BishopAccountability.org
	In Plain Sight Amnesty International September 26, 2011 http://www.amnesty.ie/sites/default/files/INPLAINSIGHT%20(WEB_VERSION).pdf [pdf] There is an obvious, clear and compelling reason why Amnesty International Ireland might commission research such as In Plain Sight. The issue central to this research, the abuse and exploitation of tens of thousands of Irish children in State funded institutions as detailed in the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report) and the abuse detailed in the Ferns, Murphy (Dublin) and Cloyne Reports, constitute arguably the gravest and most systemic human rights violations in the history of this State. Therefore, it is vital that these violations, and the State's responses to them, be assessed against the standards dictated by international human rights law. For those children who experienced rape and sexual abuse, physical abuse and economic exploitation it is vital that their experiences be recognised as grave human rights violations and breaches of law. Even post the publication of the Ryan Report there were those who sought to minimise the horrific reality of the abuse inflicted upon so many of our most marginalised and vulnerable children. There have been voices that have sought to dismiss systemic and barbaric cruelty as the norm in the Ireland of the time. Such voices must not be permitted to rewrite or diminish this history, neither now nor in the future, and for that reason it is vital that Amnesty International use the language of international law to clearly name the violations inflicted upon children for what they were. Systemic and repeated rape isn't just child sexual abuse and systemic and ritualised beatings are not merely corporal punishment; they amount to torture in certain circumstances and the degree to which that applies in the context of the Ryan Report particularly must be properly named. But the focus cannot be purely on the past, as if this history has no relevance for our society now. We must consider the degree to which this history reveals vital truths about the nature of our society today. The past only becomes history once we have addressed it, learnt from it and made the changes necessary to ensure that we do not repeat mistakes and wrongdoing. It is widely accepted that the widespread abuse of children documented in the various reports considered by this research was made possible because the State adopted a deferential attitude to the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. The State failed to honour its obligations to children and vulnerable adults it placed in the 'care' of church run, State funded institutions. It failed to investigate and prosecute allegations of child sexual abuse made against priests and religious with the same rigour that it investigated and prosecuted others accused of the same crimes. It failed to protect and support the most vulnerable children in our society, those living on the margins in some way due to poverty, family status, ethnicity of because pf some arbitrary judgement that they were morally suspect. Instead it pushed them further to the edge of the margins, effectively 'othering' them, deeming them unworthy of social inclusion and rightful legal protection. They were made invisible, turned into outsiders by their own society, and abandoned to multiple abuses and experiences of exploitation. As such the State deferred to unaccountable and powerful interests and failed to protect the rights and needs of its people. It often responded to allegations and concerns of criminal activity not by investigating the wrongdoer but by diminishing and dismissing the victim. The law was applied, or indeed ignored, to protect the powerful not the powerless.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.