UN urges Chile to establish a national inquiry into child abuse in the Catholic Church and other institutions

 

The UN’s child rights committee has urged Chile’s government to establish a truth commission in response to the systemic abuse of children across institutions.

 
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The United Nations’ top children’s rights body called on Chile’s government on Thursday to establish a national inquiry into cases of child abuse within the Catholic Church and state-run residences for children. 

The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is composed of 18 independent experts on children’s rights from around the world, urged Chile to “Establish an independent, impartial, adequately funded truth commission to examine all cases of abuse of children in institutional settings, including within the Catholic church and in residential centres”. 

The request was published in the committee’s report dated 9 June, which follows its review in May of how well Chile is upholding children’s rights as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is the world’s most ratified human rights treaty and includes the full range of children’s human rights, including their right to protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and neglect. 

The call for a national inquiry comes amid an increase in the number of child sexual abuse scandals in Chile in recent years, which were summarised in a report by a coalition of organisations and submitted to the UN committee. According to the country’s network of abuse survivors, there are hundreds of abuse complaints against Catholic clergy, which includes 186 priests, 27 bishops and four cardinals. 

Chile’s residential centres for children living in out-of-home care have also been the focus of numerous investigations into child sexual abuse. A 2018 report by Chile’s investigative police concluded that children had been sexually abused in 50% of centres. More recently in March 2022, a parliamentary inquiry concluded that sexual abuse and exploitation of children across centres was “neither isolated nor new, but rather reiterated and long-standing in the system”. 

The residences are overseen by the country’s child welfare department, Better Childhood (Mejor Niñez), which in October 2021 replaced the National Service for Minors (SENAME), but their day-to-day management is outsourced to accredited partner agencies, which includes private and religious organisations, many of which have faced child abuse complaints and lack adequate child safeguarding policies and staff training. According to SENAME’s list of partner agencies, 96% of children’s residences are operated by non-state agencies, 41% of which are run by religious organisations. 

Both the UN committee and abuse survivors in Chile criticise that Better Childhood is nothing more than “the replication of a similar model on a small scale”, referring to how in practice it is a continuation of the old SENAME, given that the same third-party organisations continue to be given contracts and that abuse complaints continue to be made. 

A call for a national inquiry in Chile was first made in 2018 by Chile’s survivors’ network, which urged then-President Sebastián Piñera to create a truth commission - as they are better known in Latin America - to investigate clergy abuse cases. The network says a government spokesperson pledged to study the proposal, but that no tangible government action ensued. The network is now calling for an independent commission to investigate child abuse across institutions. 

Things appear more hopeful under the country’s new President, Gabriel Boric, after he included in his election manifesto a commitment to “form a Truth, Justice and Reparations Commission for all those victims of violations of their rights who have passed through the custody of the State and institutional settings”. As recently as May he reiterated his commitment to creating an inquiry. 

Dozens of countries worldwide have already responded to the institutional abuse of children by establishing national inquiries. Governments typically approve an inquiry in the wake of a scandal when an issue has become too large, complex or controversial to be resolved through existing mechanisms. In its report, the UN committee expresses concern over systemic deficiencies in Chile, including the slow investigation and prosecution of abuse cases, poor access to compensation and rehabilitation for victims and inadequate child protection in institutional settings. 

Inquiries typically aim to establish facts and accountability, draw heavily on the testimonies of abuse survivors, and issue recommendations for policy and law reform to prevent future abuse and ensure reparations for survivors. 

Eneas Espinoza, founder and coordinator of Chile’s abuse survivors’ network, welcomed the committee’s report as a reminder to the government that child sexual abuse is a human rights issue. He said: "The negligence, the inaction, the little or no response to victims’ and survivors’ demands for justice aggravate the responsibility of the State for crimes against humanity committed against children in the care of the Catholic Church and SENAME. To heal from deep wounds Chile is a country that requires urgent attention. A national inquiry like the one recommended by the UN committee confirms that our request to create it is the only path that can heal generations that have been shattered by abuse. The country will be a more humane place. Now we pay the price for justice and reparations that we carry alongside those who live suffering with the consequences of these crimes without medical, psychological care, kept hidden, with their lives broken.” 

Victor Sande-Aneiros, campaign coordinator at the Child Rights International Network, which published the first study of clergy abuse across Latin America in 2019, also welcomed the committee’s report, saying that “its clear and strong recommendation for a national inquiry in Chile reflects the urgent need for a large-scale investigation into the systemic abuse of children across institutions. Many countries worldwide have already taken this step and now Chile could become the first country in Latin America to do the same. Following the committee’s report, all eyes are now on Chile.” 

Notes to Editors 

Media enquiries: 

Chile’s Red de Sobrevivientes was founded in 2018 in order to provide psychological support and legal advice to other victims of sexual abuse. It is also a campaigning group, aiming to increase the visibility of the issue in public discourse by maintaining the only public database in Chile to record cases of child sexual abuse in religious institutions, campaigning for the establishment of a national inquiry into institutional sexual abuse of children and regularly engaging with the media. www.redsobrevivientes.org/ 

CRIN is a human rights think tank that produces new and dynamic perspectives on human rights issues, with a focus on children’s rights. We press for rights - not charity - and campaign for a genuine shift in how governments and societies view and treat children. Through research, artwork and our vision for the future, we encourage people to think critically about the world and challenge the status quo. Our goal is a world where children's human rights are recognised, respected and enforced, and where every rights violation has a remedy.  www.crin.org

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ReadVictor Sande-AneirosViolence against children, Sexual violence, Access to justiceComment