32 ICSA
Report From France and French-
Speaking Countries
Guillaume Garih
Yves Bolduc was appointed Quebec’s
Minister of Education on April 23, 2014.
Bolduc affirmed his determination to settle
the issue of clandestine schools swiftly,
once and for all, and the government
is asking citizens to report suspected
clandestine schools. The present and
published list is made up of six confessional
institutions, with religion the only subject
matter being taught at some of these
schools. Five of the six schools are Jewish
and one is Mennonite four of the six appear
to function without any pending litigation
from the Province of Québec.
According to the newspaper La Presse,
Quebec government workers are reluctant
to involve the courts since the workers’
failure before the Superior Court of Justice
in 2011 on the matter of the Academy
Yeshiva Toras Moshe of Montreal. In that
case, the Honorable Judge Dugré refused to
close the school because the institution had
been tolerated for more than fifty years.
Yves Bolduc is not the first Minister of
Education to tackle the issue, and it is
uncertain at this point whether he can hold
to his promise to put a stop to clandestine
schools. Alex Werzberger, a Hasidic leader,
claims that negotiation and compliance
with the government’s rules and programs
is also a viable avenue to finding a solution.
He is nevertheless adamant that certain
points, such as not teaching the theory of
evolution, are non-negotiable.
Although the practice has been banned
by law since 1996, about 60% of women
in Burkina Faso have undergone genital
mutilation. The West-African country is now
part of a controversy stirred by the Raëlian
movement, which claims to have invested
$413,000 in “the pleasure hospital,” a place
dedicated to clitoral reconstruction, only
to have the hospital declared illegal shortly
before its grand opening. Brukina Faso’s
Ministry of Health claims that the decision
is purely administrative, while the Raëlian
movement sees it as a blatant display
of religious persecution. Undeterred,
a Raëlian spokesperson indicates that
another pleasure hospital will soon open
in East Africa. There is not enough data
available regarding clitoral reconstruction
to conclude that the surgery is beneficial,
including claims that it can restore pleasure
to victims of female circumcision.
Report From Italy
Christina Caparesi
News From the Italian Associations
The SOS Abusi Psicologici project approved
in October 2013 had to await the Friuli
Venezia Giulia-region decree in late
December before the organization could
proceed with putting together all the
professional duties included in the project.
In the early months, the group organized
the office and located it in a law firm (which
included two rooms, one for administrative
duties and one for consultation). Thus,
a working group of professionals was
launched. The group includes Teresa
Dennetta, attorney Cristina Caparesi,
educator and family mediator Salanitro
Gabriella, psychotherapist and Elisa
Mattiussi, psychiatrist. A secretary also was
appointed for administrative purposes and
to provide for the coordination of volunteer
members.
At its inauguration, the working group
shared the protocol intervention approved
by SOS Abusi Psicologici with the social
cooperative EXIT S.C.S. onlus, a nonprofit
organization (for a summary of the
methodology, see abusievessazioni.it/
wp-content/uploads/2012/05/il-centro_
aiuto_sos_abusi2.pdf). An infopoint was
activated in Pordenone, at the Antimobbing
Office of the CISL (Confederazione Italiana
Sindacati Lavoratori [Confederation of
Italian Workers’ Trade Unions]) with the
Province of Pordenone, and another was
activated at a medical clinic in Trieste. The
infopoints will offer informational meetings
with people in the local areas and provide
informational brochures about the services
in Udine.
The group subsequently began
advertising for the help center, informing
local authorities of its existence, and
began structuring formal and informal
collaboration with individual public bodies
where necessary for the referral of cases
both from the help center to single entities
and vice versa to create a network of
support for people in need. In particular,
for 2014, the following public buildings are
involved: the social-welfare areas of local
towns the Mental Health Center of Udine
the Family Counseling Center with the
Udine multidisciplinary team the Regional
Education Office and the State Police of
Udine and Trieste.
The working group currently is organizing
small presentations at some treatment
sites regarding issues related both to
planning and to explaining the operation
of the center. The group also is developing
a database for the management of cases
that come to the center. The database
will provide the option of individual
indicators to represent the three phases
of case management: reception, problem
analysis, and orientation. By the end of the
annual project, scheduled for October 30,
2014, a computer database will have been
developed.
New plans for 2015 were presented at the
administrative office for the region in late
January, with the hope of also keeping
the help center going with the current
standards. The timeframe for approval and
subsequent implementation of upcoming
projects is currently unknown.
Among the activities being considered
and planned are an annual convention
honoring S.O.S. Abusi’s 10-year association.
The convention will be titled Network
Help Against Manipulation, with details
to be finalized by November 7, 2014, and
a seminar titled Intervention Guidelines
Within Abusive and Harassing Group
Environments to be held on November 8
and 9, 2014. The seminar will be structured
using focus-group meetings, and its
purpose will be to discuss the best practices
developed by the participating associations.
The seminar is directed at those who
employ different professional associations
who deal as first responders, provide legal
advice, or offer psychological help and
mediation of conflicts in the environment
of alternative faiths. For this purpose,
Italian and foreign associations have been
invited. The new project also aims to
expand the network of collaboration with
public institutions. The presentation will be
organized into two tracks, one in Italian and
one in English. At present, some Italian and
European associations have registered, and
more registrations are expected.
ICSA TODAYTODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
Report From France and French-
Speaking Countries
Guillaume Garih
Yves Bolduc was appointed Quebec’s
Minister of Education on April 23, 2014.
Bolduc affirmed his determination to settle
the issue of clandestine schools swiftly,
once and for all, and the government
is asking citizens to report suspected
clandestine schools. The present and
published list is made up of six confessional
institutions, with religion the only subject
matter being taught at some of these
schools. Five of the six schools are Jewish
and one is Mennonite four of the six appear
to function without any pending litigation
from the Province of Québec.
According to the newspaper La Presse,
Quebec government workers are reluctant
to involve the courts since the workers’
failure before the Superior Court of Justice
in 2011 on the matter of the Academy
Yeshiva Toras Moshe of Montreal. In that
case, the Honorable Judge Dugré refused to
close the school because the institution had
been tolerated for more than fifty years.
Yves Bolduc is not the first Minister of
Education to tackle the issue, and it is
uncertain at this point whether he can hold
to his promise to put a stop to clandestine
schools. Alex Werzberger, a Hasidic leader,
claims that negotiation and compliance
with the government’s rules and programs
is also a viable avenue to finding a solution.
He is nevertheless adamant that certain
points, such as not teaching the theory of
evolution, are non-negotiable.
Although the practice has been banned
by law since 1996, about 60% of women
in Burkina Faso have undergone genital
mutilation. The West-African country is now
part of a controversy stirred by the Raëlian
movement, which claims to have invested
$413,000 in “the pleasure hospital,” a place
dedicated to clitoral reconstruction, only
to have the hospital declared illegal shortly
before its grand opening. Brukina Faso’s
Ministry of Health claims that the decision
is purely administrative, while the Raëlian
movement sees it as a blatant display
of religious persecution. Undeterred,
a Raëlian spokesperson indicates that
another pleasure hospital will soon open
in East Africa. There is not enough data
available regarding clitoral reconstruction
to conclude that the surgery is beneficial,
including claims that it can restore pleasure
to victims of female circumcision.
Report From Italy
Christina Caparesi
News From the Italian Associations
The SOS Abusi Psicologici project approved
in October 2013 had to await the Friuli
Venezia Giulia-region decree in late
December before the organization could
proceed with putting together all the
professional duties included in the project.
In the early months, the group organized
the office and located it in a law firm (which
included two rooms, one for administrative
duties and one for consultation). Thus,
a working group of professionals was
launched. The group includes Teresa
Dennetta, attorney Cristina Caparesi,
educator and family mediator Salanitro
Gabriella, psychotherapist and Elisa
Mattiussi, psychiatrist. A secretary also was
appointed for administrative purposes and
to provide for the coordination of volunteer
members.
At its inauguration, the working group
shared the protocol intervention approved
by SOS Abusi Psicologici with the social
cooperative EXIT S.C.S. onlus, a nonprofit
organization (for a summary of the
methodology, see abusievessazioni.it/
wp-content/uploads/2012/05/il-centro_
aiuto_sos_abusi2.pdf). An infopoint was
activated in Pordenone, at the Antimobbing
Office of the CISL (Confederazione Italiana
Sindacati Lavoratori [Confederation of
Italian Workers’ Trade Unions]) with the
Province of Pordenone, and another was
activated at a medical clinic in Trieste. The
infopoints will offer informational meetings
with people in the local areas and provide
informational brochures about the services
in Udine.
The group subsequently began
advertising for the help center, informing
local authorities of its existence, and
began structuring formal and informal
collaboration with individual public bodies
where necessary for the referral of cases
both from the help center to single entities
and vice versa to create a network of
support for people in need. In particular,
for 2014, the following public buildings are
involved: the social-welfare areas of local
towns the Mental Health Center of Udine
the Family Counseling Center with the
Udine multidisciplinary team the Regional
Education Office and the State Police of
Udine and Trieste.
The working group currently is organizing
small presentations at some treatment
sites regarding issues related both to
planning and to explaining the operation
of the center. The group also is developing
a database for the management of cases
that come to the center. The database
will provide the option of individual
indicators to represent the three phases
of case management: reception, problem
analysis, and orientation. By the end of the
annual project, scheduled for October 30,
2014, a computer database will have been
developed.
New plans for 2015 were presented at the
administrative office for the region in late
January, with the hope of also keeping
the help center going with the current
standards. The timeframe for approval and
subsequent implementation of upcoming
projects is currently unknown.
Among the activities being considered
and planned are an annual convention
honoring S.O.S. Abusi’s 10-year association.
The convention will be titled Network
Help Against Manipulation, with details
to be finalized by November 7, 2014, and
a seminar titled Intervention Guidelines
Within Abusive and Harassing Group
Environments to be held on November 8
and 9, 2014. The seminar will be structured
using focus-group meetings, and its
purpose will be to discuss the best practices
developed by the participating associations.
The seminar is directed at those who
employ different professional associations
who deal as first responders, provide legal
advice, or offer psychological help and
mediation of conflicts in the environment
of alternative faiths. For this purpose,
Italian and foreign associations have been
invited. The new project also aims to
expand the network of collaboration with
public institutions. The presentation will be
organized into two tracks, one in Italian and
one in English. At present, some Italian and
European associations have registered, and
more registrations are expected.
ICSA TODAYTODAY
Correspondents
,
Reports
