By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers — At the beginning of April, various parties publicly expressed, with complete impunity, their strong opposition to the freedom of worship and assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses wishing to publicly commemorate their annual “Memorial of Jesus’ death” in various towns across France, which corresponds to the Catholic celebration of Easter.
This constitutes a tolerated form of public expression of a specific anti-religious hatred. Such behaviour exists in other countries with little or no democracy, such as Pakistan, where Ahmadis are targeted by Muslim extremists with impunity, but it should not be tolerated in France, ‘the cradle of human rights.’
Freedom of thought and opinion is a fundamental right in France, and everyone has the right not to like religions or certain religions, provided this is done with respect for human rights. Freedom of worship and assembly are two pillars of democracy, and therefore also of the secular French Republic.
Elected representatives of the city of Le Havre
On 2 April, the Jehovah’s Witnesses booked a hall at the “Théâtre Le Normandy” in Le Havre, which reopened on 28 November 2025 after being closed for 35 years.
This is the city of Mayor Edouard Philippe (2010–2017 and since 2020), who served as Prime Minister under President Macron (May 2017-July 2020) and has in mind the presidency in 2027.
Three Socialist Party councillors on the city council have publicly expressed “their vehement opposition to this ceremony taking place in a venue that has received public funding”, according to a local newspaper. They claim their position is based on the opinion of MIVILUDES, the government’s agency responsible for combating “cultic deviances”, which classifies Jehovah’s Witnesses as a high-risk community in this regard.
Among them, Theo Fortin, the city’s Socialist Party leader, told the same newspaper, “We would be delighted to hear that it has been cancelled.”
It should be noted that the theatre being hired belongs to a private organisation, not a public body, and is therefore entitled to enter into rental agreements without having to seek prior authorisation from a public authority.
Groups openly hostile to Jehovah’s Witnesses
In Dunkirk, Jehovah’s Witnesses held their convention at the Palais des Congrès.
Charline Delporte, former chair of the two associations – ADFI and CAFFES – which are hostile to certain religious movements, and more specifically to Jehovah’s Witnesses, was quick to take a stand. The reason of her hostility is that many years ago her daughter had decided to join Jehovah’s Witnesses and to remain a member of the community despite her mother’s opposition.
At her instigation, CAFFES promptly contacted the Dunkirk Urban Community (Communauté urbaine de Dunkerque) to request the cancellation of this event. It emphasised that, according to the agreement, the event was to remain private and not be subject to any publicity. It added that the association had failed to comply with this clause over the past two years.
This pressing demand to cancel the exercise of freedom of worship and assembly in Dunkirk did not have any immediate effect. However, the Urban Community announced that it would no longer grant this venue to the Jehovah’s Witnesses in future (Le Kursaal will no longer host the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Nord-Éclair).
It should be noted, however, that, as in previous years, there have been no complaints of any kind against the local association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in connection with their religious gathering.
The intimidation will therefore have paid off in the end, but the international community will no doubt be surprised by the silence of the French authorities, their wilful blindness and their inaction in the face of anti-religious hostility.
In 2023, CAFFES received €150,000 in public subsidies, representing 90% of its budget, as part of a call for projects by MIVILUDES, to carry out its activities as a “protector of consumers of beliefs.”
It should be noted that CAFFES is under the supervision of the Court of Auditors. Complaints have also been lodged regarding the use of public subsidies, but at this stage CAFFES remains under the presumption of innocence.
The aim of the repeated stigmatisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, with the help of certain media outlets seeking sensationalism, is to make them “undesirable” in the eyes of public opinion and political decision-makers.
Outside France, it is not understood why the Legion of Honour was awarded (in 2011) to a person for her decades-long campaign against Jehovah’s Witnesses on personal family grounds: her adult daughter’s decision to join this religious community against her mother’s wishes.
Proselytising or sharing one’s faith?
The reason given for announcing the ban on venue hire in 2027 is to prevent “proselytising”, that is to say, the right to share one’s faith and religious beliefs. This right has been enshrined since the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of Kokkinakis v. Greece on 25 May 1993. It has since been confirmed on numerous occasions in many other judgments in Strasbourg.
It should be noted that France has ‘polluted’ the meaning of the expression “proselytising” by giving it a negative connotation. In European law, it simply and neutrally means “sharing one’s religious convictions” in the same way as sharing one’s political, trade union or philosophical convictions, and thus recruiting new members.
Conclusion
Media outlets in the Le Havre and Dunkirk regions, some of which are mentioned above, have mainly reported on the fierce opposition to the commemoration of the equivalent of Easter celebrated by Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as serious false accusations. None of these media outlets bothered to address the issue from the neutral perspective of freedom of belief, worship and assembly.
No national media outlet appears to have fallen into this kind of trap.
Source: HRWF
