Our work at the UNCR includes holding the UK governments(s) to account for breaching children rights through religious discrimination/segregation in education, non-consensual religious surgery, lack of appropriate sex education, and institutional religious child abuse.
UNCRC and clerical child abuse
The UNCRC reviews each country's record every five years, when they have to submit a report. When your country is about to be reviewed, please tell the UN Committee if appropriate that there is no mandatory reporting and that there are time limits on criminal and civil actions, and that you want these to be rectified to help prosecutions and civil actions. You could also refer to any major examples of abuse in the previous five years. This need only be one or two pages, it should not be more than three.
Information on deadlines and how to submit evidence to the UN regarding institutional clerical child abuse.
More information
IAFT 2017 Congress: child abuse in religious settings
Keith Porteous Wood’s speech on our international work on clerical child abuse, what has been learned, and what more can be done at local, national and international levels.
Nonconformity by the Holy See of its obligations under the CRC, September 2015
Joint written statement to the UN Human Rights Council, 30th session drawing attention to observations by the UNCRC regarding the Holy See and institutional clerical abuse.
Briefing for the UNCRC on the UK, June 2015
Prepared for the 2015 Pre-sessional Working Group’s examination of the United Kingdom. Covers institutional religious child abuse, as well as other child’s rights issues.
Analysis of UNCRC criticism of the Holy See, February 2014
An analysis of the criticism by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, of the Vatican over child abuse in 2013/14, and the Vatican’s reaction to it.
NSS submission to the UNCRC regarding the Holy See, March 2013
Our submission to Pre-Sessional Working Group of the UNCRC (2nd periodic report) showed the gap between the Holy See’s rhetoric and actions on tackling institutional clerical child abuse.
Child abuse and the Holy See: UNHRC, March 2010
Keith Porteous Wood’s speech to the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council
