The DGAS Circular of 1 June 2006 on Dérives Sectaires

Circular of the General Directorate of Social Action (DGAS)

of 1 June 2006

Source: http://www.sante.gouv.fr

The General Directorate of Social Action is distributing a circular which reflects the determination of the public authorities in the repression of spiritual minorities and the reduction of public liberties. Knowing the “state beliefs” which found the actions of repression, CICNS denounces this orchestration presented as a will to protect the weakest.

The stated missions of the DGAS seemed nevertheless to destine it for a less Manichean approach to the question of the spiritual minorities, as in this presentation of one of its “great works”: “The DGAS must permanently identify and measure new social demands and elaborate the adequate responses. The fight against exclusions represents in this regard a priority field.”

The ramifications of its action, detailing the acronyms of the multiple more or less known organs of government (”(…) It works regularly with the DGS, the DSS, the DHOS, the DREES, the DPM, the SDFE, the DIF as well as the DGEFP, the DRT, the DIIJ, the DRASS and the DDASS”) give the feeling of a veritable underground and well-articulated campaign, beyond the façade explanations which take care to give the general public the feeling that human rights are always respected.

In blue, the paragraphs which particularly attracted our attention.

Circular DGAS/2A no. 2006-241 of 1 June 2006 on dérives sectaires

NOR: SANA0630280C

Reference: decree no. 2002-1392 of 28 November 2002.

Text modified: DGAS circular no. 2000-501 of 3 October 2000 on dérives sectaires.

Annex: the functions of the correspondents in charge of dérives sectaires.

Summary: The present circular on dérives sectaires recalls, on the one hand, the rules that bind public agents within the service and, on the other, the rules that frame the action of the administration in the execution of its missions with the public. On this second point, it takes up and clarifies the content of DGAS circular no. 2000-501 of 3 October 2000 on dérives sectaires. It specifies the action of all the agents of the administration in this field. It defines moreover the functions exercised by the correspondents of the regional directorates and of the directorates of the central administration in charge of dérives sectaires.

The Minister of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing, the Minister of Health and Solidarities, to the Secretary General of the ministries in charge of social affairs; the Head of the general inspectorate of social affairs; the delegates general, delegates, directors general, directors and heads of service of the central administration; the Prefects of region (regional directors of labour, employment and professional training, regional directors of health and social affairs, regional delegates for women’s rights); the Prefects of departments (departmental directors of labour, employment and professional training, departmental directors of health and social affairs, departmental officers for women’s rights).

I. - BEHAVIOUR OF PUBLIC AGENTS WITHIN THE SERVICES

The agents of the public service benefit, like all citizens, from a total freedom of conscience which forbids any discrimination in access to functions, as in the unfolding of a career, that would be founded on religion.

This affirmation is founded on article 10 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, according to which “No one may be disturbed for his opinions, even religious ones, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law”, and on the preamble of the Constitution of 1946: “No one may be harmed in his work or employment by reason of his origins, opinions or beliefs.”

However, they must at no moment of their professional activity make known any possible commitment, and their behaviour, both within the service and outside it, must respect the principle of neutrality.

The principles of laïcité and of neutrality of the public service stand in the way of public agents having, within the framework of the service, the right to manifest their beliefs.

The manifestation - in whatever form - of a belief during the exercise of one’s functions constitutes a disciplinary fault which may be the object of a sanction.

Moreover, public agents are bound by an obligation of reserve which extends the obligations of the service with the aim of protecting the neutrality of the public service.

Thus, they may not canvass their colleagues or the users of the public service, even outside service hours, invoking their membership of the public service, to make them take part in private activities of a religious or confessional type.

They may not use the means of the service for a strictly private activity, and in particular an associative or worship activity. They may not display their status as public agents and their professional contact details on documents or sites of these associations. Such behaviour is liable to disciplinary sanctions. The same applies to transmissions of information to third parties or removals of documents.

(Cf.: opinion 4/6 ssr 3 May 2000, Mlle Marteaux, no. 217017, published in the recueil. 15 October 2003, M. Odent, no. 244428, published in the recueil).

II. - THE ACTION OF THE ADMINISTRATION

1. Rules framing the action of the administration in its relations with users

The State owes our fellow citizens the guarantee of safety, considered by article 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen as a natural and imprescriptible right of man. This role of the public power is one of the oldest and one of those it cannot delegate. The State cannot therefore remain indifferent to dérives sectaires, and it is its duty to intervene to prevent them. The intervention of our services, which have charge of the most vulnerable persons, is - in this regard - essential.

The commitment of the State and of the territorial authorities concerned in the fight against dérives sectaires was reaffirmed by the decree of 28 November 2002 instituting the interministerial mission of vigilance and combat against dérives sectaires, placed with the Prime Minister. The latter is notably charged: “With favouring, in respect of public liberties, the coordination of the preventive and repressive action of the public authorities against these doings.” These provisions thus affirm very clearly the double role of prevention and repression that the Government intends to assume.

This action must be carried out in a coordinated manner in liaison with the administrative police services, the judicial police services and the public prosecution service, as well as with the specialised magistrates in charge of vulnerable persons: children’s judges, guardianship judges, etc.

2. An action founded on respect for the rules of ordinary law

Dérives sectaires can be at the origin of violation(s) of social legislation. It is therefore from a classic finding, arising from ordinary law, that the services of the State will determine their course. The “cult” is only a particular setting in which one or more facts present themselves, whose treatment is and remains the responsibility of the services in their habitual fields of competence. In this sense, the services may be led to exercise:

2.1. A preventive action

A preventive action must in particular rest on vigilance in the procedures of authorisation and accreditation or of the granting of subsidies which could benefit natural or legal persons whose mode of action turned out to be contrary to the texts and regulations in force. It thus falls to you to attend to the statutes of the applicant(s), to the activities conducted and to the conditions of organisation.

The fields of health, of the medico-social (disabled persons, elderly persons), of employment and professional training will be the object of reinforced vigilance.

A quite particular watch will be organised in the field of the structures and schemes intended specifically for minors.

2.2. A control action

It is a matter of exercising control, in the conditions of ordinary law, in the face of certain modes of functioning which transgress the law and appear prejudicial to public order. The various inspection corps of our ministries fulfil in this respect a primordial function.

Most files linked to dérives sectaires present aspects arising under different legislations. Given the transversality of the problems encountered, the inspections will therefore often be coordinated, indeed joint. In this sense, the treatment of these files requires, on the one hand, a rapprochement between the various inspection corps of our ministries, and on the other, a rapprochement with the inspection corps of the other ministries (tax services, competition, consumption and repression of fraud, etc.), the police and gendarmerie services and the public prosecution service.

2.3. An action of care for the victims of the cults

The ordinary-law schemes will be used for the benefit of followers and their families, in particular at the time of their exit from the hold of these groups. The schemes arising from a logic of reinsertion, in particular those linked to questions of housing, resources and social accompaniment, must be mobilised by the devolved services, in liaison with the other partners, in particular justice and all the local social services. The same will apply in the matter of psychological support.

3. A specific support apparatus

The difficulties linked to the treatment of dérives sectaires have led to the putting in place of a specific support apparatus whose object is, despite these difficulties, to continue to apply ordinary law.

The apparatus thus contributes to the work of all the agents of our ministries who might be led to treat a file linked to dérives sectaires.

A project officer, attached to the General Directorate of Social Action, holds, for the Ministry of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing and for the Ministry of Health and Solidarities, the responsibility for animating and coordinating all the actions linked to the treatment and prevention of dérives sectaires. He maintains every useful link with the interministerial mission of vigilance and combat against dérives sectaires (MIVILUDES), and the ministries of justice and the interior.

Correspondents are also designated both at the level of the devolved directorates and of the directorates of the central administration. The functions exercised by these correspondents are specified in the annex to the present circular.

A working group brings together each month all the correspondents designated in this domain within the central administration. It makes it possible to raise any methodological difficulties that may have appeared and to help resolve them.

4. A watch instrument

Situations linked to dérives sectaires, or supposed to be such, encountered by agents of the Ministry of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing and of the Ministry of Health and Solidarities will be the object of information to the regional correspondents or those of the central administration in charge of dérives sectaires. These situations will in parallel be reported by c.c. mail (DGAS-AVIE-SECTES@sante.gouv.fr) to the project officer who holds the responsibility for animating and coordinating all the actions linked to the treatment and prevention of dérives sectaires.

The director of the cabinet, J.-F. Carenco

The director of the cabinet, B. Bonhert

ANNEX

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE CORRESPONDENTS IN CHARGE OF DÉRIVES SECTAIRES

The correspondents fulfil functions of sensitisation and training of their own directorates as well as of the professional organisations and associative networks with which these directorates are in contact. They fulfil moreover functions of watch, of gathering and of sharing information linked to dérives sectaires. They bring, finally, their assistance to the services in the treatment of files linked to these excesses. The correspondents of the regional directorates: In coherence with the network of MIVILUDES correspondents, the correspondents of our ministries are designated at the level of the regional directorates (DRASS, DRTEFP). The correspondents thus designated are invited to constitute themselves as a “pair”. Beyond the information and sensitisation of their own directorates, they are invited to propose to the regional and interdepartmental technical committees (CTRI) the definition of the most pertinent organisations for developing these same actions.

Working links with the administrations and territorial authorities concerned (departmental council, municipality…), participation in the meetings organised by the department prefects and the public prosecutors’ offices make it possible to gather and share all the information useful to the field of competence of our administrations. The same applies to the working links that may develop with the local branches of the associations intervening in the field of “cult” excesses. The information thus gathered is the object of an examination by our regional or departmental directorates. It then falls to the services to take the adequate measures and conduct any necessary administrative action.

In case of persistent difficulty in the treatment of a file linked to “cult” excesses, the correspondents notify the project officer responsible for coordinating the actions linked to the treatment and prevention of dérives sectaires. Certain of these files may then be the object of an examination by the permanent working group on dérives sectaires. Finally the project officer receives, at the beginning of February each year, a regional review drawn up by each “pair”, bearing on the evolution of dérives sectaires in the field of competence of our administrations and on the administrative actions conducted in these domains. The correspondents of the central administration: The correspondents of the directorates of the central administration have the mission of sensitising the latter to the problematic of dérives sectaires. They see also to ensuring the sensitisation of the professional organisations and associative networks with which these directorates are in contact. They bring technical and methodological support to the bureaux of their directorates which may have to treat a file linked to dérives sectaires, as well as to the devolved services which request it. The project officer responsible for coordinating the treatment of dérives sectaires transmits to them, in their fields of competence, all information emanating from the regional correspondents. They attend the meetings of the working group provided for by the circular of 3 October 2000. They inform the project officer of any difficulty encountered in the application of the present circular. They draw up at the beginning of February each year the review for their directorates, bearing on the evolution of dérives sectaires and on the administrative actions conducted in these domains.

Read also: The Guide for the public agent facing dérives sectaires The Guide for Mayors and the Miviludes reports