Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
27 Earlier this week the United Nations watchdog for children's rights slammed the Vatican for "systematically" adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children, in a report which also urged the Holy See to review its legislation to bring it line with international conventions. The report itself was uncharacteristically outspoken for an official document of its kind, and this may in a sense have under- mined its main objective. For while the Vatican has so far not commented publicly on its contents, reactions by leading Catholic commentators have seized on its tone to criti- cise the UN for 'overstepping its remit'. Austen Ivereigh, of Catholicvoices.org, described the report as "ignorant and mis- guided", adding that it sought "to impose an ideology of gender and sexuality in violation of the UN's own commitment to religious freedom". Local bishop Charles Scicluna, who headed the Vatican's own prosecution against suspected offender in child abuse cases, appears to agree with this sentiment, as evidenced by a supportive tweet. Certainly the UN report does appear to go beyond the immediate issue of bringing known or suspected paedophiles to justice. Its recommendations extend to urging the Vatican to change its policies on contracep- tion and women's rights, including abortion: something which is clearly outside the remit of a UN committee on the rights of the child. This is unfortunate, as it allows the main subject of the study – the Church, or more specifically its defenders in the independ- ent press – to respond by undermining the credibility of the institution which produced it, to the detriment of the main overall aim. Ivereigh even described the UN committee as a 'kangaroo court' – which is regrettable, considering that the United Nations is also the cradle of the Universal Charter of Human Rights, and is therefore arguably the only in- ternational body to preside over the jurisdic- tion of international law. The UN treaties and conventions which underpin this Charter – which is itself entrenched in the local Constitution, mak- ing its regulations part of Malta's supreme article of legislation – cannot be so lightly dismissed, even if one accepts the charge that the authors of this report went beyond the parameters in which they were supposed to function. Besides, the gist of this response overlooks the more serious implications. According to the UN committee for the rights of the child, "some of the rules of Canon Law are not in conformity with the provisions of the [Hu- man Rights] Convention, in particular those relating to children's rights to be protected against discrimination, violence and all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse". Given the seriousness of the matter at hand, one would expect this accusation to be taken more seriously. Among other things, the report highlights an institution- alised response to such cases by Churches worldwide, whereby local law may have been circumvented in favour of Canon law. Examples include known or suspected child abusers who were not reported to the police, and in some cases allowed to proceed with their activities, or even transferred to other dioceses to avoid detection. To make matters worse, the same report highlights f laws and shortcomings in the same Canon Law which is sometimes invoked instead of national legislation when dealing with cases involving the clergy. Even in Malta there have been cases which attest to this duality of jurisdictions. When allegations first surfaced of systematic abuse of teenagers by members of the clergy at a Church-run home for boys in Santa Venera, the Curia's reaction was to set up a response team and conduct its own in-house inves- tigations. Headed by a retired judge, the resulting Commission took years to conclude its investigations, and eventually exoner- ated the suspects involved in that case. By this time, however, the victims had filed a police report, and the result was that the same suspects were arraigned and eventually convicted on abuse charges. Looking back at the circumstances it is hard to understand how any institution can be afforded the apparent right to investi- gate its own members for what amount to criminal acts. Certainly no other institution is empowered with such abilities. If the sus- pects in this case were (for instance) school teachers or bank employees, it would be absurd to expect their employers to deal with the matter privately as if it were a purely internal affair. Criminal activity cannot by definition be treated as an internal matter: if laws are broken, they are the laws of the state, and not the internal regulations of any particular institution. With the perspective of the UN report this can be placed in a global context whereby the Church seems to have adopted similar methods worldwide when faced with similar allegations. Now that many cases have been to light all over the world, the Church has revised this apparent policy, and one is in- clined to accept a Curia spokesperson's com- ment that, "On a diocesan level, the Church in Malta remains committed to an effective child protection policy." But the UN report suggests that more needs to be done to address the problem at source – i.e., by means of revisions to the Vatican's legal instruments – and finding fault with other aspects of the same report is hardly an appropriate response. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2014 Editorial MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING DIRECTOR: ROGER DE GIORGIO MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt Quote of the week "Manipulating victims to serve a political purpose rather than the fulfilment of true justice." – PN candidate Therese Comodini Cachia on the creation of 'grievances units' inside government ministries for civil servants to present complaints of 'injustices' committed in the last seven years No one is above the law