SWITZERLAND
swissinfo
By Simon Bradley
Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland may now seek financial compensation and other forms of reparation in cases that have exceeded the statute of limitations. This follows the launch of an independent sexual abuse commission. However, payments are likely to remain symbolic.
The fight against sexual abuse within the Catholic Church took a step forwards on Tuesday with the official launch of CECAR, a sexual abuse commission that is “neutral and independent of the authorities of the Catholic Church”.
CECAR is the result of almost six years’ negotiations and agreement between victims’ groups, parliamentarians and the Swiss Bishops Conference. The initiative is aimed at victims who were minors at the time of the incidents, but whose cases have encountered legal time limits.
“Exceeding the statute of limitations does not wipe out suffering,” said Charles Morerod, the Bishop for Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg at a news conference in Lausanne. He was one of the co-signatories of an accord in 2015 between the Catholic Church and the victims’ group SAPEC that led to the creation of CECAR.
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