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Poland
Poland raises jail terms for child abuse after church documentary
MPs change criminal code after film about abuse by priests caused outrage
by Agence France-Presse in Warsa
Poland has raised jail terms for convicted paedophiles to a maximum of 30 years after a groundbreaking documentary on child sexual abuse among Polish priests prompted public outrage.
MPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of changes to the criminal code that also introduce life sentences for the most dangerous paedophiles and remove a statute of limitations on prosecution of the most drastic cases of child sexual abuse.
The changes introduced by the rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) government, which is closely allied with Poland's Roman Catholic church, come just 10 days before a tight race in elections to the European parliament.
Posted on YouTube on Saturday, the film, Tell No One, by the brothers Tomasz and Marek Sekielski has been viewed nearly 18m times. The revelations have rocked Poland's powerful Roman Catholic church to the core.
The two-hour documentary includes hidden camera footage of victims who are now adults confronting elderly priests about the abuse they suffered decades earlier. Several of the priests admit to the abuse and apologise for it.
The film also details how priests accused, or even convicted of child sexual abuse, were transferred to other parishes and able to continue their duties and work with children.
Top Polish clerics refused to be interviewed for the documentary.
The Polish primate Wojciech Polak, who apologised “for every wound inflicted by the church's people” after watching the film on Thursday, vowed to set up a “solidarity fund” to help provide victims with “concrete help” but insisted it was not a compensation fund.
“Where compensation is concerned, we should conform to the law in force in Poland, so if the court awards it, then the church is not above the law,” Polak told the TVN24 commercial news channel.
The Maltese archbishop Charles Scicluna, a Vatican expert on paedophilia among the priesthood, will visit Poland next month, the Polish episcopate said on Thursday.
The Polish church admitted in March that nearly 400 clergy had sexually abused children and minors over the last three decades, reflecting findings published a month earlier by a local charity.
The documentary concludes that the Polish-born pope and saint John Paul II turned a blind eye to sexual abuse when Warsaw's communist regime was working to undermine the church, then Poland's only independent institution.
Pope Francis last week passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sexual abuse to report it to superiors, which could bring many new cases to light.
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/17/poland-jail-terms-child-abuse-church-documentary
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Cybersecurity
Snapchat Has Become A 'Haven For Child Abuse' With Its 'Self-Destructing Messages'
by Zak Doffman Contributor
Not a good week for Snapchat. On Thursday, Motherboard reported that “several departments inside social media giant Snap have dedicated tools for accessing user data, and multiple employees have abused their privileged access to spy on Snapchat users.” And now the Sunday Times has published an investigation into allegations that predators are ”flocking” to the social media platform, which has become a “haven for child abuse.”
Motherboard's article cited two former employees who claimed that “multiple Snap employees abused their access to Snapchat user data several years ago.” This included the use of ”internal tools that allowed Snap employees to access user data, including in some cases location information, their own saved Snaps and personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses.”
SnapLion, one of the tools referenced in the Motherboard article, was designed to gather information for “valid law enforcement requests. Claims that this tool was involved in the alleged misuse have not been verified.
A Snap spokesperson told me that “any perception that employees might be spying on our community is highly troubling and wholly inaccurate. Protecting privacy is paramount at Snap. We keep very little user data, and we have robust policies and controls to limit internal access to the data we do have, including data within tools designed to support law enforcement. Unauthorized access of any kind is a clear violation of the company's standards of business conduct and, if detected, results in immediate termination.”
Ironically, it is this limited user data that is central to the Sunday Times investigation. The newspaper's investigation has uncovered ”thousands of reported cases that have involved Snapchat since 2014,” including “pedophiles using the app to elicit indecent images from children and to groom teenagers,” as well as “under-18s spreading child pornography themselves.” This has now resulted in U.K. police ”investigating three cases of child exploitation a day linked to the app, [with] messages that self-destruct allowing groomers to avoid detection.”
The Sunday Times quotes Adam Scott Wandt from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York calling Snapchat a “haven” for abusers, arguing that the “self-destruct” nature of Snapchat's messages “makes it difficult for the police to collect evidence.”
Wandt claims that in this way “Snapchat has distinguished itself as the platform where abuse of children happens… The problem was that adults realized you could do a simple Google search and find out that most Snapchat messages are unrecoverable after 24 hours, even by law enforcement with a warrant.”
The U.K. children's charity, the NSPCC, rates Snapchat as a high risk, with a spokesperson for the charity explaining that predators intent on grooming children “cast the net wide in the expectation that a small number of children will respond.”
The charity has also warned on self-generated images taken and shared by children themselves. ”As soon as that image is shared or screenshotted, the child loses control over it… those images may start on a site like Snapchat, but they could very easily end up circulating among technologically sophisticated offenders, making their way onto the dark web.”
Snap told me that “we care deeply about protecting our community and are sickened by any behavior which involves the abuse of a minor. We work hard to detect, prevent and stop abuse on our platform and encourage everyone – young people, parents and caregivers – to have open conversations about what they're doing online. We will continue to proactively work with governments, law enforcement and other safety organizations to ensure that Snapchat continues to be a positive and safe environment.”
A similar investigation in March focused on Instagram, with the NSPCC claiming that Facebook's photo-sharing app has become the leading platform for child grooming in the country. During an 18-month period to September last year, there were more than 5,000 recorded crimes “of sexual communication with a child,” and “a 200% rise in recorded instances in the use of Instagram to target and abuse children.” The charity's CEO described the figures as “overwhelming evidence that keeping children safe cannot be left to social networks. We cannot wait for the next tragedy before tech companies are made to act.”
This latest investigation makes the same point and comes a little over a month after the U.K. Government published proposals for “tough new measures to ensure the U.K. is the safest place in the world to be online,” claiming these to be the world's “first online safety laws.” The proposals include an independent regulator with the “powers to take effective enforcement action against companies that have breached their statutory duty of care.” Such enforcement will include “substantial fines” as well as, potentially, the powers “to disrupt the business activities of a non-compliant company… to impose liability on individual members of senior management… and to block non-compliant services.”
The regulation of social media has been in and out of the headlines for most of this year. The prevalence of social media use by under-age children, and the risky interactions those children expose themselves to, has been one of the most disturbing aspects disclosed thus far. Regulation is coming. But the open question is how do the platforms prevent users from deliberately circumventing their security controls with little understanding of the risks they might then face.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/05/26/snapchats-self-destructing-messages-have-created-a-haven-for-child-abuse/amp/
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Internet
Fifty children saved as international paedophile ring busted
Fifty children have been rescued and nine people arrested after an Interpol investigation into an international paedophile ring.
The arrests were made in Thailand, Australia and the US and more are expected, Interpol said.
The investigation began in 2017 and focused on a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.
Police believe 100 more children have suffered abuse and are working to identify them.
Operation Blackwrist was launched by Interpol after it detected images showing 11 boys aged under 13 being abused on a site where people can use encrypted software to maintain secrecy.
The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.
The US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department traced the IP address of the website, which was hosting photos and videos of abuse.
Police say the abusers uploaded new images on a weekly basis and often masked the children's faces to make it harder for investigators to identify them.
The first arrests came last year, when the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was caught in Australia.
Salangam, who abused one of his nephews, was sentenced to 146 years in prison in Thailand, while an accomplice, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years.
Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years on Friday after pleading guilty to 51 charges against 11 babies and boys, the heaviest sentence ever handed down in Australia for child sex offences.
Police found thousands of images taken in both Thailand and Australia on his devices. In some of them Tokputza was the main abuser. The youngest victim to be identified was 15 months old.
"You are a child's worst nightmare, you are every parent's horror, you are a menace to the community," Judge Liesl Chapman said in Adelaide.
The identities of the others arrested are yet to be released, but some are residing in the US and held public positions of trust, said Eric McLoughlin, the HSI's regional attache in Bangkok.
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-48379983
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Australia
60 Minutes: 'Army' of personalities helped Australian woman survive child abuse
by Liz Little
As a young girl, Jeni Haynes was subjected to extreme and unimaginable horror. To withstand it, her brain conjured up multiple personalities. In one body lived two and a half thousand different characters, who stepped in at various times to help Jeni deal with the unbearable pain she was suffering. Then, Jeni's army of strangers decided to take on her enemy, fighting extraordinary battles to convince the world she wasn't crazy, and then bringing the man responsible for all her torment to justice.
A decade-long investigation has made history, with Australian woman Jeni Haynes' multiple personalities granted permission to testify in court.
The landmark case is believed to be a world first, which resulted in bringing Ms Haynes' abusive father Richard Haynes to justice.
From the age of four, Ms Haynes was tortured by her father. The sickening sexual abuse occurred daily, continuing until she was 14. It was so horrific and violent, her very survival was against the odds.
But incredibly, her young mind created multiple personalities, which allowed her to cope with the physical and emotional pain she experienced. In essence, she was protected by a psychological army – 2500 different ‘alters' who would take over her body during the abuse.
"My dad inflicted, chose to inflict, severe, sadistic, violent abuse," Ms Haynes told Liz Hayes in a 60 Minutes exclusive interview.
"[The abuse] was completely unavoidable. Inescapable. And life-threatening. And he chose to do this every day of my entire childhood."
Ms Haynes – and her multiple personalities – told Hayes how her 'army' within saved her life.
Multiple Personality Disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), was once viewed with disbelief – including by the psychiatric profession.
But as psychiatrist Dr George Blair-West explained to 60 Minutes, it is now not only considered a genuine medical condition but an ingenious one.
"There is nothing wrong with Jeni's human mind or any other person who suffers from DID," Dr Blair-West told Hayes.
"Their mind is just coming up with an incredibly sophisticated, clever solution to a scenario that most of us could not begin to understand or relate to."
Dr Blair-West has been treating Ms Haynes for over twenty years. He told 60 Minutes that when children like Jeni are subjected to significant traumas prior to the age of eight, they are able to split off parts of their mind into multiple personalities.
"The thing that seems to push the mind to do this more than anything else is realising you have no way out," he told Hayes.
"Nobody's there to save you, you're on your own, and you have to come up with a solution that is entirely of your own."
To endure the trauma of her father's abuse, Ms Haynes created personalities to cope with not just the pain, but the smells, tastes and sounds she experienced during the abuse.
She spent years trying to report her father's abuse and seek help, but was consistently faced with ridicule and disbelief.
But as Liz Hayes reports, it didn't stop her. She was determined to bring her father to justice.
She spent 18 years at university, graduating with a degree in psychology, a masters in legal studies and criminal justice – and a PhD focusing on victims of crime.
Then finally in 2010, Ms Haynes met Detective Sergeant Paul Stamoulis who was prepared to investigate her allegations of childhood abuse by her father. She now describes Det Sgt Stamoulis as "God on legs".
"Finally someone believed me," Ms Haynes said.
"Finally somebody who was in a position that could actually impact on my dad."
Ms Haynes documented her father's repulsive crimes in an incredibly detailed 900,000 word statement that was shocking even to Det Sgt Stamoulis.
"It did take a toll," an emotional Det Sgt Stamoulis told Liz Hayes.
"A lot of people who have read that document have been seriously affected by it."
Assisting the police investigation was the fact that each of Ms Haynes' personalities lived different aspects of her trauma – meaning that she has extraordinary recall of her father's abuse.
"She has a memory unlike yours or my memory," Dr Blair-West explained.
"Her alters are living in different time space realities, effectively. Particularly those younger ones. What Jeni does, is she can go to the part that was there then and that part will tell you exactly what happened, like it was yesterday."
What made this case more difficult was the lack of a physical crime scene. But, Det Sgt Stamoulis told Hayes, Ms Haynes' body was a crime scene. Major surgeries on her bowel, coccyx and anus were required to repair the physical damage caused by her abuse.
In 2017, 74-year-old Richard Haynes was extradited from the United Kingdom and charged with multiple counts of rape, buggery and indecent assault of his daughter.
It was agreed that the evidence in the case against Haynes would be too traumatic for a jury, and would be heard by a judge alone. Haynes pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Det Sgt Stamoulis and Dr Blair-West worked as a team to prepare Ms Haynes for her landmark appearance in court. Both agreed she should give evidence as her multiple personalities despite the challenges it presented. It would be a legal first.
"When you decided to give evidence, how did you decide between all of your alter personalities who was going to do and say what?" Hayes asked Ms Haynes.
"We didn't," she laughed.
"The plan is whoever has the right answer will come out and tell it."
On February 21 this year, Symphony – a four-year old girl – was the first of Ms Haynes' personalities to take the witness stand in the NSW District Court. Symphony's testimony lasted barely two hours before Richard Haynes crumbled. The man who destroyed Ms Haynes' young life finally pleaded guilty to his heinous crimes.
As a victim of childhood sexual abuse Ms Haynes was entitled to anonymity. She waived it, determined the world would not only hear her story, but know who her abuser was.
"I didn't want, 'A 74-year-old man was in court today'," she told 60 Minutes.
"I wanted 'Richard John Haynes was in court facing 75 charges in relation to rape, sodomy, and sexual abuse of his daughter, Jennifer Margaret Linda.' I wanted him to walk into prison with everybody knowing what he did."
Jeni Haynes' successful quest in the courts to bring her father to justice has not only validated her condition but opened the legal channels for others like her to tell their stories.
Richard Haynes will be sentenced next week.
https://amp.9news.com.au/article/fc57f0e9-d315-4d5a-8e7b-d08a092de3fc
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Italy
Italy Bishops Adopt New Measures on Sexual Abuse, Victims Skeptical
by PHILIP PULLELLA
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Italy's Roman Catholic bishops on Thursday enacted a new policy on reporting suspected cases of sexual abuse by priests, but they stopped short of making it mandatory to inform police at first instance.
Under the policy, church authorities would carry out a preliminary investigation then decide whether to refer it to police.
The measure drew a skeptical response from victims' groups mindful of past Church cover-ups of abuses by clergymen.
The policy does however go further than that laid out by Pope Francis earlier this month which mandated the world's one million priests and nuns to report all suspicion of sexual abuse by clerics of any level to their superiors.
The papal document left it up to individual national bishops conferences to decide whether to report suspected abuse to police, depending on local law.
Bishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni hailed the Italian policy, made at a four-day bishops' meeting, as going beyond what was required by universal Roman Catholic Church law.
"We think this is an important step forward," he told a news conference.
Ghizzoni said Church authorities would first carry out a preliminary investigation to determine if the accusation against a priest was credible and, if so, inform police and the Vatican at the same time. The Church would also encourage victims to go directly to police, he said.
The pope's move was an attempt at taking forceful action against the sexual abuse of children by priests in thousands of cases across the world dating back at least three decades.
The abuse and cover-ups by authorities have battered the Church's credibility and forced it to pay billions of dollars in settlements to victims.
Victims and their advocates have long called for Church law to be changed to make reporting to civil authorities mandatory.
"I don't find this terribly reassuring," Anne Barrett-Doyle of U.S. abuse tracking group BishopAccountability.org, told Reuters. "We have had many examples of bishops withholding allegations that later proved to be true."
Francesco Zanardi of the Italian victims group Rete L'Abuso, was also skeptical.
"If the pope really wanted to do something, he would just change Church law to order all bishops to report all suspected cases directly to police for them to investigate," he told Reuters.
In February, a report by the United Nations Commission on the Rights of the Child criticized Italy for what it said was a low number of investigations and criminal prosecutions of child abuse by clergy in Italy.
The commission asked Italy to establish an independent body to investigate suspected sexual abuse by clergy. This has not yet happened.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-05-23/italy-bishops-adopt-new-measures-on-sexual-abuse-victims-skeptical
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Texas
Texas Set to Extend Limit on Child Sex Abuse Lawsuits
A Texas bill that would give child sexual abuse victims more time to sue their abusers and institutions in civil court is heading to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
by Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas bill that would give child sexual abuse victims more time to sue their abusers and institutions in civil court is heading to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
The bill approved unanimously Friday by the state House comes after former Olympic and U.S. national team gymnasts urged legislators to restore a key provision that allows victims to take on institutions.
The new law would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring a civil lawsuit against their abuser and institutions up to 30 years after their 18th birthday.
A push to expand statute of limitations laws for child sex abuse victims is underway in statehouses nationwide amid lawsuits against large institutions like the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America and USA Gymnastics.
The legislative session ends Monday.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-05-24/texas-set-to-extend-limit-on-child-sex-abuse-lawsuits
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Japan
INSIGHT-The kids aren't alright: Japan struggles to protect its most vulnerable children
by Chang-Ran Kim
(Reuters) - Miwa Moriya was 6 when social workers told her she was going to a Christmas party, but instead moved her into a group home for about 60 children in a small city in western Japan.
The "party" turned into more than eight years of living away from her mother, and the beginning of a long battle with loneliness, bullying, and trauma.
She never knew exactly why she was sent to the home - only that the state thought she would be better off there than with her family.
Unlike most developed countries, which place the majority of children who are abused, neglected, or can't live with their parents for other reasons in foster homes, Japan puts more than 80% of the 38,000 such children in residential-care facilities, according to government figures.
Once there, about one in seven stay for more than a decade, data show - despite UN guidelines that say children should grow up in a family setting.
The government has made the issue a legislative priority after several high-profile child-abuse deaths and a sharp rise in overall abuse cases. Local authorities have been given a deadline of next March to draw up a plan to improve the situation.
Last summer, the Japanese government said it wanted at least three-quarters of preschoolers in need of state care to live in foster homes within seven years, and the number of adoptions to double to at least 1,000 within five.
Hundreds of care facilities were set up after World War Two to shelter orphaned street children, and state care has largely been relegated to them since then. About 600 are operating today.
Such facilities - most of which house 20 or more children - have helped many, but are a poor alternative to a healthy family setting, experts say. A government investigation last month found sexual violence among children was widespread at institutions.
"Everyone here says, 'Children are important,' but that's bogus," Yasuhisa Shiozaki, an influential lawmaker who has led efforts to improve children's welfare in recent years, told Reuters. "Children have always taken a back seat to adults' interests in Japan. That has to change."
'NO ESCAPE'
Miwa, now 23, said that when she first got to the institution, called Kobato Gakuen, in Wakayama Prefecture, she cried at night for days, pining for her mother.
But once Miwa realised that crying wasn't going to bring her home, she gave up and stopped.
"That made the staff think the children had adapted, but that's a big mistake," she said.
Some of the staff were nice, she said. But caretakers came and went without warning. Children lived in fear of the bullies and the strict, chastising adults, she said.
"There's no escape when you live with your adversaries," Miwa said.
In such scenarios, and without nurturing attention, institutionalised children can develop what specialists call Developmental Trauma Disorder, said Satoru Nishizawa, a clinical psychologist who has worked with children in state care for nearly 40 years.
"The child doesn't feel protected and safe," he said. The disorder can hinder self-control, triggering fits of rage over seemingly petty things. "To calm those tendencies, a person might turn to self-injury, and relationships often go haywire."
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Miwa has many of those symptoms. Every so often, she changes her phone number to sever ties with acquaintances, she said, or is driven to smash things around the flat. The scars on her wrist are a reminder of self-harm.
Still, at Kobato, Miwa considered herself lucky. Unlike the others, she eventually started spending weekends and long breaks with her mother. Many kids rarely, if ever, saw their parents.
She said she never knew why she was living at Kobato, and never thought to ask. It was only in the past six months that she started to wonder.
Her mother told her that welfare workers convinced her Miwa would be better off at a group home, noting she had failed to complete paperwork for Miwa to enter primary school.
In February, Miwa requested the release of her casework to learn more. The 276-page file paints a picture of a struggling mother who needed someone to look after Miwa while searching for work or a place to live away from her partners, including Miwa's father.
The file shows social workers were in no rush to reunite Miwa and her mother. Miwa doesn't recall a caseworker ever visiting her when she was little - a fact the records corroborate.
It's a case in point for critics of the system, who argue that child welfare workers are too busy and may lack the training and expertise to make informed decisions for children.
Shiozaki, the lawmaker, is still trying to push through changes that would boost the number of child welfare workers and require state-level certification, but opposition has been fierce, with critics citing a lack of both people and money.
Miwa's psychological state also isn't discussed much in the records until she was a teenager.
In 2008, she began having trouble sleeping at night. Soon after, doctors diagnosed Miwa with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, characterised by delays in socialisation skills. A year later, they prescribed Paxil for depression, the files show.
By the time the welfare office sent Miwa back to her mother, she was 15.
Kobato Gakuen and Wakayama prefecture declined to discuss Miwa's case with Reuters, citing privacy policies.
SOCIAL PATHOLOGY
Government surveys show that when children leave state care and enter the "real world" at age 18, they struggle most with loneliness and financial strife. Only a third enter university, versus 80% of high-school graduates nationwide.
With few options, about a tenth end up in work that provides housing. Many can't hold down a job; a tenth end up on welfare, and some become homeless.
As social costs mount, Japan has asked local governments to draw up by next March a roadmap to base alternative care around family scenarios. That includes recruiting foster and adoptive parents, and turning large group homes into family-sized units.
"We have the laws and policies in place," said Shiozaki, who as a cabinet minister helped revise the Child Welfare Law in 2016 to state that children - not just parents - have rights. "Now the problem is implementation, and making sure things actually change."
Many experienced caretakers say it won't be easy.
A ten-fold rise in child-abuse cases in the past two decades raises the question of whether Japanese society has what it takes to properly care for its most vulnerable young members, they say.
"Personally, I want to know what took the government so long," said Norihisa Kuwahara, who heads a group home in western Japan and is chairman of the national council of children's residential-care facilities.
Kuwahara says he has no objections to family-based care. But as someone who has worked at the same facility for more than 50 years, he said he knows first-hand the difficulty of caring for a growing number of abused children with increasingly complex psychological scars.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSL4N22Z1R9
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Florida
Disney World Employee Arrested For Trying To Sexually Abuse 8-Year-Old Girl
by TIFFANY DIANE TSO
A Walt Disney World employee named Frederick Pohl, Jr. has been arrested for trying to arrange an encounter in which he would sexually abuse an 8-year-old girl, according to an NBC News report. Pohl, 40, allegedly sent explicit images of himself to the girl, and was arranging to meet her and her father at a hotel in Orlando, FL. Except they turned out to be an undercover federal agent.
Pohl was detained on Tuesday and charged with transferring obscene materials to a minor and attempting to entice a minor, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a written statement. He was arrested as soon as he arrived at a Days Inn in Orlando. He had with him condoms and a child-sized pink dress at the time of his arrest.
According to the criminal complaint, the Disney employee had engaged in “online chat communications” with who he believed was an 8-year-old child and her father, but was actually the agent.
Pohl is a Clermont, FL, resident and worked at the Magic Kingdom theme park. (Disney has not commented on the matter.) Heavy.com reported that Pohl was already a convicted felon and was previously investigated by Homeland Security Investigations for a similar case. In 2007, Pohl reportedly chatted online with a Vancouver Police Department detective who was posing as a 13-year-old Canadian girl and attempted to set up a meeting with the girl. Pohl also sent the agent child pornography via Yahoo Messenger, but he was not arrested as a result of the investigation. In 2004, he was convicted of check fraud, as well as grand theft, a felony, and sentenced to probation both times. In 2006, Pohl spent time in jail after his probation was revoked. The probation violation came after he was convicted for selling alcohol to a minor, according to court documents.
Heavy.com also published the full affidavit, which includes a nauseating chat log between Pohl, who used the pseudonym “Mike,” and the undercover agent, in which you can see evidence that Pohl was sending sexually explicit messages and arranging to meet with the child and her father for the purpose of a "sexual encounter."
If convicted of the charges, Pohl faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
https://www.refinery29.com/amp/en-us/2019/05/233696/disney-world-employee-arrested-8-year-old-girl-sexual-abuse
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Internet Related
Shareholders push U.S. telecom firms to tackle online child sexual abuse
Online child sexual abuse is a booming international business and religious congregations holding stocks in major telecom firms are stepping up their advocacy to thwart it.
by Dennis Sadowski
Online child sexual abuse is a booming international business and religious congregations holding stocks in major telecom firms are stepping up their advocacy to thwart it.
Led by Christian Brothers Investment Services, the effort involves a widening campaign designed to push leading U.S. telecoms to take strong action to block explicit images from their growing communication networks and information platforms.
"These telecom companies are trying to attract these younger and younger audiences, but we believe they are not investing a commensurate amount of time in online safety," said Tracey Rembert, director of Catholic responsible investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services.
Verizon is among the high-profile companies being engaged. Christian Brothers Investment Services — joined by the Maryknoll Sisters, the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, New Jersey, the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia and Proxy Impact — gained a vote on a shareholder resolution addressing online risks faced by children during Verizon's annual meeting May 2 in Orlando, Florida.
Proxy Impact, based in Oakland, California, assists private shareholders in advocacy work to promote sustainable and responsible business practices.
The resolution — calling for a report by March 2020 on the potential sexual exploitation of children through the company's products and services — gained 33.7 percent approval from shareholders. While it was far from the majority needed for passage, such a high level of support for a first-time resolution is unusual in the corporate world.
Rembert was pleased, but not satisfied, with the result, especially given that she believes it's the first time that shareholders anywhere tried to force a telecom company into action to confront online abuse.
"I've tried to engage with (Verizon) for over a year and every time I spoke with someone I didn't have strong confidence in what they were saying, or I didn't have the right person who could give me the answer (about their practices)," she told Catholic News Service May 14.
Online child sexual abuse can take many forms including children being exposed to inappropriate content; the soliciting of kids to send inappropriate photos of themselves through social media, pornographic videos and live streaming; and the manipulation and distribution of normal family photos of children stolen from computers and cellphones.
The ease with which such images are distributed is what concerns Rembert, who has been trying to convince telecom firms to respond to investor concerns for two years. Perpetrators are using increasingly sophisticated means, including encryption, to avoid detection, she said.
Rembert undertook the campaign effort after a poll of other investors revealed that human trafficking and online child abuse were the two highest ranked concerns.
"(Society is) almost universally against child pornography and child sexual abuse," Rembert said. "There's a firm moral line that crosses all different stripes of society and because of that there is not a lot of gray area if a company is linked to child sexual abuse online."
While the moral concerns are the shareholders' greatest concern, there's also a financial reason for the effort. Rembert said that companies face high risks to their reputation and financial bottom line — and thus the value of a shareholder's portfolio — if it's determined that a telecom firm is not doing what's possible to protect children.
Online child sexual abuse is a global industry, fueled by the widening access by children to mobile devices and cellphones on every continent. No estimates are available on the size of the industry, but Interpol and other law enforcement agencies have been overwhelmed in trying to track the amount of material circulated through online platforms.
Social workers specializing in serving children suggested that as many as 1 million unique child abuse images existed, according to a 2017 report by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia, and the Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety in the United Kingdom. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said up to 50,000 new images circulate annually.
In contrast, Interpol reported about 4,000 images globally in 1995.
Rembert, along with Cathy Rowan, corporate responsibility coordinator for the Maryknoll Sisters, and Sr. Patricia Daly, corporate responsibility representative for the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, met with Verizon officials as recently as January and left dissatisfied with what they heard.
"They increased disclosure a bit, but we felt it was too vague and there is no way to assess how complete their response is," Rowan told CNS.
Rembert described the meeting as "good ... but we wanted a stronger commitment about what they are doing."
Other companies approached by the shareholders include Apple and Sprint. A resolution that recently had been filed with Apple was withdrawn when the company announced a commitment to address shareholder concerns.
Verizon said in a statement emailed May 15 that it "is proud of the leadership role we play in combating the proliferation of child sexual abuse material online."
The statement provided links to two sites outlining "our ongoing commitment to online child safety and the extensive resources we devote in the fight against online predators" and "educational tools and guidance to help parents and children navigate the digital world."
https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/trafficking/shareholders-push-us-telecom-firms-tackle-online-child-sexual-abuse-56180
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Malaysia
Burden of proof means few paedophiles are convicted
PETALING JAYA: It is an uphill task for underage victims of sexual abuse to seek justice despite the enactment of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 due to the demanding nature of the legal process, say children's rights advocates.
PS The Children executive director Mariza Abdulkadir said the challenge in obtaining tangible evidence was one reason behind the low conviction rate of paedophiles.
“That's because in most cases, a police report is not made immediately when abuse happens,” she said.
She added that due to the sensitive nature of the particular crime, it is procedurally difficult to even charge a perpetrator.
“The conviction rate is dismally low even in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, the reason being the nature of these cases.
“Many times, the victims are re-traumatised in the process as well,” she said.
Independent child advocate Madeleine Yong said the current law simply requires “too much evidence to be in place” before a suspect can be charged.
“Children need medical proof to prove they have been raped, such as a physical tear. They also need corroborative evidence,” she said.
It is even more challenging for victims of sexual molestation to seek justice due to the lack of physical evidence, Yong added.
“For molestation, the child has to testify and to testify as a child witness, the system at present needs to be sped up and simplified.
“Molestation is really difficult. The younger the victim is, the worse it is,” she said.
Yong noted that underage molestation cases, particularly those involving preschool children and children with special needs, are much more challenging due to the need for them to be questioned by the authorities.
“The procedure to deal with sexual assault cases needs to be sped up and based on the best interest of the child,” she said.
Over the years, child advocates have been vocal against the previous government's decision to place national sex abuse statistics under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Last year, Suriana Welfare Society executive director Scott Wong highlighted the fact that many Malaysians were ignorant of the sexual exploitation of children, while pointing out that the OSA placed on the official statistics hampered efforts to address the issue.In an interview with The Star last September, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh said removing the sex abuse statistics from the OSA would be her priority.
Meanwhile, Mariza said while such statistics should be made available to the public, it was also imperative to create public awareness on the topic so that such cases could be prevented in future.
“The release of statistics won't lead to any substantial changes. Education and awareness will. I believe in educating the public and I believe the media can help do that,” she said.
Last October, Yeoh said there had been over 20,000 recorded cases of child abuse in the past five years, with the majority committed by primary caregivers, who are mothers, followed by fathers, nannies and caregivers.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/05/25/burden-of-proof-means-few-paedophiles-are-convicted/#VST3DF5t3Y74FJ3q.99
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Michigan
Five Former Priests Arrested In Michigan Child Sex Abuse Investigation
In the latest development in the child sex abuse investigations in the Catholic Church in the United States, five former Priests in Michigan have been arrested on sex abuse charges.
by DOUG MATACONIS
The Attorney General of Michigan announced late last week that authorities had arrested five former Catholic Priests on child sexual abuse charges resulting from the ongoing investigation of abuse cases in the Catholic Diocese in the Wolverine State:
Michigan law enforcement officials made their first arrests in a statewide investigation into Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse, the state's attorney general announced on Friday.
Five former Catholic priests have been charged with criminal sexual conduct, Attorney General Dana Nessel said at a news conference. But hundreds, or even thousands, of alleged victims could still remain across the state, she said.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “We anticipate many more charges and arrests.”
The charges were the latest effort by law enforcement nationwide to hold Catholic officials accountable for sexual abuse in the church. Since Thursday, four of the former priests were arrested in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan. The fifth faces possible extradition from India.
Michigan began its extensive investigation into clergy abuse last August, after an explosive grand jury report in Pennsylvania alleged that bishops and other church leaders covered up widespread child sexual abuse over several decades. That investigation has so far resulted in two convictions, and roughly 1,700 tips to a dedicated clergy abuse hotline. A district attorney in Pennsylvania recently charged a third former priest.
Ms. Nessel estimated that her team had worked its way through only 5 or 10 percent of the hundreds of thousands of documents it seized from the state's seven dioceses last October. The attorney general's office has received more than 450 tips since the beginning of this year, resulting in some of the recent arrests.
Ms. Nessel plans to release a comprehensive report later in the investigation, after pursuing additional charges.
“This is about taking on large-scale institutions that turn a blind eye to victims and making certain we hold all of them accountable,” she said in a statement.
The Archdiocese of Detroit continues to pledge its full cooperation with law enforcement, as it has since the investigation began, said Ned McGrath, the public affairs director for the archdiocese.
Law enforcement officials across the country have often been stymied by limits on their ability to prosecute alleged sexual abuse perpetrators, often due to a statute of limitations, the length of time victims have to pursue legal action.
Michigan reformed its statute of limitations laws last summer, after the case against Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University sports doctor convicted of widespread sexual abuse. The new laws allow victims who were sexually assaulted as minors to file criminal charges until their 28th birthday, or up to 15 years after the incident, whichever is later. Previously, they had until their 21st birthday, or up to 10 years after the incident. The new laws also gave more time for childhood victims to file civil lawsuits.
All of the charges announced Friday were within the statute of limitations, a spokesman for the attorney general said, and were not affected by the recent reform.
Advocates for sexual abuse victims have long pushed to reform statute of limitations laws around the country, but few states have successfully passed changes. New Jersey enacted sweeping changes earlier this month, and will soon allow victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers up until they turn 55 or up to seven years after they realized the harm of the abuse.
These arrests are noteworthy in no small part because, until now, many of the Priests whose names have been uncovered in connection with ongoing investigations have turned out to have died years earlier. In other cases, the applicable statutes of limitations had expired so long ago that it was not possible to bring charges against them or the Church even if they were still alive.
In Michigan, though, the second issue is largely moot at this point thanks to the the fact that, due to the Larry Nassar case, the state legislature had amended the statute of limitations to make it easier to bring charges against people accused of abusing people who were under 18 at the time of the incident. Nassar, of course, had been the team doctor at Michigan State and at the US women's gymnastics program who was convicted of abusing hundreds of young women, including at least one former Olympian. Nassar has since been sentenced to what amounts to the rest of his life in prison.
With respect to the church abuse scandal, these arrests are just the latest development in what has been something of a second wave of revelations regarding clergy abuse that has hit the Catholic Church over the past year or two. To a large degree, it started with a report issued in August by a Pennsylvania Grand Jury regarding sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in that state and the role that Church hierarchy played in covering up those reports by methods such as moving Priests from one Parish to another, or otherwise reassigning them to duties where they would be outside the jurisdiction of local authorities.
After several years of investigation, the Grand Jury uncovered more than 300 instances of Priests involved in the abuse of as many as over 1,000 children over the years that the investigation covered. The report found cases of abuse that covered nearly all of the state's diocese and included actions or omissions by several Bishops and other Church authorities.
The most prominent name on that list was Donald Wuerl, who had been the Bishop of Pittsburgh before being promoted to become Archbishop in Washington, D.C. Wuerl was later elevated to Cardinal. Eventually, after pressure from several quarters, Pope Francis accepted Wuerl's resignation, although he remains in his position pending appointment of a successor. Most recently an investigation by law enforcement in Illinois led to the discovery of more than 500 Priests who had been accused of at least one instance of abuse of a minor.
None of those instances were reported to law enforcement at the time they were made public. Just based on these numbers alone, that makes for more than 1,000 Priests nationwide who have been credibly accused of abuse. No doubt, the actual number is higher.
These developments led a number of other states to open investigations similar to the one in Pennsylvania and the Department of Justice in Washington has also begun a nationwide investigation. As part of that investigation, the Department has notified Church officials around the country to ensure that any documents in their possession or control regarding the scandal are preserved for possible future subpoenas.
This notification, which puts the subject of an investigation on notice and could be grounds for future charges of obstruction if it is not complied with, was sent to all 145 diocese and 32 diocese in the United States, a strong indication of just how sweeping the Federal investigation is likely to be and that it is likely to be an investigation that lasts for a considerable period of time.
At the same time, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops directed its members to launch their own internal investigation and, while the Vatican tried to keep those reports from being made public before being reviewed by Rome, many Bishops, including those in New Jersey and elsewhere, released the results of the investigations in their diocese anyway. Those reports identified hundreds of Priests, some of whom had been defrocked or left the Priesthood at some point, which of course means that there could be thousands of victims out there who have yet to come forward.
Obviously, the priests who have been arrested are entitled to the same presumption of innocence in court that everyone charged with a crime is. At the same time, though, these latest developments are just the latest evidence that, contrary to what it claimed, the Catholic Church did not put this scandal behind it when these revelations started coming out in the late 1990s. Instead, the coverups continued at both the diocesan level and higher, with at least some of the details of those coverups known by leaders such as Pope John Paul II who, for all the laudatory comments made about his Papacy, never fully acknowledged the truth about the abuse scandal.
His successor, Benedict XVI did a better job in that regard, but he too didn't really go a far as he needed. Even Pope Francis, who has spoken out against the abuse louder than his predecessors, has been slower to move than one could have hoped. With these latest revelations, and the increased pressure of investigations here in the United States at the Federal and State levels and around the world, that finally seems to be changing. I can't help but feel, though, that it's much too little much too late and that the people who helped engineer the coverups, who now hold positions of power in the Curia in Rome, will never be brought to justice.
https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/five-former-priests-arrested-in-michigan-child-sex-abuse-investigation/
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Australia
Singapore-based Australian paedophile filmed himself sexually abusing dozens of children
Singapore-based Australian Boris Kunsevitsky, 52, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to sexually abusing dozens of children.
MELBOURNE: An Australian man who was based in Singapore pleaded guilty in a Melbourne court on Tuesday (May 21) to sexually abusing dozens of children over a period of 16 years, filming the acts and distributing the pictures and videos.
Boris Kunsevitsky, 52, groomed children from across four countries, including Singapore, and took photographs and videos of himself performing sex acts with them, the Age newspaper reported.
Police found more than 3,300 images and videos on a laptop and two hard drives that showed him abusing or sexually exploiting 47 boys. Most were teenagers, although some were 12 and others possibly younger.
He also distributed the images of the depraved acts, while downloading another 37,000 images and videos showing other children being abused.
Kunsevitsky pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, 25 counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with a child outside Australia, 12 of inducing a child to engage in sex with a child, child pornography charges and other offences.
The court was told he had migrated to Australia with his family from Russia when he was 12 years old and he moved to Singapore in the early 2000s.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it was in touch with Australian authorities regarding the matter.
"When required, SPF will act and render the necessary assistance within the ambit of our laws and international obligations," the force said in a statement.
ABUSED CHILDREN ACROSS FOUR COUNTRIES
The court heard that Kunsevitsky had travelled through Southeast Asia on supposed work trips, but those trips were used instead for “sex tourism”.
Prosecutor Krista Breckweg said the videos and images showed Kunsevitsky had either engaged in sex with boys or instructed them to perform demeaning sex acts.
Australian police had been investigating him since 2016, the Age reported, and searched his phone in 2017 when he visited Australia from Singapore.
They found child exploitation material on the phone and police had his possessions shipped over to Australia.
It was in the laptop and two hard drives that investigators discovered video footage and thousands of pictures showing Kunsevitsky abusing or sexually exploiting 47 boys across four countries.
They include children in Australia, the Philippines, Singapore and one in Indonesia, the Age reported.
The footage, which dated back to 2001, had been distributed and one was later detected by German police, Ms Breckweg is quoted as saying.
One victim, now in his 20s, told the court he was groomed by Kunsevitsky and the abuse left him confused and isolated from those close to him. He reportedly turned to drugs and tried to take his own life while he was in his teens, and later lost his marriage.
EXTREMELY SERIOUS OFFENDING
Kunsevitsky's defence laywer said the man had endured an abusive childhood and had been bullied in school in his native Russia. He added that Kunsevitsky disputed some of the allegations, such as the seriousness of the sexual activity against the Melbourne boy and the ages of the others.
But Ms Breckweg said the man's claims showed he lacked remorse, calling the offences against the Melbourne boy “depraved and despicable”.
“Clearly, this is extremely serious offending,” she is quoted as saying by the Age.
The 52-year-old, who was diagnosed with a paedophiliac disorder after his arrest, was remanded in custody and is set to be sentenced at a later date.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/boris-kunsevitsky-singapore-australian-sex-abuse-children-11553942
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The Schmooze - Jewish News
An Orthodox Group Releases Brave PSA Video About Sexual Abuse
by Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt
Amudim, the Orthodox Jewish organization that supports Orthodox youth in crisis, just released a powerful video campaign about sexual abuse, produced by Yeeshai Gross — and it's required viewing for anyone affiliated with just about any faith community.
A mother, father and teenage daughter sit facing an authority figure — a principal, a rabbi, an educator — having a conversation that happens in every community. In each scene, the family is played by the same actors, but each time dressed differently, shuffling identities that we Jews so love to differentiate ourselves between, as Hasidic, as modern Orthodox, as yeshivish, as Masorti. Headscarf or sheitel or bare head, black hat or velvet yarmulke or knitted kippah — it's all the same when it comes to abuse:
"This sort of thing doesn't happen by us. Not in our community.”
“I've known him for fifteen years, and he would never do that.”
“If he's been with us for so many years — why only now did this come up?
“We need one-hundred percent proof!”
“He has a family! Children to marry off!”
“He's done so much good. This can ruin his life.”
“We don't air our dirty laundry.”
The look of betrayal on the young girl's face, the parents' horrors at witnessing their child being dismissed, the principal's head shaking — these scenes are far from fiction. They are lifted directly from real life. Anyone who has interacted with abuse victims in a religious community has heard these phrases before, time and time again. Ask anyone in our community who has been in the unfortunate — yet necessary — position of having to inquire about an abuser, in order to report the crime. The responses are identical, predictable almost: “But his family! But his organization! What he's done for our people! How dare you!” Listening to a person virulently defend an alleged perpetrator's Importance In Our Community causes a sense of vertigo. In the back of one's mind, images flash from the private testimonies that victims have painstakingly divulged: A locked door, an unwanted hand, a lifted skirt, a hand on the mouth.
There is something particularly brave about Amudim's depiction of these behind-closed-doors conversations. Perhaps because instead of yet another op-ed or tweet calling for reforms, Amudim harnesses the power of art, a tool too rarely used in the Orthodox community to drive change. The choice to portray these secret conversations with little commentary — simply as if we are sitting right there, in those rabbinic offices — is brilliant. Let us hope that this wakes our community up, and most importantly, that the victims among us feel seen.
Abuse happens, and it certainly happens in our communities. But it thrives the most, as this organization bravely points out, when we refuse to acknowledge it.
https://forward.com/schmooze/424877/an-orthodox-group-releases-brave-psa-video-about-sexual-abuse-heres-why/
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Japan
The kids aren't alright: Japan struggles to protect its most vulnerable children
by Chang-Ran Kim
TOKYO - Miwa Moriya was 6 when social workers told her she was going to a Christmas party, but instead moved her into a group home for about 60 children in a small city in western Japan.
The "party" turned into more than eight years of living away from her mother, and the beginning of a long battle with loneliness, bullying, and trauma.
She never knew exactly why she was sent to the home - only that the state thought she would be better off there than with her family.
Unlike most developed countries, which place the majority of children who are abused, neglected, or can't live with their parents for other reasons in foster homes, Japan puts more than 80% of the 38,000 such children in residential-care facilities, according to government figures.
Once there, about one in seven stay for more than a decade, data show - despite UN guidelines that say children should grow up in a family setting.
The government has made the issue a legislative priority after several high-profile child-abuse deaths and a sharp rise in overall abuse cases. Local authorities have been given a deadline of next March to draw up a plan to improve the situation.
Last summer, the Japanese government said it wanted at least three-quarters of preschoolers in need of state care to live in foster homes within seven years, and the number of adoptions to double to at least 1,000 within five.
Hundreds of care facilities were set up after World War Two to shelter orphaned street children, and state care has largely been relegated to them since then. About 600 are operating today.
Such facilities - most of which house 20 or more children - have helped many, but are a poor alternative to a healthy family setting, experts say. A government investigation last month found sexual violence among children was widespread at institutions.
"Everyone here says, 'Children are important,' but that's bogus," Yasuhisa Shiozaki, an influential lawmaker who has led efforts to improve children's welfare in recent years, told Reuters. "Children have always taken a back seat to adults' interests in Japan. That has to change."
'NO ESCAPE'
Miwa, now 23, said that when she first got to the institution, called Kobato Gakuen, in Wakayama Prefecture, she cried at night for days, pining for her mother.
But once Miwa realized that crying wasn't going to bring her home, she gave up and stopped.
"That made the staff think the children had adapted, but that's a big mistake," she said.
Some of the staff were nice, she said. But caretakers came and went without warning. Children lived in fear of the bullies and the strict, chastising adults, she said.
"There's no escape when you live with your adversaries," Miwa said.
In such scenarios, and without nurturing attention, institutionalized children can develop what specialists call Developmental Trauma Disorder, said Satoru Nishizawa, a clinical psychologist who has worked with children in state care for nearly 40 years.
"The child doesn't feel protected and safe," he said. The disorder can hinder self-control, triggering fits of rage over seemingly petty things. "To calm those tendencies, a person might turn to self-injury, and relationships often go haywire."
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Miwa has many of those symptoms. Every so often, she changes her phone number to sever ties with acquaintances, she said, or is driven to smash things around the flat. The scars on her wrist are a reminder of self-harm.
Still, at Kobato, Miwa considered herself lucky. Unlike the others, she eventually started spending weekends and long breaks with her mother. Many kids rarely, if ever, saw their parents.
She said she never knew why she was living at Kobato, and never thought to ask. It was only in the past six months that she started to wonder.
Her mother told her that welfare workers convinced her Miwa would be better off at a group home, noting she had failed to complete paperwork for Miwa to enter primary school.
In February, Miwa requested the release of her casework to learn more. The 276-page file paints a picture of a struggling mother who needed someone to look after Miwa while searching for work or a place to live away from her partners, including Miwa's father.
The file shows social workers were in no rush to reunite Miwa and her mother. Miwa doesn't recall a caseworker ever visiting her when she was little - a fact the records corroborate.
It's a case in point for critics of the system, who argue that child welfare workers are too busy and may lack the training and expertise to make informed decisions for children.
Shiozaki, the lawmaker, is still trying to push through changes that would boost the number of child welfare workers and require state-level certification, but opposition has been fierce, with critics citing a lack of both people and money.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1ST2U6
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Islamabad
Government urged to establish special police unit to tackle child abuse cases
by Myra Imran
Islamabad : In order to tackle the increasing number of child abuse and gender based violence cases in the country, the government shall establish a special unit in the police department.
The suggestion was shared by the Chairperson National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Khawar Mumtaz in an interview with ‘The News'. She also suggested better connection, coordination and monitoring of the mechanisms created by the government and private organizations to provide relief to the victims of gender based violence and child abuse.
Khawar also called for a consolidated helpline instead of different helplines created by departments responsible for providing relief to the survivors of victim's families and highlighted the need for training and sensitization of police force to deal with such cases.
“We have comprehensive laws and people are reporting these cases in the police. Now the problem is the implementation of these laws and the behaviour and approach of the departments responsible for providing justice to the victims,” she said.
Citing the example of Farishtay's case, Khawar said that the family came to police station for justice but the FIR was registered with the delay of four days and the father of the girl was asked to clean the police station. “This shows the insensitivity of the law enforcers towards such cases. If this is the approach in the capital, what can we expect in other parts of the country?”
She said that it is the responsibility of the law enforcing agencies to register the case under right clauses, behave with victims with right sensitivity, perform basic procedures such as medico legal and provide efficient legal aid to the victims. “This is where the system fails those who dare to stand for their rights and register the cases.”
Talking about the role of parents, she agreed that parents need to inform children about the likely dangers but said that they could not hide children at homes. “In most cases, the perpetrators of child sexual abuse are relatives or family friends. Ultimately, it the state that is responsible of providing the safe environment for everyone by enforcing the law and creating fear of punishment for the criminals,” said the Chairperson while also stressing for basic skills training in schools so that children identify the abusers and can protect themselves from that person.
Khawar Mumtaz also called for collection of data on child sexual abuse and gender based violence so that targeted strategies can be developed matching the need of a specific area. She termed social mindset the biggest barrier in way of providing justice to the victims of child sexual abuse and gender based violence.
“Unfortunately, the same social mindset considers abuse and violence against the weaker segments of the society as a less important issue as compared to security and politics. But for the family that passes through this torture, it is the end of the world and they look towards the state for justice.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/amp/476775-government-urged-to-establish-special-police-unit-to-tackle-child-abuse-cases
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Poland
Polish priest blames 'devil' as he's confronted by alleged victim whose life was ruined
by Antonia Mortensen
(CNN) — "Father, I wanted to look you in the eye ... I wanted to ask you why?" demands Anna Misiewicz as she confronts the parish priest she says abused her when she was just seven and eight years old.
"You touched me where you were not supposed to, my private parts," Misiewicz says, matter-of-factly, telling him that his actions "really scarred my adult life deeply."
"I still have nightmares ... I am unable to sleep at night," she tells her alleged abuser. "I still carry it inside me."
The elderly man she is addressing exhales and shifts in his orange and brown striped chair, as a religious service plays out on a TV nearby, in a home for retired priests in Kielce, central Poland.
The priest, identified only as Father Jan A., has never been charged with abuse. He pauses briefly, before saying: "I should never have done it, I should not have touched or kissed you ... I know I shouldn't have."
"I regret it profoundly," he says, insisting that he has reformed in the three decades since the alleged episode detailed by Misiewicz. "It was the devil who took his toll."
The pair's troubling meeting was captured on secretly filmed footage that is at the heart of "Tell No One," a new documentary that has sent shockwaves through the Polish Catholic Church and wider society in the deeply religious nation.
Since its release on YouTube on May 11 the film, which details decades of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Poland and shows victims confronting their alleged abusers, has been viewed more than 20 million times.
'Erosion' of Catholic Church
The Catholic Church -- and its priests -- enjoys a revered status and wields serious influence in Poland, where more than 90% of the country's population is registered as Catholic.
The Church has long held powerful ties to politics; together with the late Polish Pope John Paul II, it is widely hailed for its opposition to the Communist regime that collapsed in 1989.
Marcin Zaborowski, political analyst at Visegrad Insight, told CNN the Catholic Church has been "fundamental" to Polish society. "The Church is part and parcel of Polish politics," he said.
"The current government will find it difficult to distance itself from the Catholic Church," Zaborowski added. Only a week before the film was released, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the conservative ruling Law and Justice Party, said: "Anyone who raises his hand against the church, wants to destroy it, raises his hand against Poland." After seeing the documentary, he clarified his remarks at a rally, saying: "That does not mean that we support or tolerate pathology in the Church."
But Zaborowski said the film "could be a game changer," adding that it had "started the erosion of the position of the Catholic Church in Poland."
The case that's created the biggest outcry since the film's publication is that of Father Franciszek Cybula, the priest of Lech Walesa, leader of anti-Communist movement Solidarity in the 1980s.
Confronted on the doorstep of a small, white house in Gowidlino, a village in northern Poland, Cybula is accused of abusing a 12-year-old boy, decades earlier. Cybula, who is unaware he is being filmed, admits he touched the boy in a sexual manner, but tries to downplay his actions.
"There was a moment of caressing and then we went back to our daily business," he says, arguing that "it never exceeded any inappropriateness," and suggesting that the pair had "fondled" each other mutually. Cybula died before the documentary finished production.
Poland's Prosecutor General has issued an investigation into the alleged crimes detailed in the film.
"Tell no one" director Tomasz Sekielski told CNN he felt compelled to bring the sexual abuse to public attention after meeting several victims during his career as a journalist.
"The horror of their stories stayed with me and I knew that I wanted to do something more on the subject; that's why my brother and I decided to make the film."
Taboo subject in Poland
It was difficult to find traditional investors willing to back the film because of its polarizing subject, Sekielski said.
Ultimately, he and his brother raised more than $100,000 to shoot the documentary via crowdfunding websites.
Sekielski says the response to it has far exceeded their expectations: "This film has been like a shock to Polish society and has managed to create real social awareness of a subject that has been very taboo in Poland."
Sekielski says he does not know if Pope Francis has seen the film, which is available online with Spanish and English subtitles.
When CNN asked the Vatican if they had a comment on the film, they said they "would look into it."
In response to the film, the Vatican's ambassador to Poland, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, told CNN: "The Pope is very concerned, and we express sympathy and solidarity."
The Vatican has announced plans to send Malta's Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's top sex crimes investigator, to Poland on June 13 to host a "study day" on abuse for Polish bishops on how to protect minors from abuse within the Church.
Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, President of the Polish Bishops' Conference, said he had been "deeply moved and saddened" by the film.
"On behalf of the entire Bishops' Conference, I would like all the victims to accept my sincere apologies; I realize that nothing can compensate them for the harm they have suffered," he said in a statement, adding that the film would "definitely contribute to an even more severe condemnation of pedophilia, for which there can be no place in the Church."
Following the film's release, the Polish government proposed raising the maximum prison sentence for convicted pedophiles to 30 years.
But that's insufficient, says Polish foundation "Have No Fear," which helps victims of child abuse committed by the Catholic Church. The organization worked with the Sekielski brothers, helping to find victims who were willing to participate in the film.
Anna Frankowska, a board member of the organization, told CNN it had been "completely overwhelmed" by the reaction to the film: "It has generated a tsunami of calls from new victims to our charity."
Since the film's release more than 100 new cases have come to light, according to the charity. "On one hand it is wonderful, but on the other it is overwhelming as we do not have the resources to process all the cases," said Frankowska.
"The government increase in jail time is not an effective tool," she said, arguing that "it is more symbolic than anything, the courts need to actually start implementing these harsh sentences."
'Gesture gave me huge hope'
In February, representatives from "Have No Fear" delivered a report to Pope Francis in Rome, accusing 26 bishops in the Polish Catholic Church of concealing the perpetrators of sexual abuse of minors.
Marek Lisinski, a co-founder of "Have No Fear," was one of those who met the Pontiff.
"The Pope took my hand in his hands and looked at me and ... grew sad. It had a huge impact on me. Then ... he kissed my hand. That gesture gave me huge hope," Lisinski said.
An abuse survivor himself, Lisinski told CNN how he had been groomed by a young vicar when he was a 13-year-old altar boy living in Poniatowo, in central Poland.
"It was in 1981 ... You must remember these were totally different times in Poland, there was a shortage of almost everything. But he had everything, sweets, food. It's important to understand what it meant in those days to get a sweet from someone," he said, explaining that "times were tough."
"He followed me into the toilet one day and started doing bad things to me," Lisinski said.
When he tried to tell his mother about the abuse -- on the same day that martial law was declared, in December 1981 -- he said she was "more worried about the political situation in Poland rather than me."
Lisinski said the sexual abuse "really hurt my life" and led him to become an alcoholic. Now sober, he now dedicates his time to helping other victims of abuse.
"Have No Fear" says it has yet to hear back from the Vatican about the report; its members are extremely frustrated at the way the Polish Catholic Church is dealing with what they see as a huge crisis in the country.
In March, Poland's Catholic Church released a long-awaited report on the numbers of sexual abuse cases there in the past 28 years -- the first time it has presented data on the scale of the problem.
According to data compiled by the church's statistics institute and child protection center, 382 clergymen were reported for sexual abuse involving 625 minors between January 1990 and June 2018. Of these 58.4% were male, while 41.6% were female; more than half of the victims were under the age of 15, the report said.
"Have No Fear" says the numbers do not tell the whole story; they want access to church documents detailing the nature of the abuse, and to find out what -- if any -- punishments the alleged abusers faced.
In the absence of those records, the accounts of victims like Anna Misiewicz, who are willing to speak up about the abuse they say they faced as children, are all-important in helping to raise awareness of the issue.
Standing outside the pretty wooden church she attended as a child, Misiewicz tells the filmmakers about the day of her first communion, pointing out where she stood alongside her alleged abuser for a photograph to mark the occasion.
Dressed all in white, with a lace headdress in her hair and a half-smile on her face, there is little trace of the turmoil she was going through but, she says, "I was under great stress because ... as a little girl I feared the photo would show that there was 'something between us,' as teenagers say now."
"He destroyed my life," Misiewicz says of her alleged abuser. "For me he does not even deserve to be called a priest."
http://www.cnnphilippines.com/world/2019/5/27/Poland-Catholic-priest-sexual-abuse.html
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Turkey
Family escorted off Thomas Cook flight by armed police after 'complaints of child abuse'
The family had their two-week package holiday in Turkey cut short and were put on the next available flight home by Thomas Cook reps.
by EMILIA BONA
A family were escorted off a Thomas cook flight by armed police after holidaymakers raised concerns of child abuse on a package holiday in Turkey.
The parents and young children had been on a two-week holiday at the three-star Atlantique Holiday Club resort in Kusadasi on Turkey's Aegean coast.
But after their trip was cut short amid concerns for the children - the family were taken off the a flight when they landed back at Manchester Airport, the Liverpool Echo reports.
It is understood several guests and hotel staff raised concerns over the children's welfare.
Couple who murdered French nanny and burned her body in garden lose appeal
One claim relates to a child being struck around the back of the head, with another allegation that a different child was dunked in the holiday pool by their feet.
Thomas Cook moved the family to another nearby hotel after until they could be placed on the next available flight.
The travel agent also booked two separate rooms, requiring the father of the family to stay separately from his wife and children on the final night of their trip.
Staff from the agency were stationed on the same floor of the new hotel, as a safeguarding measure.
Despite booking a two week package deal with the travel agent, Thomas Cook booked them an earlier flight.
The flight left Western Turkey and landed in Manchester Airport the following day.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police's airport policing team were at the airport, along with social services, ready to escort the family off the plane.
A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook said: “We have a duty of care to all of our customers, and have clear policies in place, including a child protection policy, which we will not hesitate to act upon to ensure the wellbeing of our customers and colleagues.”
Its is understood the family concerned deny any allegations of child abuse or neglect and are refuting the claims.
Social services are understood to have become involved once the family arrived back in the UK. However, a spokeswoman for the authority said: “We are unable to publicly comment on individual cases.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/family-escorted-thomas-cook-flight-16190599.amp
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North Carolina
Girl with brain damage who suffered vile online abuse over her facial deformities has died aged 10
Prior to her death, Sophia and her mother began to check items off the pre-teen's bucket list, including green hair extensions
by Victoria Gagliardo-Silver
A girl who was targeted with vile abuse from online trolls over her facial deformities has died at the age of 10.
Sophia Weaver from North Carolina passed away from complications of Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder, which affects brain development and leads to the decline of language, breathing, walking, motor and social skills.
Weaver, who had been living in a hospice after undergoing 20 surgeries, had at one point become the target of online harassment and trolling after her image was used in an offensive tweet about abortion.
The user wrote: "It is okay to think that every child matters, however a lot of them do not hence the amnio test. (It) should be a mandatory test and if it proves negative and the woman does not want to abort then all bills accrued after that is on her and the father."
Natalie Weaver, Sophia's mother, hit back at Twitter's lack of action, saying: “@TwitterSupport Just received an email that Twitter doesn't think a person using my child's image as the poster child to ABORT & to weed out all the ‘defectives' in utero is a violation. Why? Bc they won't recognize hate toward ppl w/ disabilities in their regulations/reports.”
After the internet came to Sophia and Natalie's defence, the social media platform removed the tweet and suspended the poster. However, this was not an isolated incident, and Sophia and her family continued to receive both harassment and support, which influenced Natalie to become an activist and advocate for children with disabilities.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/natalie-weaver-sophia-weaver-rett-syndrome-facial-deformity-death-a8930626.html
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United Kingdom
Funding granted for new global platform to protect children from online abuse
The Global Fund to End Violence Against Children has awarded the Marie Collins Foundation £635,000 to support its work to protect children from online abuse.
A £635,000 investment from a Home Office-led consortium has been awarded to The Marie Collins Foundation (MCF), to support its vital work to help children who have been sexually abused online.
MCF has developed the Global Protection Online Network (GPON), a programme to help countries take steps to respond to the threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSEA).
GPON will help train safeguarding professionals to develop best practice on how to intervene in CSEA cases, including new guidelines and help to design new legislative measures. This will go alongside ongoing targeted interventions such as training and consultancy from MCF for professionals who work with young people and give access to an online portal for knowledge sharing, advice and research updates.
The £635,000 has been provided by the Global Fund to End Violence Against Children (EVAC) – of which the Home Office is the major donor.
Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins said:
The Marie Collins Foundation do invaluable work in providing support for victims and survivors of online child sexual abuse. Providing guidance and resources for governments to tackle this sickening crime will make a huge impact in stamping it out at source.
Child sexual exploitation is a global problem and one which requires a global response. The government is absolutely committed to tackling this horrific abuse wherever it occurs and we are working closely with governments and organisations across the world to protect children from harm.
Founder and CEO of the Marie Collins Foundation, Professor Tink Palmer MBE, said:
We are thrilled to have been awarded this funding, which will allow us to activate GPON and begin to have real impact on the global community enabling colleagues to do more to protect their children through new knowledge, resources and infrastructure.
Our vision is to ensure that all children who suffer abuse via the internet and mobile technology are able to recover and live safe and fulfilling lives. The nature of the internet means that the sexual abuse of children online is a global problem yet currently the service response is ad hoc, ill-informed and sparse.
Our unique portal will enable the international professional community to share knowledge, gain advice and have access to the most recent research, as well as training materials and templates for relevant policy, legal and practice guidance developments.
The MCF will work in partnership with other NGOs in priority countries. Vietnam has been identified as the first country that will receive bespoke support through training for professionals in how best to help children who are sexually abused online. Vietnam is recognised as a prominent source country for children trafficked for sexual purposes, while online child sexual exploitation is also a growing concern.
The EVAC grant will be used to employ staff to lead and manage the GPON platform and ensure safeguarding professionals across the globe have access to its resources and to develop training programmes.
During a speech in September, the Home Secretary set out that it was his “mission” to help eradicate CSEA, including children being abused on live streams around the world. In the speech he said that children were often abused to order, sometimes for as little as £12.
In addition to the End Violence Against Children fund, the Home Office is a leading member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance, a global movement that brings together the influence, expertise and resources required to transform how online child sexual exploitation is dealt with worldwide.
The WePROTECT Global Alliance is driven and funded by the UK Home Office and forms a key element of our international response to this crime. 87 countries are members of the alliance along with 20 global technology companies and 25 leading Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the Marie Collins Foundation. The Home Office has also secured £2 million funding from the 2018 to 2020 Commonwealth Fund to fund capacity building projects in commonwealth countries to tackle online child sexual exploitation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funding-granted-for-new-global-platform-to-protect-children-from-online-abuse
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Norway
The world over, people in crisis suffer sexual violence – this scourge must end
Tackling gender violence in crises requires changes of response and focus – as delegates in Oslo for a major summit will be told
by Natalia Kanem and Mark Lowcock
Nomtaz Begum had lived all her life in Myanmar. Two years ago, men in uniform came to her village. They killed the men there, including her husband and three small children, boys aged two, five and 11.
She was raped by six of the soldiers, one after the other. They left after setting her house on fire. Badly burned, Begum and her daughter hid in the forest for four days before they were able to flee, making their way to a refugee camp.
This was one of scores of heart-wrenching accounts of sexual assault, fear and remarkable inner strength we have heard, from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh to Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Now it is time to end this scourge. The UN, governments, the International Committee of the Red Cross and civil society organisations are coming together in Norway this week for a first-of-its-kind conference on ending sexual and gender-based violence in humanitarian crises.
The aim is to strengthen collective responsibility, promote best practices and increase funding and political commitment to prevention and effective response.
The money we raise in Oslo – for civil society, including women's organisations working tirelessly to support survivors, as well as UN-coordinated response plans, appeals by the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and other mechanisms – will specifically address sexual and gender-based violence.
One in three women experience physical or sexual abuse in their lifetime, and this form of violence is greatly exacerbated during humanitarian crises caused by conflict or natural disasters. Boys and men are affected too.
When law and order collapse and food, water, shelter, education, and healthcare are scarce, millions of women and girls become more vulnerable, often resorting to negative ways of coping such as child marriage and survival sex.
In 2019, roughly 140 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, of whom 35 million are women and girls of reproductive age. They require lifesaving health services, psychosocial and livelihood support, legal aid and justice, but also interventions to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in the first place.
For survivors and their communities, the devastating consequences of sexual and gender-based violence include injuries, unwanted pregnancies, fistulae, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, trauma and death. Survivors often face social rejection and exclusion that increase their vulnerability to further abuse and exploitation. Many therefore never report the violence.
Yet our interventions during humanitarian crises remain chronically underfunded, accounting for well under 1% of the record $15bn (£12bn) provided by donors to assist people through UN-coordinated humanitarian response plans last year.
Our strategy to address these shortcomings requires three steps.
First, we must put survivors like Begum at the centre of our crisis response. Rape, sexual slavery, trafficking, forced or early marriage and intimate partner violence are just some of the abuses women and girls face. We must do more to engage, listen to and support those who experience sexual and gender-based violence.
Second, we need to focus on prevention and address gender inequality, the root cause of gender-based violence, which is magnified during humanitarian crises. This requires sustained efforts by communities and grassroots organisations as well as increased attention from governments and the international community.
Third, more needs to be done to hold perpetrators to account. Humanitarian organisations and others need to work with governments on policies and laws to prevent violence and enforce protection. More training is needed for military personnel, public officials, law enforcement agents and armed groups on domestic and international humanitarian law, and how to address sexual violence. Laws must be respected and enforced.
Civil society groups, NGOs and survivors are key in guiding effective prevention and response. The call we reiterate in Oslo to end sexual and gender-based violence in humanitarian crises is a tribute to the courage of survivors, and to women like Nomtaz Begum. We must live up to their strength and commitment.
https://amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/23/the-world-over-people-in-crisis-suffer-sexual-violence-this-scourge-must-end
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India
Three men on 7,000-km journey to spread awareness on child abuse
by Deepak Sathish
COIMBATORE: Over the years, the government and several non-governmental organisations have done their part in spreading awareness about child abuse — from rallies to seminars and what have you. This time around, it is three men and an SUV that is taking the effort a step further.
These men from a village in Thoothukudi are of the opinion that only open lines of communication between parent and child can help prevent child abuse. To take this idea to the masses, they have embarked on a road trip that is set to cover 13 states in 13 days.
The team does not have your usual suspects of NGO workers and ChildLine officials. It is just three men from different walks of life wanting to invest time and resources in the mission to spread awareness on child abuse. While T R Prabanjan (32) and J Sudalaimanian (38) are related, G Neelamegan (35) is their friend. The team started its journey in Kanniyakumari district on May 23 and reached Coimbatore on late Friday evening. They plan to head to New Delhi via Hubli (Karnataka), Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Rajasthan among others.
At every stop, they meet with parents and children and invite them to speak freely about the subject. According to Prabanjan, most of the child abuse incidents can be prevented if parents try interacting with their children from an early stage. Children will learn to express their thoughts or the threats they encounter only when parents leave the channel of communication open. Many children they interacted with have confessed that they have not been able to share much with their parents in fear of punishment, he reveals.
It has only been three days but their campaign is already receiving a lot of positive response — not just at the places they visit but on social media too. With all their activities being regularly updated on social media platforms, a number of people have since asked them to visit their city too. “On seeing our Facebook posts, many people are calling us to hold awareness programmes in their locality. We are trying to cover as many locations as we can,” says Sudalaimanian.
While covering 13 states in 13 days might sound like a herculean task, the team seems to be handling it pretty well so far. The trusted SUV — easily the fourth member of the team carrying the slogans ‘Speak with your kids!', ‘Make the world a happier place to live' — is stocked to capacity with all the essentials. They have been cooking their meals in the car itself, resorting to hotels on the way only to sleep at night.
At Delhi, they have a conference to attend on the subject. From there, they will take a different route to return to where they started — Kanniyakumari. They plan to cover Uttar Pradesh and Telangana (Hyderabad) among others.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2019/may/26/three-men-on-7000-km-journey-to-spread-awareness-on-child-abuse-1981774.amp
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Brazil
Orphans as young as four are forced to parade in front of potential foster parents for 'adoption catwalk show' likened to a 'slave market'
by JACK ELSOM
An 'adoption catwalk show' which saw orphans as young as four parade in front of prospective foster parents has been likened to a slave market amid an outpouring of public fury.
Some 18 Brazilian children trooped on to a stage inside a shopping centre in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso state, on Tuesday night hoping to catch the eye of potential adopters.
The local adoption agency billed the event as 'a night when suitors - people who are fit to adopt - can get to know the children who are eligible for adoption'.
But the spectacle of orphans being forced to pose on the catwalk has been slammed, with some even branding the treatment of the children to that expected of animals or slaves.
Eduardo Mahon, a lawyer from the state of Mato Grosso, wrote on Twitter: 'Children parading, for suitors to see how beautiful, friendly and delectable they are, it seems to me like an old slave market, where people saw the teeth and the body of Africans in order to make their bid.
'I don't think it's cool, in fact I think it sucks.'
Guilherme Boulos, a presidential candidate in Brazil's recent elections, wrote: 'The "adoption catwalk" in Cuiaba, exposing children from four to 17 so prospective parents can choose them in an unbelievable perversity.
'The psychological effects of exposure, the expectation and the frustration of these children may be devastating, even if the intention was different.'
And former congresswoman Manuela D'Avila, posted on Instagram: 'I think this is one of the saddest stories I've ever read.
'Children on a catwalk, full of dreams and desires, seeking approval by parading, as if to love a child we need to admire them physically.'
Roughly 200 people flocked to the stage to watch the event which was meant to be 'a different day for the children in which they will produce themselves, with hair, clothes and makeup for the parade.'
Last night the public defenders office of the state of Mato Grosso said in a statement: 'There is a risk that most of these children and adolescents will not be adopted, which can generate serious feelings of frustration, damage to self-esteem and lasting psychological impact.'
The president of the Mato Grosso Adoption Research and Support Association (Ampara), which organised the event, said the local children's judge had authorised the show.
He said: 'We're a serious organisation, we don't play around with children's feelings.
'All the children had already been presented to diverse families, in orphanages, but no-one adopted them.'
A spokesman for the Pantanal Shopping Centre said it 'repudiates the objectification of children' but believed the event was to raise awareness about adoption in the state.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7060811/Orphans-forced-parade-potential-foster-parents-adoption-catwalk-show.html |
