What is "miviludes"

MIVILUDES (an acronym for the French-language phrase Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, i.e. "Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combatting Cultic Deviances"), a French government agency, has the task of:

• observing and analyzing movements perceived as constituting a threat to public order or that violate French law
• coordinating the appropriate response
• informing the public about potential risks
• helping victims to receive aid

The mission of MIVILUDES involves analysing "the phenomenon of movements with a cultic character whose actions affront the rights of man and fundamental liberties, or which constitute a threat to public order or which are contrary to the laws and regulations".

MIVILUDES originated in a presidential decree on 28 November 2002. Jean-Louis Langlais, a senior civil-servant at the Ministry of the Interior, served as its president from 2002 to 2005. Jean-Michel Roulet became president of MIVILUDES in October 2005. In 2008, Georges Fenech became president of MIVILUDES.

In its announcement of the formation of MIVILUDES, the French government acknowledged that the predecessor of MIVILUDES, MILS (the Mission interministérielle de lutte contre les sectes or "Interministerial Mission in the Fight Against Cults"), had received criticism from outside France for certain actions potentially interpretable as contrary to religious freedom. The decree establishing MIVILUDES referred to MILS only indirectly in announcing the abrogation (in Article 8) of the decree establishing MILS.

In an interview given in March 2003, Langlais emphasized the fight not against "sects" ( cults), but against "sectarian deviances". He stated that "current French law" lacks a definition for a "sect" and, therefore "the law cannot define sectarian deviances". Nevertheless he portrayed the role of MIVILUDES as contributing "to defining what could simply be an administrative jurisprudence".