UNITED KINGDOM
Big Issue North
NOV 14 2016
The largest ever inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in England and Wales is battling claims it is unmanageably large and already failing in its remit, two years after Theresa May, then home secretary, set it up to examine the failures of institutions to recognise and address child sexual abuse going back decades.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was launched after the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal came to light in 2012 and revealed widespread exploitation by prominent media and political figures over a long period, as well as the inability of institutions and organisations to safeguard vulnerable children.
“There has not been anything of its kind in UK history, in terms of scope and size,” says IICSA panel member Ivor Frank, a human rights barrister with more than 30 years experience. A public inquiry, he admits, is usually about a single issue over a relatively contained period.
Frank says there are a lot of “vested interests in not allowing the inquiry to succeed”
“We’re an inquiry about multiple institutions over decades. That makes it different, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
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