Joe and I have great admiration for the work of MIVILUDES, and, to put it mildly, it would be outrageous if their attackers were victorious.
In Paris in 2009, former JWs arranged for me to speak about JWs and their problem of child sexual abuse to those who worked at the National Union of Associations for the Protection of the Family and the Individual (UNADFI) headquarters on June 22nd in the morning.
We were welcomed with open arms and after my talk to about ten people, we were told that the Association arranged a conference at another place in Paris to be held that afternoon. There were about fifty people in attendance including France's Minister of Education. I spoke about the dangers of becoming a Witness. I also answered many questions about the Watchtower and JWs. Later that year, my visit and lectures were mentioned in the Association's newsletter.
After returning from Europe, I sent an email to friends about what transpired in Paris and included the UNADFI anti-cult organization's report of what took place as reported in French. The following is a rough English translation:
Barbara Anderson met in Paris – the 22nd of June in the morning, at the headquarters of the National Union of Associations for the Protection of the Family and the Individual (UNADFI). Mme Catherine Picard its president, surrounded by members and employees of her association. The 22nd of June in the afternoon, initiated by the ADFI Paris Ile de France, many ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses met at the home office of the ADFI Association of the 18th subdivision. Ms Anderson held a conference that attracted a great deal of attention, followed by a debate on the topic: “Why is it dangerous to become a Jehovah’s Witness?”, followed by interviews. On June 23, in the afternoon, she met in the National Assembly rooms, with a member of Parliament representing the parliament group of studies on cults; On the 24th in the morning, she met in the offices of the MIVILUDES, with the general secretary of that interdepartmental commission who reports to the Prime Minister.
I also added the following information to the email:
"I was astounded by who in the government attended the meeting on the 24th, which was the last meeting during the visit. I gave the MIVILUDES officials material proving that the Governing Body of JWs knew about the serious problem of child sexual abuse within the organization since the early 1990s. This is something that the Watchtower organization always denied when contacted by European government officials after abuse victims would come to the government seeking medical and other sorts of assistance. I was told that because of my visit, the gap was bridged between the US and France in this matter of proving JWs were a dangerous cult.
"FYI, MIVILUDES is charged by the Government with observing and analyzing "sect" or "cult" movements that constitute a threat to public order or that violate law, coordinating the appropriate responses to abuses by "cults," informing the public about potential risks, and helping victims to receive aid. MIVILUDES was created by presidential decree in 2002 and exists as an independent body in which the Prime Minister appoints the director.
"The French government agency called MIVILUDES is unique in Western countries. Its job is to track and counter those religious and other groups it considers as being sects. MIVILUDES is an acronym of the French phrase ‘Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, i.e. ‘Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviancy.’ A sect is defined here as being any religious organization which can be characterized as employing any of the following methods:
"Mental destabilization, exorbitant financial demands, a rupture with members’ original environment, power in the hands of one person, the invasion of a person’s physical integrity, the recruitment of children, antisocial preaching and troubling public order, activities which lead it to be tried in a court of law, using parallel economic structures, attempts to infiltrate the workplace, schools, and public powers. There are around fifty religions or groups which are being tracked, the most commonly known of which are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientology, Mormons, The Universal Church, Raelians, and The Unification Church (Moon.)"
Barbara
