Summary:
Findings expose that senior clergy members covered up allegations of sexual abuse against children in church organisations to prevent scandals.
[BRUSSELS, 17 December 2011] - About 20,000 children have been sexually abused by 800 Roman Catholic priests or lay workers in Holland since 1945, an independent inquiry has estimated.
The investigation received 1,800 reports of sexual abuse by clergy or volunteers within Dutch Catholic dioceses, congregations and religious orders.
At least 105 of the alleged abusers are still alive.
Children involved in church organisations were twice as likely as non-Catholics to be exposed to abuse and the "mild, severe or very severe sexual behaviour" was covered up by senior clergy.
"The problem of sexual abuse was known in the orders and dioceses of the Dutch Catholic Church," the inquiry by Wim Deetman, a former Dutch minister, concluded.
"No adequate action was taken, nor was sufficient attention devoted to victims."
Based on a survey of more than 34,000 people, the Deetman report estimated that one-in-five children in Catholic school institutions between 1945 and 1985 suffered abuse.
Allegations of abuse by the Salesian Fathers at the Don Rua boarding school in Heerenberg in the 1960s led to the wider investigation, in March 2010, of paedophile assaults within the church, a process mirrored in Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Canada and the US.
Archbishop of Utrecht Wim Eijk apologised to victims in the wake of the inquiry. He said the report "fills us with shame and sorrow".
The commission began work last year. As evidence of abuse emerged, the Dutch Catholic Church last month set up a compensation system. The total bill could be more than €4.8m.
Scandals
More than 2,000 people have now registered abuse with the church and Dutch authorities and a number of cases will be taken to court.
"To prevent scandals, nothing was done: it was not acknowledged, there was no help, compensation or aftercare for the victims," said Mr Deetman.
"There was a policy of not hanging out the dirty washing. There is a cultural silence."
Guido Klabbers, from the Klokk group of child abuse victims, said: "Everyone can be shocked that this history has come in this magnitude. Everyone can be taken aback that the church has lied about this."
The inquiry did not find a direct link between the Catholic requirement for clerical celibacy and the abuse of children but Mr Deetman did conclude that "sexual need" was a factor.
"We do not consider it impossible that a number of cases would not have happened if celibacy was voluntary," he said.
The inquiry concluded that the covered-up child sex abuse was not unique to the Catholic Church. Another Dutch commission is investigating the role of social services in placing children in institutions where they were open to abuse.
Further Information:
- UNITED KINGDOM: Vatican sexual abuse inquiry into Ealing Abbey given short shrift (28 October 2011)
- HOLY SEE: Sex abuse victims take Vatican to court for possible crimes against humanity (14 September 2011)
- IRELAND: Irish prime minister accuses Pope of downplaying rape, torture of children (22 July 2011)
- HOLY SEE: Pope's new guidelines on child abuse 'are meaningless' (18 May 2011)
- CHILD ABUSE: Vatican accused of breaching CRC (16 March 2011)
- UN: Vatican child rights report 13 years overdue (16 July 2011)
- HOLY SEE: Should there be an inquisition for the Pope? (30 March 2010)
- DENMARK: Child rights group wants review of church secrecy laws (22 March 2010)
- GERMANY: Church abuse scandal reaches Pope's brother (11 March 2010)
- IRELAND: Church 'routinely covered up' child sexual abuse for 30 years (30 November 2009)
- EXPLOITATION: Vatican to be sued over sex abuse claims (15 December 2008)
- UNITED KINGDOM: Church accused of abuse cover-up (26 April 2007)
- AUSTRIA: Sexual Abuse of Children by Members of the Roman Catholic Church (10 December 2005)
- CHILD ABUSE: Some Demand UN Address Church Abuse (May 2002)
- CRIN's Forms of Violence pages on **Physical abuse** and **Torture**
- Council of Europe's One in Five campaign against sexual abuse of children
- More on children's rights in the Holy See
- More on children's rights in the Netherlands
Organisation Contact Details:
Independent.ie
Last updated 23/12/2011 03:14:44
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