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	Ongoing Catholic Church Abuse Saga Spreads to the Netherlands Pannone Blog December 19, 2011 http://blog.pannone.com/personal-injury-listing/personal-injury-blog/ongoing-catholic-church-abuse-saga-spreads-to-the-netherlands An independent report has been published today, revealing the extent of child abuse by priests and other Catholic Church officials in the Netherlands since 1945. The independent commission which compiled the report, beginning its research following allegations of child abuse at a Catholic school in the East Netherlands, has given an estimate of 10,000-20,000 children who have suffered church abuse between 1945 and 1981 when the number of Church-run homes dropped considerably. Since then, several thousand more children cared for in Church led facilities had been abused as children by priests and other religious officials. The commission investigated 1,800 complaints of child abuse, identifying 800 perpetrators of whom just over 100 were still alive. Most of these cases involved what is classed as moderate abuse, for example touching, but the report estimated some "several thousand" instances of sexual abuse and rape. The report estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch children have suffered some form of abuse, rising to 1 in 5 of those who attended a religious institution regardless of faith. It concluded that "sexual abuse of minors is widespread in Dutch Society". Whilst victims of abuse in the Netherlands appeared to welcome the report, Mr Smeets, a victim of clergy abuse and attendee at the presentation of the report stated that it still was not enough. The details remain vague, and through maintaining this lack of clarity the Church avoids responsibility, he suggests. As specialist child abuse lawyers with extensive experience in representing victims of abuse by priests, abuse in Synagogues and abuse in Madrassas amongst others, it is of particular concern to us to read further evidence of the full extent of such abuse. It would be interesting to compare the results of this study to a similar study of British child abuse cases in order to compile a more detailed awareness of the extent of religious abuse around the world. If you have been the victim of any abuse, or suspect that somebody in your care has been subjected to some abuse, our specialist abuse solicitors are available to talk to you in the strictest confidence about how we can help you. Contact us free on 0800 0384 384.
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