The deeds at the campsite in Lügde, the rapes of a boy from Staufen im Breisgau, the investigations of the special commission "Berg", which is following the arrest of a man from Bergisch Gladbach now many thousands of clues: shocking, sensational cases of child abuse from the younger Past. But these are just the known cases.
The dark field is big at child abuse. Countless acts have happened or been done in secret, many of them in schools, clubs or home furnishings. To enable these institutions to comprehensively investigate the crimes, the "Independent Commission for the Processing of Sexual Child Abuse" of the Federal Government is publishing an official guide for the first time today.
In the document, which is available to SPIEGEL, the expert panel, which has been working since 2016, admonishes the German institutions to investigate child abuse more intensively than before. For the handout also 1500 confidential statements of those affected were evaluated. Many have reported "resistances and rejections" in reporting cases of abuse in organizations, the guideline states.
Work up the history of violence
"We want to invite institutions to recast their own history of violence," says Sabine Andresen, chairwoman of the Independent Commission. The Frankfurt education scientist emphasizes that working through the past is of great importance for the present, not least with regard to effective prevention: "We assume that reconditioning is a central basis for good child protection."
In the 49-page guideline, the experts emphasize that one of the basic prerequisites for the work-up is the identification of the perpetrators. In acute cases, the institution must clarify the suspicion, intervene if necessary and check a criminal complaint. In previous cases, it would be essential to publicize the refurbishment process. So more victims can learn about it and get in touch.
An institution in which abuse has taken place must immediately establish an independent point of contact for those affected so that they can obtain comprehensive and anonymous information, it goes on to say. It is also important for the necessary reworking process to involve the victims right from the start. At the same time, an advisory board should be convened, consisting of members of the institution, stakeholders and external experts.
Among other things, this advisory council is responsible for setting the timeframe, critically monitoring the work-up and advising on interim results, according to the commission. The actual research should take over from an at least two experts existing external "workup team", which "the history of abuse by hearing affected and critical study sources" document.
Criticism of the church
The respective institution had to allow the processing team to inspect all relevant files, including personnel files and other confidential documents. With this demand, the Independent Commission implicitly criticizes the Catholic Church. As part of the episcopal abuse study published in 2018, the researchers had no direct access to the files - they had to make do with a selection of documents that had been taken by diocese employees.
The Commission advises institutions willing to give advice to seek legal advice in complex legal matters. For example, a data protection concept must be drawn up on the basis of which "data subjects and witnesses are informed about the collection and use of their data". The refurbishment teams would have to carefully consider "whether and how names of perpetrators and perpetrators are called," it says.
Commission Chair Andresen stressed that she wanted to give better guidance to those responsible in the institutions with the new guidelines and to encourage them to "approach them actively and actively". At the same time, the document was also of great importance to those affected. For these could refer to the individual points of the guideline in their demands for clarification in the future.