NPR
As
many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic
institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to
adequately address it or help the victims, according to a
long-awaited investigative report. Based on a survey of 34,000 people,
the report estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of
sexual abuse — a figure that rose to 1 in 5 among children who spent
part of their youth in an institution such as a boarding school or
children's home, whether Catholic or not. "Sexual abuse of minors," it said bluntly, "occurs widely in Dutch society."
The abuse ranged from "unwanted sexual advances" to rape, and abusers
numbered in the hundreds and included priests, brothers and lay people
who worked in religious orders and congregations. The number of victims
who suffered abuse in church institutions likely lies somewhere between
10,000 and 20,000, according to the probe, which went back as far as
1945. The commission behind the investigation was set up last year by
the Catholic Church under the leadership of a former government
minister, Wim Deetman, a Protestant, who said there could be no doubt
church leaders knew of the problem.
"The idea that people did not know
there was a risk ... is untenable," he told a news conference.
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