UNITED KINGDOM
Straits Times
PUBLISHED ON DEC 5, 2014
LONDON (REUTERS) – A major inquiry into Britain’s failure to stop child sex abuse and whether powerful political figures covered it up was “hanging by a thread” on Thursday after several participants said they had lost faith in the process.
The government ordered the inquiry, expected to last years, in July in response to claims from victims of abuse that the establishment had not only failed to act over organised child abuse allegations in the 1970s and 1980s, but in some cases had been complicit in keeping the accusations secret.
Before it could even start, two chairmen selected by Home Secretary Theresa May were forced to step down because of their links to figures connected to the allegations, and there has been criticism from victims about other members of the inquiry panel and its terms of reference.
On Thursday, more than 20 individuals, abuse victims and child care professionals, wrote to May saying they would end their engagement with the inquiry unless its scope was extended and its format changed.
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