AUSTRALIA
Leader
By Barney Zwartz
Nov. 27, 2012
AN ABUSE survivors group has complained to the International Criminal Court that the Catholic Church is guilty of crimes against humanity over child sexual abuse – and says nothing will change within the Australian church until a bishop is jailed for covering up abuse.
A crime against humanity was when someone knew crimes were happening and had the power to stop them but chose not to, the state inquiry into how the churches handled child sex abuse heard on Monday.
Barbara Blaine, founder and president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told the inquiry: ”I recognise how extreme that sounds, but the evidence backs it up in three ways: priest-shifting [of abusers], refusal to co-operate with civil authorities and refusal to remove predators from ministry and keep them from children.”
Melbourne researcher, advocate and lawyer Judy Courtin is preparing a report about abuse in Australia, and especially suicides, to be given to the international court as additional evidence. More than 20,000 documents from other countries have already been presented.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.