By Lucy Caulkett-
Jehovas Witnesses and other UK religious groups are failing victims of sexual abuse, according to the findings of an inquiry.
The report highlights “shocking failings” and “blatant hypocrisy” in the way major UK religious groups handle child sex abuse allegations
An Independent Inquiry highlighted Jehovas witnesses as failing victims of sexual abuse, following an investigation said to understate the extent of unreported abuse due to underfunding .
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The inquiry took more evidence about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which has 131,700 members in England and Wales, than any other sect. In the case of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, IICSA was particularly critical of a biblical rule applied by the group requiring two witnesses before an allegation of abuse is considered by elders of the church. Such requirements undermines the seriousness of an allegation of sexual abuse, and fails to give the complainant the benefit of the doubt in a very troubling way.
“The application of the rule in the context of child sexual abuse is likely to increase the suffering of victims, and fails to reflect the reality that by its very nature child sexual abuse is most often perpetrated in the absence of witnesses,” the inquiry concluded.
The inquiry also covered a series of religious groups including , Baptists, Methodists, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and non-conformist Christian denominations.
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The report was a progression of inquiries into the Catholic and Anglican Churches, after several weeks of public hearings held last year in which victims of abuse gave evidence.
The report examined evidence from 38 groups, including sects from Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, and found that leaders discouraged reporting abuse to protect reputations. The Catholic Church has historically been most notorious for sexual abuse of children, making the most recent inquiry a new level of revelation in the depth of abuse occurring in various religions, which normally claim to have the answer to salvation.
The inquiry noted that while some organisations did have “effective” child protection policies, in some setting, “not even basic child protection procedures” were in place.
“Religious believers can find it difficult to accept that members of their congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse. As a result, some consider that it is not necessary to have specific child protection procedures or to adhere strictly to them,” the inquiry concluded.
“The application of the rule in the context of child sexual abuse is likely to increase the suffering of victims and fails to reflect the reality that by its very nature child sexual abuse is most often perpetrated in the absence of witnesses,” the inquiry concluded.
The Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, representing over 100 synagogues claimed its child protection hotline had only received four calls which “raised concerns of a serious nature”, but provided no details of allegations of child sexual abuse within the previous 10 years to the inquiry.
Mr Evans, a former elder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, suggested that the inquiry was not as comprehensive as would have been desirable, and did not look at sufficient data.
The report said that many religious sects were putting children at risk by victim blaming, not openly discussing matters of sexuality, abuse of power by religious leaders, men dominating the leadership, and mistrust of non-religious agencies, misusing the concept of “forgiveness”.
“Religious believers can find it difficult to accept that members of their congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse. As a result, some consider that it is not necessary to have specific child protection procedures or to adhere strictly to them,” the inquiry concluded.
“The imperative not to speak is bound up with notions of honour, with consequences for an individual’s ability to marry, for their family and for the ‘honour’ of their community. In extreme cases, being seen as dishonourable can lead to violence against that individual or their family,” it said.
The inquiry found that in some communities “the relationship between ideas of sexual ‘purity’ and social and familial standing are likely to make abuse markedly harder to report”.
“The imperative not to speak is bound up with notions of honour, with consequences for an individual’s ability to marry, for their family and for the ‘honour’ of their community. In extreme cases, being seen as dishonourable can lead to violence against that individual or their family,” it said.
While the inquiry’s press release was strongly worded, the report itself was more measured and Lloyd Evans, who campaigns against abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, told BBC News it was “wishy washy”.
A particular concern in the report was that, while some organisations did have “effective” child protection policies, in some settings “not even basic child protection procedures” were in place.
“Religious believers can find it difficult to accept that members of their congregation or religious leaders could perpetrate abuse. As a result, some consider that it is not necessary to have specific child protection procedures or to adhere strictly to them,” the inquiry concluded.
“The application of the rule in the context of child sexual abuse is likely to increase the suffering of victims and fails to reflect the reality that by its very nature child sexual abuse is most often perpetrated in the absence of witnesses,” the inquiry concluded.
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