LETTERS OF PROTEST

En Français

OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR NICOLAS ABOUT AND DEPUTY CATHERINE PICARD

Madame and Monsieur,

I am writing to bring home to you that in forcing through legislation to “dissolve” minority organizations, you are setting France up to be condemned under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In 1998, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a violation of Article 11 of the Convention had occurred in two cases where the state had sought to dissolve minority organizations.

In United Communist Party of Turkey v. Turkey, the Court indicated that it would exercise “rigorous European supervision embracing both the law and the decisions applying it, including those given by independent courts... such scrutiny is all the more necessary when an entire political party is dissolved and its leaders banned from carrying on any similar activity in the future.”

In Socialist Party v. Turkey, the Court reiterated that “there can be no democracy without pluralism” and that “the Court has previously held that one of the principal characteristics of democracy is the possibility it offers of resolving a country’s problems through dialogue.... Democracy thrives on freedom of expression.”

The Court’s statements apply even more strongly to attempts by the state to dissolve minority religious organizations and ban such minority religions from France.

Your bill violates both the Convention and guidelines laid down by the Council of Europe, which has held that major legislation of the type you propose is undesirable.

What more severe indictment could there be than that European human rights bodies have denounced your legislation and regimes known to be human rights violators are reaching for it?

Long after you have been condemned in the court of international opinion, the religion of Scientology will still be growing across the world, helping people live better lives, and saving hundreds of thousands more from drugs.

Sincerely,

Leisa Goodman
Human Rights Director