AUSTRALIA
The Age
Timna Jacks
Leaders at Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi have been accused of failing to report child abuse to police and allowing paedophiles unfettered access to children, in strongly-worded findings of the royal commission.
Investigations into child sexual abuse at the religious Jewish institutions uncovered a “pattern” of inaction in responding to reports of abuse, according to findings released by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday.
In the face of repeated reports of child abuse, leaders at the Orthodox centres – which operate as synagogues, schools and community hubs – assured victims they would act in defence of the victim, but no action was ultimately taken, the commission said.
“We were told that the responses of leadership groups to the adverse experiences of survivors and their families ranged from inaction to enabling those adverse experiences. The responses were perhaps in part to protect the reputations of individuals or the institutions concerned.”
Four survivors of abuse and several rabbis and community leaders, gave evidence about the the scale of child abuse at Yeshivah Centre and the Yeshivah College in Melbourne and Yeshiva Centre and the Yeshiva College Bondi, in public hearings last year.
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.