UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
11 November
The Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Hon Lowell Goddard DNZM is today announcing the start of the Inquiry’s Truth Project Pilot in Liverpool. She will visit organisations supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to talk about the Truth Project and to hear about their hopes for how the Inquiry can provide an opportunity for victims and survivors to share their experiences.
The Truth Project will allow victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experience with the Inquiry during a private session with a member of the Inquiry or via a written statement.
Inquiry chair Hon. Lowell Goddard DNZM said:
“I would like to thank the Merseyside Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre and Stepping Stones North Wales for meeting with me today. The work of organisations such as these is incredibly important in helping support victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. I am grateful for the time they have taken today to talk to me about their work and about some of the challenges faced by those whom they support.
It brings home to me the importance of the work of the Inquiry in identifying organisations and institutions which have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse. And it highlights that this Inquiry must, as I have said before, shine a light on the failings of organisations and institutions across the breadth of England and Wales – and not simply within the Westminster context.
Next week, here in Liverpool the first phase of the Truth Project that I announced in July will begin. The Truth Project will enable victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to contribute to the work of the Inquiry. It will help us gain a better understanding of the patterns of abuse, and will assist in explaining why many crimes went unreported and undetected for so long, often leaving other children at risk of abuse in later years.
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