UN Committee Against Torture to Question Catholic Church

[D1B]

Finally.

Second United Nations panel to question Vatican

Committee against Torture calls Catholic officials to account

For the second time in recent months, a United Nations panel will soon determine if Vatican officials are complying with an international treaty. The Geneva-based UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) has set next May as the date for a review of whether top church officials are honoring the 1984 treaty on torture.

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"Every time anyone tells Catholic officials 'You will be held to the same standard as other institutions,' that's progress," said Barbara Blaine of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "This is an encouraging development. We suspect this committee will see and point out how the church hierarchy continues to tolerate and enable sexual violence."

"Vatican bureaucrats have long made and broken promises with impunity. Ever so slowly, those days are waning," said David Clohessy of SNAP. "But progress is happening only because of brave victims and determined advocates. So for the safety of innocent kids and vulnerable adults, we all must all keep pressing hard and keep exposing complicity."

In June, two US SNAP leaders traveled to Geneva and met with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, chaired by Kirsten Sandberg of Norway. In July, that panel released a list of "issues" related to child sex crimes and cover ups that church officials must response to by Nov. 1.

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