coin.

Opinion on Sects and New Religious Movements

(Rapporteur: Mr. de Puig, Spain, Socialist)

Introduction

The following comments have been drafted on the basis of the report by Mr. Hunt, the documentation he presents, the earlier studies by Mr. Jeambrun, and the highly informative and thoughtful contributions of the experts Mr. Hancox and Mr. Messner.

This material is sufficient for this opinion which in turn is inspired largely by the discussions which have taken place in the Spanish Parliament on the question of sects, and which have been repeatedly referred to by the above-cited rapporteurs and experts since they constitute an exceptional example of parliamentary debate on the subject in question.

Sects, Education, and Culture

We are clearly dealing with a complex phenomenon. Initially, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights raised the matter from the point of view of the problem of so-called religious sects. Eventually, the focus of the issue became freedom of religion. Since it is only possible to come close to the reality of abuses by sects on the democratic basis of religious freedom, it seems certain that we are discussing a fundamentally cultural right.

The matter is of interest to the Committee on Culture and Education not so much for its criminal or legal and constitutional aspects but for its negative impact on society as an abnormal social and cultural trend. It is of particular interest because of what can be done, in the field of education and culture, to prevent firstly the violation of the right to religious freedom and secondly the perversion of that right when, in some sects, it threatens the equilibrium and autonomy of the member and results in the destruction of his free and creative relationship with his family or his professional or social entourage. It is precisely because we must defend complete intellectual and moral freedom and because we understand membership [in] or association with a religious group to be an enriching experience, and an opportunity for personal fulfillment and creativity, that we must fight against any form of integration into a group that involves alienation, brainwashing, suppression of the personality, or personal subjection, even though these may be performed in a context of religious mysticism and transcendental faith.

Activities that can openly be described as criminal (illegal proselytism, kidnapping, fraud, sexual abuse, coercion and threats, physical punishment, attacks on the freedom and safety of people in general -- the most frequent offenses of the so-called "destructive sects") are intolerable, but just as intolerable are the educational, cultural, and social repercussions of these activities on members' children and relatives. There is a cultural and social dimension to the problem that should concern us as much as, indeed more than, the lawbreaking involved.

Religious Freedom

It appears proven that the phenomenon of sects leads to lawbreaking and in some cases to destructive consequences. However, not all sects are criminal or destructive. Besides, Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires respect for freedom of religion and the right to manifest that religion in public or private, in worship, teaching, practice, or observance.

We must therefore be careful not to commit injustices. We cannot, for example, consider that any group with nontraditional beliefs is a sect with all the negative connotations it implies nor can we incriminate a group as such or its beliefs -- except in very specific cases -- but only its criminal activities and with due evidence in each case.

We therefore have to declare that it is not advisable to recommend that governments issue specific legislation on sects which could infringe upon such rights as freedom of conscience or religion. While the moving demands of victims of criminal acts committed by sects are humanely understandable, they are neither legally nor democratically justifiable since rights and freedoms cannot be protected by suppressing or limiting other rights and freedoms. We are confronted with the need to strike a balance between the protection of individual rights and freedoms and the protection of the public rights and freedoms of religion, association, expression, and so on, which are also absolutely fundamental.

The aim therefore is to prevent the possibility of an association or a religion being used as a cover for a criminal activity. In other words, it is a matter of implementing the law -- which exists already in all countries in the form of the criminal code -- rather than banning the existence of religious or cultural groups, even if their beliefs or ideas are unusual. To be perfectly clear, this means that each citizen must be free to change direction or radically change his beliefs, but without pressure and without infringement of his psychological and physical integrity; he must also be free to join a group of any ideological or religious persuasion, but at the same time he must be free to remain in it or leave it at any moment. This means that in a democracy the freedom of all religious, cultural, or other groups must be respected, as long as they do not threaten the personal integrity of their members, nor their personal, professional, and cultural relationships, nor, of course, the security of their property or their rights as workers. These offenses have already been defined by legislation.

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