GENEVA
Los Angeles Times
By Tom Kington
May 5, 2014
Reporting from Rome—
The United Nations on Monday linked the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests to torture, stepping up its criticism of the Holy See and, according to one activist group, potentially opening the way to a new wave of lawsuits.
Members of a U.N. committee on torture questioned Vatican officials for two hours about the church’s handling of abuse cases, with one member claiming a “climate of impunity” existed within the Vatican.
The hearing marked the Vatican’s first appearance before the committee after it signed in 2002 an international convention banning torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
One legal expert said the hearing might spark further prosecutions of priests.
“The committee has stated that rape is torture, based on the physical and mental harm it can do, and that may push courts to consider abuse by priests as torture,” said Pam Spees, a lawyer with the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights.
“Torture comes with universal jurisdiction,” she said. “States which have signed up to the U.N. convention are obliged to follow up, and there is no statute of limitations and acquiescence in torture is very serious.”
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