Below are some suggested campaign activities and what you can do to get involved. Please email us if you have any more ideas.
1. Twitter campaign
Pope Francis has an official twitter account with over 3,000,000 followers. Interestingly, the account only follows eight people. Similarly, the Vatican News twitter account has over 180,000 followers and doesn’t follow anyone at all.
Let’s tell them what’s really going on.
We are encouraging people to tweet @ Pope Francis and Vatican News about child sexual abuse in the Church and what they should do about it. Here are some suggested tweets.
@Pontifex_ln @news_va_en Survivors need you to disclose info about child sexual abuse to UN CRC 16 Jan. We need closure #HolySeeConfess
@Pontifex_ln @news_va_en Hope #HolySee UN review 16 Jan gets results for victims everywhere. Sexual violence against children must stop #HolySeeConfess
@Pontifex_ln @news_va_en Have you seen new @CRINwire report on int’l scale of child sex abuse? Holy See UN review this week #HolySeeConfess
@CRINwire is reporting live from #HolySee UN review TODAY. Follow #HolySeeConfess and tweet! Pls RT
UN to press Holy See re int’l scale of child sexual abuse & cover ups TODAY. #HolySeeConfess @Pontifex_ln @news_va_en
@Pontifex_ln @news_va_en it’s time for #HolySeeConfess. UN to review Holy See for child sex abuse TODAY.
Of course you can do your own tweets, which could be links to blogs with your own story, messages of support to victims, calls on the UN to come down hard on the Holy See, other research or case law that you know about, or calls on the Holy See to confess, using #HolySeeConfess.
2. Be part of a directory of advocates working to end sexual violence against children in religious institutions
We are stronger when we work together. Whether you are a lawyer, victim, family member or member of the Catholic Church, you can help. We all have different skills sets and availability, and we can really make a difference if we work collectively. The advancement of women’s rights and racial equality around the world are examples of people power. Together, we can achieve the same results and protect children from sexual violence.
CRIN is putting together an advocacy directory for people interested in working on this campaign that will link to our existing general directory, which you can search for in the library section.
- We particularly want to hear from you if you are a lawyer working on cases similar to those in our preliminary report, or are interested in doing so. We are looking to put together a directory of lawyers so victims around the world can find where to seek legal advice to challenge sexual violence against children in religious institutions in court.
We are also looking to put together a legal advocacy toolkit on this particular issue. In the meantime, read our general legal advocacy toolkit.
- We also want to create a global list of victim support groups so people can connect, find help and share resources in their own country, and discover what others are doing around the world. Please email us if you are interested in this.
3. Contribute to our research
As stated above, CRIN has written a preliminary report to illustrate the sheer scale of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the Holy See’s lack of transparency and accountability. This is an evolving piece of research that we will continue to add to.
We want to hear from you if:
- You can verify or challenge any of the information in the report with information from existing court cases.
- Have information on additional court cases. We will continue to update our website with information on cases as you send these to us.
- Are interested in hearing from us about campaign follow up, including updates on the report, outcomes of the UN review and next stages of the broader campaign to end sexual violence in religious institutions.
Email us with any of the above information. We work in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian.
4. Get a group together and watch the UN review LIVE!
You can watch the UN review of the Holy See live online. A group of NGOs live stream UN treaty body sessions (including the Committee on the Rights of the Child) via webcast.
A lot of people have a stake in the UN’s review of the Holy See on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. So why not encourage victims, support networks, lawyers, children’s rights campaigners, family and friends to get together and watch it on a big screen together?
The review will start on 16 January at 10am (Geneva time - GMT + 1). The morning session goes until 1pm, and there will then be an afternoon session between 2 and 6pm. Timings of UN reviews can change slightly at the last minute, so follow #HolySeeConfess for updates.