OTS - Child abuse in Europe: Victims' groups launch initiative to come to terms with European abuse cases
2021. September 20. 11:36
Bern, Schweiz, 20 September, 2021 (APA/OTS) - At an international
meeting in Switzerland, victims' groups from all over Europe
launched the large-scale "Justice Initiative". With this political
initiative, abuse of children, especially in state and church
institutions, is to be comprehensively dealt with for the first
time in all European countries. A motion to bring the processing of
abuse cases up to a pan-European level will be submitted to the
Council of Europe in Strasbourg in September. The European
initiative is supported by the Swiss "Guido Fluri Foundation",
which has already successfully led a campaign in Switzerland to
come to terms with child abuse.
Europe has violated the protection of children for decades:
Hundreds of thousands of children and young people became victims
of exploitation, maltreatment and sexual abuse. In particular, the
most serious abuses happened in state or church-run institutions.
In various European countries, until a few years ago, there were
child removals, forced adoptions, sterilisations and drug/vaccine
experiments on children and young people. In many cases across
Europe, the state authorities were partly responsible for the
suffering, or they failed to protect the children from the abuses
and human rights violations.
To this day, these cases of abuse have not been dealt with in
most European countries. This must now change. Victims' groups from
all over Europe, as well as academics and NGOs, have travelled to
Switzerland to launch the "Justice Initiative". This political
initiative draws collective attention to a suppressed part of
history and to the victims who are still suffering today because of
the abuse and the lack of public recognition.
More than a dozen European countries at launch - Ireland also
on board
The "Justice Initiative" is supported by victims' groups,
academics and NGOs from all parts of Europe, including survivors
from Ireland. In a joint declaration signed by the representatives
from Europe, the focus is on public recognition of the injustice,
reparations and scientific reappraisal. www.justice-initiative.eu.
"This Justice Initiative is essential to the pursuit of justice
for survivors of abuse and to challenge the prevailing narratives
that prefer to see these abuses as happening somewhere else",
emphasises Dr. Mary Lodato, survivor of institutional abuse and
activist for the victims of child abuse. The silence about abuse
must finally be broken, says Prof. Dr. Darja Zaviršek, Chair of
Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Ljubljana. And
Natascha Smertnig, Managing Director of WEISSER RING Austria,
where, as in Switzerland, the process of coming to terms with abuse
is continuing, adds: "It is very gratifying that we are now also
taking joint action at the European level".
Motion to be submitted to the Council of Europe within 2 weeks.
"This initiative is central for Europe," says the President of
the Swiss delegation to the Council of Europe, National Councillor
Pierre-Alain Fridez. "Only by coming to terms with the past can we
build the future". For this reason, he will submit a motion in
Strasbourg in the coming days that contains the basic demands of
the initiative and should lead to a comprehensive reappraisal of
this dark chapter. The politician is convinced that the motion will
find an overwhelming majority.
Switzerland as a model for European reappraisal
"The time for reparations is rushing," explains initiator Guido
Fluri, who co-sponsors the European initiative with his reputable
foundation and has received an honorary doctorate from the
University of Lucerne for his commitment to child protection. "Most
of the victims are now old and frail. They should experience during
their lifetime how the injustice is recognised and dealt with
throughout Europe." In Switzerland, the Guido Fluri Foundation,
together with victims' groups, has made the "Reparations
Initiative" a success: more than 10,000 victims who had suffered
the most severe abuse have received reparations. Switzerland is
working on the cases of abuse scientifically and will continue to
support the victims with various projects. Based on the Swiss
experience and positive solutions in other countries, victims'
groups from all over Europe have come together to pursue this
political path at the European level as well. The "Justice
Initiative" is an expression of this endeavour. By coming to terms
with the past, child protection in Europe is to be strengthened in
the long term.
More information at: www.justice-initiative.eu
Please direct media enquiries to: press@justice-initiative.eu
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