The UK government has vowed to respond in full to an inquiry published Thursday that cast light on its failure to address "endemic" sexual abuse of children across state and non-state institutions
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2022) The UK government has vowed to respond in full to an inquiry published Thursday that cast light on its failure to address "endemic" sexual abuse of children across state and non-state institutions.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded after seven years of interviewing victims and survivors across England and Wales that "inadequate measures were in place to protect children from the risk of being sexually abused" and that "sometimes there were none at all."
"We have already taken action to tackle this abhorrent crime and learn from the lessons of the past, but I know there is much more to do. This is the start of a new chapter in our efforts to put an end to this terrible crime," Home Secretary Grant Shapps said in response to the inquiry.
The government said it would respond to the inquiry's recommendations within six months and pledged 4.5 million Pounds ($5 million) in funding to organizations supporting victims of child sexual abuse.
The inquiry reported an "explosion" in online-facilitated child sexual abuse, particularly of girls, who are at least three times as likely as boys to be targeted. The UK statistics office said in 2020 that over 3.1 million adults had experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16.
Cases of sexual abuse were reported in religious institutions, residential schools, young offender institutions, care homes and foster care. Disabled children were twice as likely to describe such experiences as nondisabled ones, and those who lived in a care home were nearly four times as likely to have experienced sexual abuse.
"Individuals and institutions often thought children were lying when they tried to disclose what was being done to them... Victims were frequently blamed as being responsible for their own sexual abuse," the inquiry said.
The investigation into the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales revealed a history of cover-ups of abusive priests. The Church received more than 3,000 complaints against more than 900 individuals between 1970 and 2015, in contrast to 177 prosecutions that resulted in 133 convictions during the same period.
Secretary of State for Justice Brandon Lewis said the investigation had "laid bare the horrors that many children suffered as a result of historical institutional failings." He promised that the justice system would be reviewed to increase prison sentences for child abusers and bar convicted predators from taking on sports or religious roles.
