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Last week the Committee on the Rights of the Child made international news headlines with its findings and recommendations on the Holy See’s role with regard to child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. This special edition of the Violence against Children CRINmail takes a look at the Committee’s concluding observations, providing an overview of what the Committee said and outlining the next steps.
Since the Committee’s review was on the Holy See’s adherence to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a whole, we also outline some of the other key issues to come out of the concluding observations.
And as always, we give a roundup of some of the main stories on violence against children from the past month.
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UN rebukes the Holy See on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has strongly criticised the Holy See for its handling of child sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church around the world.
“The Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interest,” said the Committee in its concluding observations released last week.
“Child victims and their families have often been blamed by religious authorities, discredited and discouraged from pursuing their complaints and in some instances humiliated,” the Committee went on to say before reprimanding the Holy See for its “code of silence” and imposing confidentiality on victims as a precondition of financial compensation.
The Holy See was also up for review by the Committee under the optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. These concluding observations are also strong, and make particular reference to the Holy See’s treaties with other States, notably Italy, which guarantee immunity for Vatican officials.
The Holy See ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 - the year the treaty came into force. This created an obligation on the Holy See under international law to report to the Committee every five years on its adherence to and implementation of the Convention, which includes children’s right to be free from violence and State obligations to provide access to justice for children.
Yet the Holy See failed to report to the Committee for 14 years. This was just one of the Holy See’s attempts to gracefully sidestep accountability for its role in the child sexual abuse scandal. Throughout the whole review process, the Holy See gave vague answers to the Committee’s direct questions. Yet in its concluding observations, the Committee quashed the Holy See’s arguments and has demanded the Holy See report back to the Committee in three years time (instead of the usual five).
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The Holy See has jurisdiction over the Catholic Church
One of the arguments put forward by the Holy See to avoid responsibility for child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was to argue that it only has jurisdiction over what happens in the Vatican City State, not Catholic institutions around the world. There are only 36 children within the borders of the Vatican City State, yet, as stated by the Committee “child sexual abuse committed by members of Catholic churches who operate under the authority of the Holy See” involves “tens of thousands of children worldwide”.
Although often used interchangeably, the Holy See is a separate entity from the Vatican City State. It is the Holy See which is recognised in international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the pope, with which over 180 countries hold diplomatic relations and has ratified international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Holy See has a legal system based on canon - religious - law, which applies to Catholics around the world. In contrast, the Vatican State law only applies within the boundaries of the Vatican.
In its written answers to the Committee’s questions prior to the January review, the Holy See claimed that it is “separate and distinct” from the Roman Catholic Church and is only responsible for what happens inside the Vatican. This allowed it to blame national governments and law enforcement for the child sexual abuse scandal across the world in both its written submission and dialogue with the Committee on 16 January.
The Committee has rejected this argument. In its concluding observations, “the Committee remind[ed] the Holy See that by ratifying the Convention [on the Rights of the Child], it has committed itself to implementing the Convention not only on the territory of the Vatican City State but also as the supreme power of the Catholic Church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority. While being fully conscious that bishops and major superiors of religious institutes do not act as representatives or delegates of the Roman Pontiff, the Committee nevertheless notes that subordinates in Catholic religious orders are bound by obedience to the Pope in accordance with Canon law.”
The Holy See does have jurisdiction over the Catholic Church, and it admits this itself. During the January review dialogue, the Holy See delegation attempted to fend off the Committee’s questions on why the Holy See will not change its laws and attitudes in abortion or homosexuality by relying on the Catholic Church’s stance. “The Holy See is the governing body of the Catholic church worldwide,” said the Holy See’s Head of the Mission during the dialogue.
For more on why the Holy See has jurisdiction over the Catholic Church, read a commentary by CRIN’s legal researcher.
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Key recommendations
In a long list of recommendations to the Holy See to vastly improve its adherence to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Committee urged the Holy See to:
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Ensure that the Commission created in December 2013 will investigate independently all cases of child sexual abuse as well as the conduct of the Catholic hierarchy in dealing with them. The Holy See should consider inviting civil society and victims organisations to join this Commission and international human rights mechanisms to support its work. The outcome of this investigation should be made public and serve to prevent the recurrence of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
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Ensure a transparent sharing of all archives which can be used to hold the abusers accountable as well as all those who concealed their crimes and knowingly placed offenders in contact with children.
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Amend canon law so child sexual abuse is a crime and not defined as “delicts against the moral”.
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Repeal all provisions of canon law which may impose an obligation of silence on the victims and on all those that become aware of such crimes.
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Provide compensation to victims of sexual abuse committed by individuals and institutions under the Holy See’s authority without imposing any obligation of confidentiality on the victims and establish a compensation scheme for victims.
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Further developments
Two days after the Committee on Rights of the Child’s damning criticism of the Holy See’s handling of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, a story broke about a Polish man suing the country’s Catholic Church for the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of a priest. It is Poland’s first civil case where a victim is suing the Church. The priest has been convicted and is serving a two year jail term. More on the story.
Last month, the European Court on Human Rights held that Ireland had violated the European Convention on Human Right’s prohibition on torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and the right to an effective remedy in a case about a child (now adult) who had been sexually abused by a teacher in a Catholic school. The next edition of CRIN’s Children in Court CRINmail will contain an analysis of this case. More on the story.
Last month in Chicago, United States, the archdiocese was forced under a court order to disclose its files on child sexual abuse in the church, revealing a horrid history of abuse by priests and cover ups by church officials. Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who has represented numerous victims of clergy sexual abuse around the United States, said the documents depicted a “systematic, ongoing, decades-long, continuous pattern of conscious choices by top officials of the archdiocese.” The personnel files of accused priests have previously been made public in other dioceses in the country, including Boston and Los Angeles. BishopAccountability.org houses many of them. More on this story.
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Next steps
Although not directly enforceable within the Holy See itself, the Committee’s review and strong concluding observations have been successful at bringing the Holy See’s defiance of the Convention and denial of children’s rights to the world’s attention. You can read some of the news reports on our website. We hope that this news coverage helps victims around the world realise that they are not alone and gives them courage to come forward and report cases of abuse to law enforcement.
As noted above, the Holy See now has three years before it needs to report to the Committee again. In the meantime, the UN Committee Against Torture is due to review the Holy See during its 52nd session. The date for the public dialogue is set for 12 and 13 May.
CRIN published a preliminary report on the eve of the January review mapping the global scale of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Now that we have the Committee’s concluding observations, we intend to publish a revised edition. See our campaign - End sexual violence in religious institutions - for ways to get involved in this research.
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Other children’s rights issues in the Holy See
As stated above, the recent scrutiny the Holy See has received on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is the result of the Holy See’s periodic review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This review involved the entire Convention, as well as two of its optional protocols (one on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography; the other on children and armed conflict). Just some of the key issues to come out of the review, in addition to child sexual abuse, are outlined below.
Violence against children
The Committee’s concluding observations and dialogue with the Holy See covered violence against children in Catholic institutions around the world, notably the Magdalene laundries in Ireland. The Committee has recommended that the Holy See take responsibility and ensure compensation to victims and their families - either through individual congregations, or via the Holy See as the supreme power of the Catholic Church.
As noted by the Committee, physical punishment of children is believed to be rife in Catholic institutions across the world. In its concluding observations, “the Committee welcome[d] the statement during the interactive dialogue that the delegation of the Holy See will take the proposal of banning corporal punishment of children in all settings back for consideration.”
Forced adoption
Adoption and the forced removal of babies from their parents was also a key issue for the Committee, which said it “is deeply concerned that thousands of babies have been forcibly withdrawn from their mothers by members of Catholic congregations in a number of countries and subsequently placed in orphanages or given to adoptive parents abroad.” The Committee is urging the Holy See to open an internal investigation on the matter, fully cooperate with national law enforcement to hold those responsible accountable, ensure congregations disclose what they know about the whereabouts of victims so families can be reunited, and take all necessary measures to prevent the crimes from happening again.
Sexual and reproductive health
The Committee also stressed serious concern “about the negative consequences of the Holy See’s position and practices of denying adolescents access to contraception, as well as to sexual and reproductive health and information”. On this issue, the Committee recommends the Holy See ensure:
Discrimination
During the January dialogue and its concluding observations, the Committee welcomed statements from the Holy See that it has initiated a review of its laws to withdraw the discriminatory term “illegitimate children”.
However, in its concluding observations the Committee said it “is concerned about the Holy See’s past statements and declarations on homosexuality which contribute to the social stigmatisation of and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents and children raised by same-sex couples.” The Committee then added its concern “that the Holy See and church-run institutions do not recognise the existence of diverse forms of families and often discriminate [against] children on the basis of their family situation”, before recommending the Holy See ensure canon law recognises that families can be diverse and that the Church does not discriminate against children based on the type of family they live in.
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Other States reviewed
In addition to the Holy See, the Committee reviewed the following States during its 65th session. Click on the links below for the concluding observations.
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OTHER NEWS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
CRIN reported live from Geneva during the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s review of the Holy See, which included child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Nearly 2,000 tweets were recorded from people around the world and at the review on #HolySeeConfess. The hashtag is still going, and we are encouraging people to add their thoughts to the Committee’s concluding observations.
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