AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
December 17, 2017
The final report from the almost five-year royal commission into child sexual abuse was officially handed to the Governor-General this morning.
The document is tens of thousands of pages long, and contains a total of 409 recommendations which aim to make institutions safer for children.
Of those 409 recommendations, 189 recommendations are new today.
You can follow our live blog for updates as we continue to read through the report. But if you’re strapped for time, here are some of the big ones you should know about.
For religious institutions:
– The ministry of churches (not just the Catholic Church) should not be exempt from reporting information discovered in religious confession.
– Any religious organisation with a rite of religious confession should implement a policy that confession for children be conducted in an open space and in a clear line of sight of another adult.
– The Australian Catholic Church should request permission from the Vatican to introduce voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy.
– Candidates for religious ministry should undergo external psychological testing, including psychosexual assessment, to determine their suitability to be in the ministry and to undertake work involving children.
– Any person in religious ministry who is the subject of a complaint of child sexual abuse which is substantiated … or who is convicted of an offence relating to child sexual abuse, should be permanently removed from ministry.
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