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	Church Flooded with Sex Abuse Claims Sydney Morning Herald March 21, 2010 http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/church-flooded-with-sex-abuse-claims-20100321-qnkl.html NETHERLANDS -- At least 1,100 allegations of sexual abuse committed by members of the Dutch Roman Catholic clergy in the three decades from 1950 have emerged this month, a church official says. "According to latest figures, there have been 1,100 accounts," Pieter Kohnen, a spokesman for the Dutch Catholic church, said on Saturday. The reports have been logged by a commission set up in 1995 by the church to help victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, he added. Dutch religious leaders on March 9 ordered a "broad, external and independent" investigation of alleged sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, and apologised to victims. The announcement was made by the Dutch Religious Conference after a meeting to discuss abuse claims by about 200 alleged victims dating from the 1960s and 1970s. On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI apologised in a letter for child sex abuse by Irish priests and spoke of the "shame and remorse" he felt over the scandals. Similar scandals have also emerged in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
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