AUSTRALIA
Aljazeera
An unprecedented Australian inquiry into church and institutional child abuse began Monday, with warnings that widespread and shocking allegations would be heard against places of worship, orphanages, community groups and schools.
Justice Peter McClellan, the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, launched public hearings on Monday, as the panel said more than 4,000 victims had come forward.
“It is now well known that the sexual abuse of children has been widespread in the Australian community, however the full range of institutions in which it has occurred is not generally understood,” McClellan said in his opening address.
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