Freedom's French edition, Éthique et Liberté, has exposed government-funded discrimination that violates the French constitution and has earned the nation's anti-religious lawmakers criticism from nations and human rights watchdogs worldwide.

For decades, Freedom has been relentless in exposing the perpetrators of the violent and criminal activity of “deprogramming”, wherein members of religions are abducted and imprisoned, while their captors assault them physically and mentally in efforts to coerce them into abandoning their chosen beliefs.

In France, a parliamentary commission in 1996 arbitrarily blacklisted 172 minority religious organisations, creating a “witchhunt” atmosphere, thus fuelling discrimination and violent actions against members of minority faiths and paving the way for repressive anti-religious legislation that would follow several years later. Freedom‘s French edition, Éthique et Liberté, has long worked to expose this extremist trend and in one investigation, exposed a government-funded front group responsible for institutionalising a young woman solely because she had joined a minority religious movement.

In its relentless dedication to fight against discrimination, Éthique & Liberté published and promoted a guide on how to use the Freedom of Information law to force government agencies to open their files and give French citizens access to their personal data, thus opening a new era of transparency in France. A landmark decision by the court of Paris in 2004 forced the RG (Renseignements Généraux, or General Information) to open their files, and hundreds of similar applications have since been filed with the Commission for National Information and Liberty (CNIL—Commission Nationale Information et Liberte). The alertness and persistence of Éthique et Liberté to get government transparency enforced was acknowledged by government officials.

That role of human rights protector continues as Éthique et Liberté focuses on the French laws that breed hate and intolerance. In 2000, Éthique et Liberté brought to light a petition on religious freedom presented to the Council of Europe‘s Parliamentary Assembly by 40 French spiritual and religious organisations. Their sentiments are reflected in statements such as this by French Doctor of Law, Andre Dufour:

“In this period of real danger for religious freedom in France ... I really appreciate the information, [Éthique et Liberté‘s] content and particularly the editorials. “For several years, our country has entered, despite the basic laws of the Republic, the way of discrimination and persecution for reason of conscience. Instead of guaranteeing to citizens, as it is their duty, the free exercise of their religion, public officials allow themselves to set up lists of so-called sects on which they draw, through these means, suspicion, slander and soon persecution.

“To know if a country respects religious freedom, one must check how it treats religious minorities.... “My congratulations for your courageous action.” The Parliamentary Assembly, in turn, appointed an investigator to look into French suppression of religious freedom. The report‘s recommendations were accepted in full—a conclusion that led to the European Assembly‘s formal request that France reconsider its anti-religious legislation. The news splashed across the pages of the French media the next day.

In 2002, Éthique et Liberté, obtained the 1999-2001 financial records of the most vocal anti-religious lobby and revealed that, while the group claimed popular support for their intolerant agenda, more than 90% of its budget was government-funded, and that in actual fact there was negligible public support.

Even more incriminating were revelations that 16 of the association‘s officials made 88 junkets, many to exotic locations, between 1999 and 2001 to export their controversial and discriminating measures to destroy religious and spiritual minorities. The misused public funds became headline news nationwide, as did the disclosure that the then-prime minister provided 2.5 million francs to the lobby for new headquarters that were so badly managed the building has since been put up for sale. More sweeping was the outcome for the group itself: its president resigned and the entire body was disbanded five months later.

The European Parliament then joined the Council of Europe in opposing the repressive legislation in its January 2003 report, “Basic Rights in the European Union.” The Parliament described the French law as “damaging and discriminating.”

Following the parliamentary report, a large majority of members voted to mandate that any actions in this field be conducted within the framework of usual civil and criminal laws. Within weeks, a Paris court took a parallel stand against such intolerance, ordering the former president of an anti-religious organisation—one with a long background of persecuting religious minorities in France—to pay a penalty and damages to Éthique et Liberté‘s editor.