Curbing sex abuse
March 24, 2010
Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet has appointed a former family minister, 70-year-old Christine Bergmann, as independent commissioner to deal with sex abuse cases in schools. She is expected to find ways to compensate victims for suffering endured at the hands of teachers in Catholic or other educational institutions predominantly in the 1970s and 1980s.
"The mandate of the new commissioner ensures that the worries of the victims come first," said Education Minister Annette Schavan. "It's a clear signal that the government fully acknowledges their suffering."
Taking the debate further
The government said it would also set up a round-table forum, to start April 23, intended to create concepts to prevent the sexual harassment of minors. The panel will also investigate how sex abuse reached the proportions it did in certain schools decades ago.
Opposition figures criticized the government's plan, which they fear will not solve central problems. The opposition was also skeptical that a commissioner would be able to effect changes.
"We can hardly imagine eight-year-old kids far away from the capital picking up the phone and giving the commissioner a report on a sex abuse incident," Green party leader Renate Kuenast told the German parliament.
She added that Christine Bergmann could at best have a watchdog function, which would not be an adequate response to the problems that have been revealed across Germany in recent weeks.
Just a talking shop?
Kuenast was also scathing about the proposed round-table forum, saying that a forum would only be able to address massive sex abuse in Germany in very general terms.
"No concrete cases will be dealt with," she said. "This is not what I understand by a comprehensive investigation into why all these abuse cases were possible at all."
Critics argue that round-table meetings only serve to cover up what they feel is Chancellor Angela Merkel's unwillingness to condemn the Catholic Church and other institutions for gravely neglecting their obligations.
hg/AFP/dpa/AP
Editor: Ben Knight