U.n. Anti-torture Panel: Vatican Needs More Effort in Dealing with Sex Abuse

By Meredith Somers
The Washington Times
May 23, 2014

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/23/un-anti-torture-panel-vatican-needs-more-effort-de/

The Catholic Church needs to provide more transparency and cooperation with external authorities in its efforts to handle cases of sex abuse, a U.N. committee said in a report Friday.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture said that, while the Vatican has taken steps to find and punish abusers, there is still much work to be done to prevent further abuse and protect victims.

The Holy See, the committee said, should take “effective measures to monitor the conduct of individuals under their effective control, to stop and sanction such conduct in any case where they become aware of credible allegations of violations and to take other measures within their control to prevent the commission of subsequent violations by the individuals concerned.”

The report was released Friday, about two weeks after the Vatican appeared before the committee to defend its response to the global sex abuse scandal.

Earlier this month, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, made the revelation that the Holy See had defrocked 848 priests and ordered lesser sanctions on 2,572 clergy members in the past ten years.

Reports from The Associated Press show that the Vatican addressed 401 cases of sexual abuse last year and about 3,400 cases in the past 10 years.

The Vatican is a signatory to the U.N. anti-torture and child protection treaties, both of which require periodic reports about efforts to implement policies and promote change.