The IICSA, which heard evidence from more than 7,000 victims and survivors over a seven-year period, published its final report, ‘The report of the IICSA’, last week. It made 20 recommendations to help protect children, with three recommendations as the centrepiece.
First, there should be a statutory requirement of mandatory reporting for individuals in certain paid or voluntary employments who witness it or are told about it, with a criminal offence of failure to report.
Second, a national redress scheme should be set up, with straightforward processes to provide some monetary redress where victims have been let down by institutions. Third, the report recommends the creation of a Child Protection Authority in England and Wales, with powers to inspect any institution associated with children.
Other recommendations include a cabinet-level Minister for Children, a public awareness campaign on child sexual abuse, amendment of the Children Act 1989 to give parity of legal protection to children in care, extending the disclosure regime to those working with children overseas, and removal of the three-year limitation period or time bar for personal injury claims brought by victims.
Kim Harrison, executive committee member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) called for the proposed changes to the law to be implemented without delay.
‘Trauma, shame, mistrust in authorities, fear, and an instinct to protect their families from the stigma of abuse are just some of the very valid reasons why people hold back on speaking out, let alone take the step to seek justice,’ Harrison said.
‘For survivors to be willing finally to go through the ordeal of proving their cases only to then discover they were not quick enough to act can be devastating for them. The law needs to recognise that survivors of childhood sexual abuse are unique and almost always seek justice later than other injured people—for very good reasons.’
Current estimates suggest one in six girls and one in 20 boys suffer sexual abuse before the age of 16. The IICSA report notes: ‘There remains an incomplete public understanding of child sexual abuse, exploitation and power dynamics.’
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