AUSTRALIA
The Conversation
[terms of reference – Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]
Judy Courtin
The terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, as announced by the prime minister on Friday, certainly seem to tick all the right boxes if survivors and victims are to receive justice. The very broad ranging terms of reference and powers of the commission, which is to be headed by the Justice Peter McLellan, are capable of capturing and addressing the reasons the commission was called.
While interviewing victims of abuse and their families for my research, I asked them what they would require to attain justice. One emphatic and universal response was that the truth be told. This “truth”, forcibly pushed into retreat and suppressed for so long, now has the opportunity to be welcomed and validated. This first element of acquiring justice is imperative.
Another requisite element for justice is accountability. This is not only for the original sex crimes but also the subsequent crimes of concealment by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and other organisations which enabled perpetrators to roam free and sexually assault or rape thousands of children.
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