Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1992, Page 70
their activities through registers of religious, cultural, therapeutic, or other similar bodies
under which form sects often masquerade.
With regard to information on sects, there are two aspects involved. There is general
information, which must be given by the public authorities, and dissemination of that
information through the media, which are probably in the best position for alerting the public
to the problem. On the other hand there is a need, especially in the predominantly secular
societies of Western Europe, but by no means exclusively in such societies, to provide a basis
for value judgments. Informing adolescents about sects and new religious movements must
be an integral part of the general education system and cannot simply be left to independent
bodies. This problem must be put before young people and children when they learn about
ethics and personal and social rights in religious freedom, in other words, at school.
I agree with Mr. Hunt's conclusion on the problem of the transfer of children abroad, but I
should like to add that much can be done in the field of international cooperation to monitor
sects more effectively and to obtain information and divulge it. The necessary international
agreements to this effect should therefore be concluded.
Lastly, it seems evident to me that the members working for sects and exploited by them
should be protected. The problem is knowing how and when a person is "working for a sect"
and is "employed" by that sect. This is not easy. In all cases, the general employment and tax
legislation of each country should be applied.
Reporting committee: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (Doc. 6535).
Committee for opinion: Committee on Culture and Education.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: None.
Reference: Doc. 5737, Reference No. 1568 of 1 July 1987.
Opinion: Approved by the committee on 6 December 1991.
Secretaries to the committee: MM. Grayson and Ary.
Official Report on Sects and New Religious Movements
(Speeches and Summarized Speeches by Various Members)
Sir John Hunt (United Kingdom) (Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights): I am pleased to have the opportunity to present my report on behalf of the
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. As members of the committee will know, the
report has had an exceptionally long gestation period. I am relieved, therefore, that is has
been allotted a place in today's order of business. I am pleased about that because I believe
that the Assembly is the forum in which the anxieties and apprehensions of so many people
about the activities of cults and sects should be fully aired and debated.
As we all know, we are about to debate a highly emotive subject. Feelings run high on both
sides of the argument, but nowhere higher than among the parents of children and young
people who have been enticed into various groups and have subsequently become alienated
from their families and home environment.
There is no doubt that the proliferation of these sects during the past 25 or 30 years has been
a most disturbing phenomenon in Europe and elsewhere. In the introductory section of my
report I have tried to analyze the reasons for it. Among those reasons is the waning interest
in what one might call the established, traditional churches. As a result, the sects have moved
in to fill the vacuum, as it were, by appealing in a subtle and sometimes sinister way to
impressionable and idealistic young people. There is clear evidence that many sects set out
deliberately to enlist the more vulnerable members of the younger generation. They recruit on
campuses among those who are feeling distressed with college life and examinations. They
recruit on the streets among those who are homeless or who are facing difficulties in their
family relationships.
their activities through registers of religious, cultural, therapeutic, or other similar bodies
under which form sects often masquerade.
With regard to information on sects, there are two aspects involved. There is general
information, which must be given by the public authorities, and dissemination of that
information through the media, which are probably in the best position for alerting the public
to the problem. On the other hand there is a need, especially in the predominantly secular
societies of Western Europe, but by no means exclusively in such societies, to provide a basis
for value judgments. Informing adolescents about sects and new religious movements must
be an integral part of the general education system and cannot simply be left to independent
bodies. This problem must be put before young people and children when they learn about
ethics and personal and social rights in religious freedom, in other words, at school.
I agree with Mr. Hunt's conclusion on the problem of the transfer of children abroad, but I
should like to add that much can be done in the field of international cooperation to monitor
sects more effectively and to obtain information and divulge it. The necessary international
agreements to this effect should therefore be concluded.
Lastly, it seems evident to me that the members working for sects and exploited by them
should be protected. The problem is knowing how and when a person is "working for a sect"
and is "employed" by that sect. This is not easy. In all cases, the general employment and tax
legislation of each country should be applied.
Reporting committee: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (Doc. 6535).
Committee for opinion: Committee on Culture and Education.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: None.
Reference: Doc. 5737, Reference No. 1568 of 1 July 1987.
Opinion: Approved by the committee on 6 December 1991.
Secretaries to the committee: MM. Grayson and Ary.
Official Report on Sects and New Religious Movements
(Speeches and Summarized Speeches by Various Members)
Sir John Hunt (United Kingdom) (Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights): I am pleased to have the opportunity to present my report on behalf of the
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. As members of the committee will know, the
report has had an exceptionally long gestation period. I am relieved, therefore, that is has
been allotted a place in today's order of business. I am pleased about that because I believe
that the Assembly is the forum in which the anxieties and apprehensions of so many people
about the activities of cults and sects should be fully aired and debated.
As we all know, we are about to debate a highly emotive subject. Feelings run high on both
sides of the argument, but nowhere higher than among the parents of children and young
people who have been enticed into various groups and have subsequently become alienated
from their families and home environment.
There is no doubt that the proliferation of these sects during the past 25 or 30 years has been
a most disturbing phenomenon in Europe and elsewhere. In the introductory section of my
report I have tried to analyze the reasons for it. Among those reasons is the waning interest
in what one might call the established, traditional churches. As a result, the sects have moved
in to fill the vacuum, as it were, by appealing in a subtle and sometimes sinister way to
impressionable and idealistic young people. There is clear evidence that many sects set out
deliberately to enlist the more vulnerable members of the younger generation. They recruit on
campuses among those who are feeling distressed with college life and examinations. They
recruit on the streets among those who are homeless or who are facing difficulties in their
family relationships.
