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	Persberichten Vooronderzoek May 7, 2010 http://www.onderzoekrk.nl/pers.html Persbericht van 7 mei 2010 in verband met de presentatie van het advies aan de Nederlandse Bisschoppenconferentie en Konferentie Nederlandse Religieuzen. [English version] Press release Priority for promoting help for victims Deetman advocates independent inquiry into sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. The Hague, 7 May 2010 – An independent inquiry is needed to throw light onto the nature, scale and circumstances of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands. Accountability must also be brought into the frame. Moreover, the independent inquiry should promote help for victims and put forward measures to prevent any recurrence. This is what Drs W.J. (Wim) Deetman is advocating today in his report to the Conference of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands (R.K.Kerkprovincie) and the Dutch Religious Conference (KNR). Mr Deetman bases his recommendations on the independent preliminary inquiry that he has been conducting since mid-March at the request of the Conference of Bishops and the Dutch Religious Conference (KNP). He urges that the period of the inquiry should cover 1945 to the present day. He expects the investigation to take approximately one year. In his opinion priority must be given to 'the question of the damage suffered by the victims in terms of trauma, grief, suffering and broken trust'. Once the answer has become clear, the next imperative is the search for a remedy. Deetman: 'In all cases we need to ask what concrete help is needed. What are the options for providing this help or facilitating its provision? What help do the victims really need? Questions for the inquiry Having thoroughly considered the issues, the report formulates ten questions for the inquiry: What information is available and what are the circumstances regarding the sexual abuse of minors entrusted to the care of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands in the period from 1945 to the present day? Are we dealing with a structural problem, a situation differentiated by time, place and institution, or a collection of unique individual criminal acts and misdemeanours? Was there, or is there, a question of a culture of silence surrounding the sexual abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands? Is there a connection, and if so, what connection, between the obligation to celibacy (for priests and monks) and the vow of chastity (for monks and nuns) and the detected sexual abuse of minors? Could there be other causes? What can be said about the opportunity for abuse, the risk of discovery and the sanctions that are attached to the pastoral context and the context of institutions where children are brought up and educated, with particular reference to the internal organisation and the effects of establishments like boarding schools. What legal and policy frameworks, both in terms of Dutch law and canon law, apply to this matter and what developments have taken place in these? The last four questions focus in particular on the victims: How have the responsible authorities dealt with their obligations towards for child victims? What measures did they take in relation to those accused? Is the procedure of Help & Justice adequate and how has that functioned to date? What can best be done at the moment for the victims of abuse? What role and responsibilities are there for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands? What lessons can be learned from this? What (preventive) measures need to be taken to prevent repetition? Supervision, oath of secrecy, vulnerable spots With reference to accountability, Mr Deetman furthermore advises involving in the inquiry the persons and bodies responsible for supervision and inspection, and their respective duty to report. He also advises the Conference of Bishops and the KNR to include in the inquiry the role and significance of professional secrecy and confidentiality, or the oath of secrecy, in dealing with sexual abuse. Deetman furthermore recommends that where possible the inquiry should indicate 'what vulnerable spots exist in the organisational and administrative structure in conjunction with the responsibilities, areas of work and the policy to be pursued on personnel and volunteers, to prevent new cases of abuse in the future. According to his recommendations, the inquiry must in any event devote attention to 'help for victims, the prosecution of culprits (where possible and opportune), measures from the point of view of the legal position of the perpetrators (where possible and opportune), a code of conduct from and for executive members of the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands (on how to prevent abuse and how to act if cases of abuse are detected), training requirements and conditions for executive staff within the Roman Catholic church in the Netherlands '. Members of the commission The inquiry, according to Mr Deetman should take place at five levels: '(a) hearing or arranging for the hearing of victims, witnesses and accused/perpetrators, those with executive responsibility; (b) research of the archives; (c) examining or having examined relevant studies on the subject; (d) own research (surveys, comparisons); (e) attention to the help for the victims.' A proper conduct of the inquiry therefore requires a multi-disciplinary approach. This must be reflected in the composition of the commission. Mr Deetman advises the Conference of Bishops and the KNR to include in the commission the following members: Dr N. (Nel) Draijer (senior university lecturer, psychiatry, Vrije University, practitioner Nederlands Psychoanalytisch Instituut); Mr P. (Pieter) Kalbfleisch (chairman of the board of the Netherlands Competition Authority, former judge); Professor dr H.L.G.J. (Harald) Merckelbach (professor of psychology, University of Maastricht); Professor dr M.E. (Marit) Monteiro (professor of history at the Dutch Catholic Faculty of Letters, Radboud University, Nijmegen); Professor dr ir G.H. (Gerard) de Vries (member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy, professor of Science Philosophy, University of Amsterdam).
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