Commission Calls on Parliament to Launch National Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Society

An independent commission to investigate child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church on Tuesday urged parliament to launch a national investigation into child sexual abuse in society.

“(…) There is something that the Assembly of the Republic could do in a very specific way, which is to demand a national inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in Portuguese society, as the French did, by the way, in order to have an idea that it represents in terms of national morbidity, ”said Ana Nunez de Almeida, a sociologist.

At hearings before the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees of the Assembly of the Republic, at the request of Chega, PS and PSD, on the final report of this commission, entitled “The Voice of Silence”, Ana Nunez de Almeida, however, admitted that “it requires money, strength will, requires great competence.

“But nothing compares to the many thousands of euros that fly around, the many billions of euros that fly in other sectors,” he commented, adding: “That was the appeal that I left in the Assembly of the Republic. peanut [é uma ninharia]”.

Fernando Negrao, Chairman of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, commented: “There is political will.”

Regarding the organizations contacted by the commission, Ana Núñez de Almeida indicated that they had to “move worlds and means” in order to be able to circulate the call for testimony, “and this was not only within the church, but also in civil society.” .

According to the sociologist, “if it weren’t for the media and individual media,” this appeal would not have passed, because “there was some silence and alienation and negligence of groups, organizations that work with children, that deal with children, not to mention municipalities, parish councils, health centres, the health care system”, among others.

“We had support, yes, “the doors are open,” but then “do your little work there.” We felt that it was not only in the church, it was in civil society,” he insisted.

An independent commission for the study of child sexual abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church confirmed 512 of the 564 testimonies received, indicating, by extrapolation, that the minimum number of victims was about 4,815.

Twenty-five cases were reported to the prosecutor’s office, resulting in 15 investigations, nine of which have already been archived and six are still under investigation.

These testimonies refer to cases that took place between 1950 and 2022, the period covered by the commission’s work.