Alain Vivien

Alain Vivien (born August 20, 1938, in Melun) is a French Socialist Party (PS) politician, best known for chairing (from 1998 to 2002) the French Mission Interministérielle pour la Lutte contre les Sectes, MILS, a ministerial organism designed to observe the activities of various religious organizations defined as "Sectes" (cults).

Early career
He was mayor of Combs-la-Ville in 1977-1983 and 1989-1992. In 1983 he was elected to the French National Assembly for Seine-et-Marne as a PS candidate. The author of a report on cults requested by Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy in 1982, he was Secretary of State under Edith Cresson in 1991-1992.

In 1998 Vivien was nominated chairman of the MILS, which had been formed to coordinate government monitoring of sectes (name given to cults in France). In February 1998, MILS released its annual report on the monitoring of sects.

Corruption allegations
Vivien was criticized for allegedly using more than half the MILS budget for foreign travel, including to the People's Republic of China. Alain Ostmont, the general secretary of MILS, stated in response to these allegations in an interview that Vivien did not travel much for MILS, but that he undertook travels for humanitarian organizations which he chaired at the same time, and that this had been confused by some reports. He specifically added that Vivien was sent to the Beijing conference by the government as representative of the French state, not by MILS.

CESNUR writes that, during his tenure as president of MILS, Alain Vivien attended together with anti-cultist organizations such as the French CCMM and the European Federation of anti-cult movements FECRIS a colloquium organized by the Chinese government on the topic of cults, and interprets this as assisting the Chinese government in repressing religious minorities. Countering the allegation, FECRIS states that it had been invited but did not take part, and that the co-organiser United Nations Development Programme confirms that CCMM did not offer any support to the repression of Falun Gong.

During the FECRIS application for NGO-status, the matter was also investigated by the Council of Europe Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The rapporteur, the Swiss Councillor Dick Marty, noted that the symposium had been co-organized by the United Nations, and had also been attended by representatives of numerous other states - including the United States - and concluded that:
 * "The CESNUR report misrepresents the contents of the Regards sur newsletter: taking everything into accounts, there is insufficient credible evidence for the allegations to be made out."

Marty's report was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on March 18, 2005.

Awards

 * Leipzig Human Rights Award, May 11, 2002