Children, clerical sex abuse, human rights, child protection
The clerical sexual abuse
cases in Ireland over the period
1937-2002, highlighted systematic abuse of children in religious and
educational environments. As a result, the Catholic Church and the Irish state
have been subjected to unprecedented scrutiny in recent times and held
accountable for the systematic cruelty that children endured. Government enquiries culminating in The Ferns (2005), Ryan (2009), Murphy (2009),
and Cloyne Reports (2011), placed the
experience of abuse on public record helping to vindicate the account of
children now adults. Similarly in other countries
in other religious orders; and in non-clerical contexts, children have been
vulnerable in institutions where adults have assumed the role of “in loco
parentis” yet breached that trust and ignored “the duty of care”. Children in
these institutions were often invisible; the concept of children having rights was
not recognized and/or ignored and in some instances other adults were silent
witnesses to the offenses. Methodologically, this paper explores the issue of clerical
sex abuse of minors through transcript analysis of government inquiries, and
human rights jurisprudence in the form of the European Convention on Human Rights
.The implications for professionals in prioritising the safety and welfare of
children are raised, highlighting practice in other countries.