THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- As many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigative report.
The findings released Friday detailed some of the most widespread abuse yet linked to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been under fire for years over abuse allegations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
Based on a survey of 34,000 people, the report estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of sexual abuse _ a figure that rose to 1 in 5 among children who spent part of their youth in an institution such as a boarding school or children's home, whether Catholic or not.
``Sexual abuse of minors,'' it said bluntly, ``occurs widely in Dutch society.''
The findings prompted the archbishop of Utrecht, Wim Eijk, to apologize to victims on behalf of the Dutch church, saying the report ``fills us with shame and sorrow.''
The abuse ranged from ``unwanted sexual advances'' to rape, and abusers numbered in the hundreds and included priests, brothers and lay people who worked in religious orders and congregations. The number of victims who suffered abuse in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to the probe, which went back as far as 1945.
The commission behind the investigation was set up last year by the Catholic Church under the leadership of a former government minister, Wim Deetman, a Protestant, who said there could be no doubt church leaders knew of the problem. ``The idea that people did not know there was a risk ... is untenable,'' he told a news conference.
Deetman said abuse continued in part because bishops and religious orders sometimes worked autonomously to deal with the abuse and ``did not hang out their dirty laundry.'' However, he said the commission concluded that ``it is wrong to talk of a culture of silence'' by the church as a whole.
Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland and a victim of clergy abuse, criticized the Dutch inquiry because it was established by the church itself.
``It is the Dutch government that should be putting in place a meaningful investigation,'' O'Gorman said.
Even so, he said the report ``highlights widespread abuse on a scale I think would be shocking to most Dutch people.''
But O'Gorman added that ``the scale of the abuse is in and of itself not the significant issue. It is whether it was covered up and, significantly, this report suggests it was.''
Nearly a third of the Netherlands' 16 million people identify themselves as Catholic, making it the largest religion in the country, according to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics for 2008.
The Dutch probe followed allegations of repeated incidents of abuse at one cloister that spread to claims from Catholic institutions across the country.
The investigating commission received some 1,800 complaints of abuse at Catholic schools, seminaries and orphanages. It then conducted the broader survey of 34,000 people for a more comprehensive analysis of the scale and nature of sexual abuse of minors in the church and elsewhere.
In one order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, the commission found evidence that ``sexually inappropriate behavior'' among members ``may perhaps have been part of the internal monastic culture.''
Bert Smeets, an abuse victim, said the report did not go far enough in investigating and outlining in precise detail exactly what happened.
``What was happening was sexual abuse, violence, spiritual terror, and that should have been investigated,'' Smeets told The Associated Press. ``It remains vague. All sorts of things happened, but nobody knows exactly what or by whom. This way they avoid responsibility.''
The commission said about 800 priests, brothers, pastors or lay people working for the church were identified in the complaints. About 105 of them are still alive, although it is not known if they remain in church positions. Their names were not released.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Deetman's inquiry had referred 11 cases to them _ without naming the alleged perpetrators. Prosecutors opened only one investigation, saying the other 10 did not have sufficient details and happened too long ago to prosecute.
The latest findings add to the growing evidence of widespread clergy abuse of children documented in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Belgium and other countries, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to victims whose trauma was often hidden by church cover-ups.
In September, abuse victims and human rights lawyers, upset that no high-ranking church officials have yet to be prosecuted, filed a complaint in the United States urging the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and top Vatican officials for possible crimes against humanity. The Vatican called the move a ``ludicrous publicity stunt.''
An American advocacy group involved in that case, the Center for Constitutional Rights, called the Dutch findings ``yet another example of the widespread and systematic nature of the problem of child sex crimes in the Catholic Church.''
``If similar commissions were held in every country, we would undoubtedly be equally appalled by the rates of abuse,'' it said.
Archbishop Eijk said the victims in the Netherlands would be compensated by a commission the Dutch church set up last month and which has a scale starting at $6,500 ((euro) 5,000), rising to a maximum of $130,000 ((euro) 100,000) depending on the nature of the abuse.
O'Gorman criticized the church-established compensation scheme.
``It is simply not appropriate for the church to be the decider'' of compensation, he said. ``It is important the Dutch government recognizes its responsibility to ensure access to justice ... to all victims.''
<한글기사>
"네덜란드 가톨릭 시설에서 아동 수만명 성학대"
네덜란드의 가톨릭 시설에서 지난 1945년부 터 1985년까지 40년 동안 청소년 수만명이 성학대를 당했다고 16일(현지시간) 가톨 릭 성학대 조사위원회가 발표했다.
조사위는 최소한 800여 명의 성직자와 교회 관계자들이 아동 성학대를 저질렀으 며 교회 내부 감독기관과 고위 성직자들이 이를 알고 있었으나 조치를 취하지 않았 다고 지적했다.
지난해 유럽 전역에서 가톨릭 사제들의 아동 성 학대 파문이 일자 네덜란드 가 톨릭 교회는 아동 성 학대 문제를 조사할 중립적 위원회를 만들었다.
16일(현지시간) 네덜란드 언론매체들에 따르면, 기독교민주당 소속 전직 교육부 장관 빔 데이트만이 위원장을 맡고 심리학자와 법조인 등 전문가로 구성된 조사위는 이날 1천100쪽 분량의 보고서를 공개했다.
조사위는 그동안 가톨릭 시설 성학대 탄원 1천800여 건을 조사, 학대를 저지른 800여 명의 신원을 파악했다.
이 가운데 생존자가 105명으로 파악됐으나 조사위는 이들이 지금도 교회 내에서 활동하고 있는 지 여부는 밝히지 않았다.
조사위는 또 현재 나이가 40대 이상인 3만4천여 명을 상대로 한 조사 등을 토대 로 당시 네덜란드 어린이 10명 중 한 명 꼴로 교회 관계자들로부터 성학대를 당했다 고 추계했다.
특히 당시 가톨릭이 운영하는 학교와 고아원, 보육원 등의 시설에서 청소년기를 보낸 사람 가운데 이 비율은 20%로 2배나 돼 최소 1만-2만 명이 성학대를 받은 것
으로 평가했다.
이 가운데는 상대적으로 가벼운 학대도 있었으나 매우 심각한 학대도 수천 건에 이른다.
보고서는 "가톨릭 교회는 당시 성학대를 막기 위한 아무 조치도 취하지 않고 아 예 인정하지 않았으며 피해자들은 아무런 도움이나 보상, 치료를 받지 못했다"고 밝 혔다.
데이트만 위원장은 기자회견에서 "무슨 일이 일어나는지를 교회 관계자들이 몰 랐다는 주장은 이치에 맞지 않는다"고 반박하면서 교구장을 비롯한 책임자들이 알고 있었고 성학대 사건 취급 내규들까지 마련돼 있었다고 지적했다.
그는 '더러운 세탁에 개입하지 않는다는 정책'과 교회 내의 '침묵의 문화'가 사태를 오랫동안 은폐하고 키워왔다고 비판했다.
조사위는 1985년 이후에도 가톨릭 교회 내의 아동 성학대는 근절되지 않았으며 향후 이를 예방하고 제대로 다루기 위해선 가톨릭 내부 뿐만 아니라 정부 차원에서 도 대책을 마련해야 한다고 촉구했다.
네덜란드 가톨릭 당국은 피해자로 확정된 사람들에게 피해 정도에 따라 1인당 5 천~10만유로의 보상금을 지급키로 지난달 결정했다.
지난 2008년 통계청 조사에 따르면 네덜란드에서는 가톨릭이 최대 종교다. 전체 인구 1천600만 명 가운데 29%가 자신을 가톨릭 신자라고 밝혔다. (연합뉴스)
