By Nathan Koppel
Wall Street Journal
September 13, 2011
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/09/13/clergy-abuse-victims-file-international-complaint-against-vatican/
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A group of victims of clergy sexual abuse has asked the International Criminal Court in the Hague to investigate the Vatican for alleged crimes against humanity.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a complaint today with the international court alleging that Vatican officials have tolerated and enabled the concealing of “child sex crimes,” according to this statement by SNAP’s attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
“SNAP wants to prevent even one more child from being raped or sexually assaulted by a priest,” the group’s president Barbara Blaine said in a statement. “We hope that victims around the world will know today that they are not alone and that it is safe to speak up and report their abuse.”
Click here for prior Law Blog posts on litigation stemming from alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests. Counsel for the Vatican have said that there has never been a Holy See policy requiring concealment of child sexual abuse.
The Vatican did not respond to an immediate request for comment from WSJ about today’s filing with the International Criminal Court.
The ICC filing marks the most substantive effort yet to hold the pope and Vatican accountable in an international court for sexual abuse by priests, according to this report in the New York Times.
Experts in international law, the Times reports, consider it unlikely the court will agree to prosecute the case, but it might investigate whether the matter is within its jurisdiction, which could elevate the issue internationally.
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