NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand
An organisation representing male survivors of sexual abuse including some abused by priests, says the Catholic Church in New Zealand, like other countries, is still in denial.
In a scathing report on the Vatican’s policies, the United Nations’ watchdog for children’s rights says Church officials imposed a code of silence on clerics and moved abusers from parish to parish in an attempt to cover up such crimes.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says “tens of thousands of children worldwide” were abused systemically for years within the Catholic Church. It urged Church hierarchy to “immediately remove all known and suspected child sexual abusers and refer them to relevant law enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution purposes”.
The Catholic Church in New Zealand says all complaints of abuse are given to police and a code of silence has not been evident in the country for at least 20 years.
A spokesperson for its national office for professional standards, Bill Kilgallon, said cover-ups did happen in the past.
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