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Australia kicks off national child abuse inquiry
National inquiry into child sex abuse opens in Melbourne (Australia) as over 5,000 people expected to provide evidence of "abuse and consequential trauma"
A national inquiry into child sex abuse has opened in the Australian city of Melbourne, with more than 5,000 people expected to provide evidence of "abuse and consequential trauma".
PM Julia Gillard has warned that the commission will unearth "some very uncomfortable truths".
She said that its opening was an "important moral moment" for Australia.
Gillard told ABC radio that she wanted the commission to provide a "moment of healing" for the survivors of child sexual abuse - "because for too long, so many of these survivors have just run into closed doors and closed minds".
"And second, I want the royal commission to provide for us recommendations about the future.
"We've let children down in the past as a country. We need to learn what we can do as a nation to better protect our children in the future."
Chairman Justice Peter McClellan said that the commission had already served notice to produce documents on the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army.
Reports say that the composition of the inquiry panel is unusual - it has six commissioners, enabling one or more to sit in private to hear victims' stories over the next five months.
It is estimated that each victim will need at least an hour to tell his or her story.
The inquiry will look at religious groups, NGOs and state-care providers as well as government agencies.
But commission officials have warned that it is unlikely to complete its task by the end of 2015 as requested.
They say that is because the scope of the inquiry is so large - in relation to the number of people testifying and the number of institutions who may be affected by the allegations.
Its formation was announced by Gillard in November following pressure from lawmakers amid police claims that the Roman Catholic Church had concealed evidence of paedophile priests.
Justice McClellan warned that the commission would be expensive and would "require the commitment of very significant sums of public money".
Abuse of children by Catholic priests has been a major issue in Australia recent years.
In September, the Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria confirmed that more than 600 children had been sexually abused by its priests since the 1930s.
During a visit to Australia in July 2008, Pope Benedict XVI met some of the victims and made a public apology for the abuse.
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We want to know what Maltese bishops knew, when they knew it, what they did and what they failed to do. The public needs to know how the Maltese Church deals with its paedophile priests. These priests have destroyed hundreds of innocent lives and they probably have no pangs of conscience, not the slightest remorse. Bishops are maybe bigger criminals than the child molesters. Covering-up crimes is deceitful and obscene.
When sexual abuse is committed by those in positions of trust and authority, it is even more filthy and repulsive. Turning an institutional blind eye to children's pain across several decades, hushing up the evidence, covering for rapist priests and moving them from diocese to diocese is pure evil.
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The Prime Minister of Malta should hold a similar independent investigation in Malta. The sexual abuse of children by priests leaves many sick to their stomach and speechless with anger. Priests would never do anything as evil as that, would they? To make matters even worse, bishops worldwide not only knew about paedophile priests, but assured those who complained about a priest that they will be taking care of the problem. Then they strategized about how to shuffle them around.
If the bishops had called the police when they first learned of the crime of these priests, many victims could have been spared the shame and lifelong pain of childhood sexual abuse. The bishops’ inaction in these cases is nothing less than criminal. How many children were placed in harm’s way because the bishops put the interests of the Church first?
