Religious organisations and communities are frequent targets of abusers.
Religious institutions are often well-placed and strongly motivated to cover up incidents of sexual and physical abuse.
We work to hold these organisations to account and get justice for abuse victims and survivors.
Many religious organisations enjoy a close relationship with the establishment and tend to see themselves as above the law. This can increase the risk of abuse, prevent perpetrators from facing justice, and impede efforts to support and compensate victims and survivors of abuse.
Those intent on abuse are often attracted to religious institutions. Such organisations give access to, and sometimes extreme control over, numerous children and vulnerable adults.
When abuse does occur, religious organisations often act to protect the reputation of the institution above the rights of the victim. They may pressure the victim to stay silent and move the perpetrator to somewhere unaware of their reputation.
Many religious institutions also have influence and connections that enable them to evade justice and scrutiny, often for decades.
All forms of abuse, be they sexual, physical or psychological, can cause serious harm. Victims of abuse in religious settings have suffered physical and mental health problems, including addiction, self-harm and suicide.
Abuse can take place in any religious setting. That's why we work at the national and international level to hold religious organisations to account for safeguarding failings, and to ensure victims and survivors can get justice.
Take action!
1. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
2. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to support our work to end abuse in religion settings
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
NSS raises Italy’s response to child abuse in Catholic Church at UN
Posted: Thu, 12 Mar 2020 14:43
The National Secular Society has urged the UN Human Rights Council to strengthen recommendations designed to tackle child abuse in the Catholic Church in Italy.
In a statement to the council, NSS vice-president Josephine Macintosh said abusers in the church "cannot be allowed to continue committing crimes with impunity".
Experts consider Italy's response to sexual abuse to be "one of the worst" among Western nations. Over the past two decades, just 140 of the 300 Catholic priests who have been accused have been investigated. Very few of those convicted have been to prison.
Josephine Macintosh's statement called for the recommendations laid out in a recent report from the UN committee on the rights of the child (CRC) to be broadened in an upcoming report.
The CRC report's recommendations included that Italy:
- Adopt a national plan to combat abuse;
- Establish an independent commission on abuse in the Catholic Church;
- Introduce a law mandating the reporting of alleged sexual abuse to state authorities.
The NSS argued that:
- Mandatory reporting of abuse should include a criminal offence for those within institutions who know about or suspect it on reasonable grounds and fail to report it to external agencies;
- There should be no exemption for abuse which is disclosed within the confessional;
- Civil law should be revised to provide "much more substantial damages and reparations" to victims.
Guidelines from the Italian bishops' conference only commit to a "moral obligation" to report abuse. The NSS's statement added that the "weak and conviction-less aspirations" that these guidelines set out are undermined by opt-outs.
The NSS's intervention was made during the consideration of Italy's universal periodic review at the 43rd regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Watch the NSS's statement
Image: Human Rights Council 25th session; © US Mission Geneva / Eric Bridiers [CC BY-ND 2.0]
NSS raises Vatican’s defiance of abuse inquiry with Foreign Office
Posted: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 09:38
The National Secular Society has urged the government to hold the Vatican accountable over its continued failure to cooperate with a British public inquiry on child abuse.
The NSS has written to Foreign Office minister Tariq Ahmad over the issue after revelations at the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) this week.
Counsel to the inquiry Jacqueline Carey said the Vatican had refused to supply written evidence or send witnesses about clerical misconduct in advance of hearings in October, despite a request to do so.
She told the inquiry on Wednesday: "The Holy See confirmed that it would not be providing a witness statement or a witness to attend the hearing. The Holy See considers that the 'domestic laws and internal proceedings of a foreign sovereign entity are not the proper object for a British inquiry'."
IICSA's request, which comes in advance of hearings into abuse in the Catholic Church due to take place in October, concerns issues including:
- Abuse at Ealing Abbey, in west London, and its associated school, St Benedict's
- The role of the Vatican's representative in Britain, the papal nuncio
- The Catholic Church's wider approach to abuse allegations.
Carey said the Vatican had told the inquiry its officials are "bound by rules of confidentiality and have immunity from being compelled to give evidence or produce documents".
The Vatican claimed that the papal nuncio to Britain, Edward Adams, had diplomatic immunity and could not be called to testify.
The inquiry also heard that the Vatican had "expressed reservations" about attempts to identify witnesses who could provide evidence about areas of concern which it had not addressed.
In its letter the NSS asked the Foreign Office to "step in to help the inquiry".
Chief executive Stephen Evans wrote: "We urge you, in the interests of the countless victims of Catholic clerical abuse, to bring all the pressure you can to ensure that the Vatican is not allowed to thwart the ability of IICSA to understand and address the significant institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales."
On Wednesday IICSA heard that the Foreign Office's job was "simply to facilitate the passage of correspondence between the inquiry and the Holy See".
Explaining the NSS's decision to write the letter, Mr Evans said: "The Catholic Church's continued failure to cooperate with the IICSA inquiry is unacceptable and again exposes Pope Francis's empty rhetoric on tackling child abuse. In these circumstances the government must be prepared to pressurise the church's hierarchy to change its ways.
"And ultimately the government should be prepared to reconsider its relationship with the Vatican. A religious authority is claiming diplomatic immunity to prevent a British public inquiry from fulfilling its legitimate remit concerning child abuse which took place within the UK. It can't be allowed to defy justice so brazenly without consequence."
In February it was revealed that IICSA had written to the papal nuncio several times to request a statement but had received no response.
At the time the NSS wrote to prime minister Theresa May to urge her to put pressure on the Vatican over the issue. The society did not receive a response.
The pope also promised to take "concrete measures" to tackle abuse in February.
Image by Julius Silver from Pixabay.
