UN finds fault with Vatican’s role in sex crises.
By Anthony Barich
National Reporter
THE United Nations has published a written statement by the International Humanist Ethical Union that accuses the Holy See of covering up child abuse and allowing it to continue.
Addressing the UN, IHEU’s UN representative in Geneva, Keith Porteous Wood, said in a September 22 statement that the Holy See had failed to comply with its obligations under International Law.
He called on the Holy See to bring its reporting up to date, as he said it had only submitted only one report – in 1994 – since acceding to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990.
“The Holy See has been heavily implicated for decades in covering up cases of child abuse carried our by its clergy and religious orders, in obstructing justice, and in failing to deal appropriately with abusers,” he said.
“Yet for too long it has been given a free ride by the international community because of its presumed moral leadership.”
He said the IHEU would refer to its report in the plenary of the Human Rights Council this week.
“We urge the Holy See to recognise its responsibilities to children and the CRC, to bring its reporting up to date, and to instruct its dioceses and religious orders to report all cases of alleged child abuse to the civil authorities,” he said. “We suggest that as an institution that claims to have ‘the highest moral authority’, it can do no less.”
He also urged the international community to “hold the Holy See to account”.
He said that in the US, nearly US$3 billion has been paid out in compensation, while in Ireland, over 1 billion Euros have been paid out.
He cited evidence submitted to the UN in 2003 of consequences in later life for abused children – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, vulnerability to further re-victimisation, difficulties with interpersonal relationships and materially increased risk of self-harm or suicide, aggravated, he said, by alleged persistent denials of responsibility by Church authorities.
The Holy See is recognised at the UN as a state through its geographical base in the Vatican City. However, Mr Wood said that due to the Church’s long history and influence, UN institutions have failed to subject its claims to critical examination, “so much so that the Holy See has been allowed to escape the same level of scrutiny under the CRC as is applied to other State Parties”.
He made several recommendations for the Holy See: that it clear the backlog of its reports to the UNCRC; and to open its archives in Vatican City State and in States parties concerning any matters relating to known or suspected child abusto UNCRC workers and others working in child welfare.
He also asked the Holy See to make available for interview officials with any knowledge of these matters and to issue instructions overriding all others, including in Canon Law, that all Church officials are required to communicate knowledge or suspicions of child abuse to UNCRC officials, and to civil authorities under local laws, which have become known to the Holy See since it became a signatory of the Convention.
He also urged the UNCRC to use its powers to investigate what he claimed was the Holy See’s “non-compliance” with the CRC in respect of child abuse by its personnel, its alleged failure to report such abuse to CRC, the conduct of cases submitted to CDF, its reservations on accession to the treaty, the role of internal regulations including Canon Law in impeding child protection, and the role of insurance contracts in possible breaches of the Convention.
He said these investigations should be completed and publicly reported within five years.
The IHEU said on its website that the Holy See had replied that the Catholic Church was not unique in having clergy who sexually abused children and young people.