Proposal of Rete L’ABUSO: Protocol – protection and guarantee – Diocesan Consultors

Given that the Association ReteL’ABUSO, (Italian association of survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy) with registered office in Savona, via Pietro Giuria 3, C.F. 92109400090, is fighting for the non-negotiability of rights, proposes the following protocol. Given that the document does not take the internal structuring that will be discretionary, we only want to identify the fundamental and essential points with the sole purpose; guarantee the respect and the maximum protection of the parts, besides the effectiveness of the service.

The Association believes that a healthy start, from the reception, produces not only good manageability but also the maximum transparency and the guarantee of respect for the rights of the victim.

THE STRUCTURE OF HOSPITALITY

1. Ensure that any reports of a crime or suspected crime are reported to the Judicial Authority, leaving the management and assessment of the news, only to the competent civil authority.
2. The victim has to be guided and supported in the decisions and the paths that will be taken, with a single purpose, the welfare of those who are rescued.
3. Ensure that those who will accept and guide the victim are competent and prepared personnel who act with the utmost respect for the law that the Italian State guarantees.
4. Evaluate promptly the urgency (for the purposes of prescribing or interrupting them) of a legal intervention in its protection.
5. To guarantee to the users, above all from the psychological point of view, that they have assured all the protections foreseen by the Italian State, by the Treaty of Lanzarote etc. that are specifically aimed at victims of sexual abuse trauma and post-traumatic stress.
6. Ensure that the service in no way discloses, reuses, or assigns for purposes other than the interest of the customer, data, circumstances and information of any kind or nature.

We consider the six points on display, a fundamental non-negotiable guarantee base. Although apparently, it may seem difficult to deal with them, they are actually all intertwined and resolvable with extreme simplicity.

Here is our proposal for a healthy and effective starting point.

We have treated, not by chance, the only point of welcome, because in our opinion it is the cornerstone where we decide to start a healthy accompaniment for the victim and useful for the collective good.

The solution is reduced to the targeted choice of who will be responsible for welcoming or responsible for this, which will simply be selected among those who hold the qualifications of “public official”, or a doctor, a social worker or whoever for it, provided it has this qualification , which imposes criminal obligations, such as that of the complaint.

This solution would solve many problems for the Vatican regarding the management, obedience of the hierarchies, the secret of the confessional, etc. In this way the church is also informed of the report, maintaining its inviolable faculty to decide whether to start a preliminary investigation and a subsequent canonical process. At the same time the hierarchies would be relieved of the burden of the denunciation to the civil authorities, which would in any case be guaranteed by the public official, who by law must do it and who in case of omission would respond personally.

This would also overcome the various obstacles due to the assessment of the complaint, which would be the task of civil authority, which has the tools and training to evaluate and in case proceed with the judicial aspect.

End of the Protocol

Zanardi