Justice for survivors of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Latin America

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Child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church is a global problem. From Ireland to Australia, Japan to South Africa, Bolivia to Canada and Guam to Poland, reports have emerged of the large scale abuse of children by clergy and other employees of the Church. The scale of abuse in Latin America is only now coming to light as scandals continue to emerge across the continent. The region still has some of the lowest reporting rates of clergy sexual abuse in the world, but an increasing number of survivors are coming forward and taking legal action against their abusers and the Church that shielded them.

Report

The report, The Third Wave: Justice for survivors of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Latin America, summarises the scale of clergy sexual abuse in all 18 Spanish-speaking countries in the region, as well as Brazil, and examines what legal barriers survivors face in pursuing redress, what legal reform has taken place to improve access to justice, and how to use national inquiries to respond to the crisis. We hope this research complements the tireless efforts of clergy abuse survivors in Latin America in pursuing truth, accountability and redress. 

Country briefings

The country-specific briefings summarise the data available on clergy sexual abuse in five Latin American countries that have launched reforms in the wake of sexual abuse scandals within the Church. The reports set out how a government can address the issue through, for example, legal reform to improve access to justice for survivors or inquiries to uncover the truth behind the scandal. 

Download the briefings below: 

Support services for survivors

There is an array of support services and resources available to survivors of child sexual exploitation and abuse in Latin America. These are now listed in this regional directory for all 18 Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, as well as Brazil. Organisations are categorised according to their nature (e.g. survivor-led, helpline, non-governmental, state), and the directory is focused mainly on those that can assist survivors directly, by providing them with information, shelter, psychological and/or legal support. The directory will be updated regularly, and we welcome feedback from users. 

Download the directory.

Case studies

We have produced three case studies of how four countries have responded to institutional sexual abuse of children and its cover up, including in the Catholic Church. Each article describes the process by which national advocacy and lobbying, mainly by survivors, has increased media coverage of the issue, triggered legal reform, launched a national inquiry and a national redress scheme, or had other positive results. These case studies build on the experience of survivor groups abroad in the hope that they can inspire and inform survivors in other countries where the issue is still emerging and reform is lacking. 

The three case studies focus on the national experiences of: