AUSTRALIA/GENEVA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

THE FAILURES OF AUSTRALIA TO PROTECT AGAINST AND PROVIDE REDRESS FOR THE SYSTEMIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND COVER-UP BY CATHOLIC CLERGY AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS

For Immediate Release Monday Nov 10, 2014

Statement by Nicky Davis of SNAP Australia (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) +61 0422 538 440

The UN Committee Against Torture, meeting in Geneva this week, questioned Australian Government officials. They want answers regarding Cardinal George Pell’s refusal to hand over documents about child sex crimes by Catholic officials, to the Royal Commission.

Committee members raised the issue of Cardinal Pell’s response to Justice Peter McClellan, Chair of the Royal Commission, that his request for files held by the Vatican was “unreasonable” as they were “the internal workings of a sovereign state”.

Australian Government representatives were asked by the Committee for their response to this refusal to…