SWITZERLAND
AFP/The Local
September 6, 2018
The Swiss Bishops’ Conference on Wednesday pledged to make it mandatory to report sexual abuse of adults in the Catholic church, even without the victim’s permission.
Reporting is already mandatory if the victim is a child.
“If an official representative of the church learns that there is a suspicion of an offence (of sexual abuse) that should be prosecuted, he will be obliged to communicate that” to authorities even if the victim is not in agreement, conference spokesperson Encarnación Berger-Lobato told the AFP news agency.
Until now such action has only been required if authorised by the victim.
The Catholic church has been rocked in recent years by a string of abuse scandals.
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