»Die unabhängige Untersuchung aller Missbrauchsvorwürfe muss sichergestellt werden«

[...]

Independent Monitoring

20.    [...]the Committee recommends that the Holy See establish an independent mechanism for monitoring children’s rights, with clear mandates to receive and investigate children’s complaints in a child-sensitive manner and with due respect to the privacy and protection of victims, and ensure that this mechanism is made accessible to all children attending or involved in schools, services and institutions provided by the Catholic Church.

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Respect for the views of the child

32.    The Committee reminds the Holy See that the right of children to freely express their views constitutes one of the most essential components of children’s dignity and that ensuring this right is a legal obligation under the Convention, which leaves no leeway for the discretion of the States parties. The Committee also underlines that a family where children can freely express their views and have them given due weight from the earliest ages provides an important model, and is a preparation for them to exercise the right to be heard in the wider society.

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Sexual exploitation and abuse

44.    The Committee acknowledges the Holy See’s statement about the importance to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take the necessary steps to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes. In this perspective, the Committee strongly urges the Holy See to:

(a)     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 organizations 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;

(b)     Immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers from assignment and refer the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution purposes;

(c)     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;

(d)     Amend Canon Law in order for child sexual abuse to be considered as crimes and not as “delicts against the moral” and repeal all provisions which may impose an obligation of silence on the victims and on all those that become aware of such crimes;

(e)     Establish clear rules, mechanisms and procedures for the mandatory reporting of all suspected cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation to law enforcement authorities;

(f)     Ensure that all priests, religious personnel and individuals working under the authority of the Holy See are made aware of their reporting obligations and of the fact that in case of conflict, these obligations prevail over Canon law provisions;

(g)     Develop programmes and policies for the prevention of such crimes and for the recovery and social reintegration of child victims [...]

(h)       Develop educational preventive programmes to increase children’s awareness of sexual abuse and to teach them the necessary skills with which to protect themselves; and

(i)       Consider ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.

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Freedom of the child from all forms of violence

46.       [...] the Committee recommends that the Holy See prioritize the elimination of all forms of violence against children. The Committee further recommends that the Holy See take into account general comment No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, and in particular:

(a)       Use its authority and influence to support efforts and measures aimed at combatting all forms of domestic and gender-based violence including measures that address attitudes, traditions, customs and behavioural practices which often serve as a justification for these forms of violence;

(b)       Develop a comprehensive national strategy to prevent and address all forms of violence against children;

(c)       Adopt a coordinating framework to address all forms of violence against children;

(d)       Pay particular attention to and address the gender dimension of violence; and

(e)       Cooperate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children and other relevant United Nations bodies.

Den vollständigen Bericht finden Sie hier (pdf).