One member of the Scouts was preemptively removed by the National Scout Corps (CNE) after being identified in a report by the Independent Commission on Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, the organization said this Friday.
The CNE statement said the document, produced by the organization coordinated by child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, includes seven cases of alleged Scout-related sexual abuse that were not yet known, in addition to 19 other situations that already existed at the facility. archives.
Highlighting the collaboration with the Independent Commission (IC) and a meeting last week with members of the ICI and the Historical Investigation Group that deepened this work with the Church archives, the EAR explained that among the seven reported cases, one alleged perpetrator had died and another was already on the registry. cases of violence.
“Of the remaining five cases, two appear to have a common alleged aggressor that is no longer active, and another, as a result of the direct cooperation of the victim who contacted the CNE, decided to preemptively suspend the alleged aggressor; In both situations, an internal investigation is currently underway to reach a decision in the context of disciplinary proceedings and other measures deemed appropriate,” he said.
As for the other two cases, one occurred in 1961 and the other in 1978 in the dioceses of Lisbon and Porto, but, according to CNE, “the data obtained do not yet allow the alleged aggressors to be unambiguously identified.” “.
“In both cases, although the alleged aggressors are priests with ties to Scouts, the information received indicates that the sexual abuse did not take place in the context of Scouting activities, information that we believe is already on the lists provided by the Independent Commission of each diocese”, can be read in the published note.
The CNE also assured that it prioritizes helping “past or present victims” and that it maintains the “Escutismo: Movimento Seguro” support structure through the complaints channel available at https://ems.escutismo.pt, “wasting no time “. act diligently with potential aggressors.”
“We want to do everything to make Scouting a safe place where each of its members is cared for, welcomed and accompanied, starting with the smallest ones,” CNE added.
The Catholic Church’s Independent Commission for the Study of Child Sexual Abuse verified 512 testimonies, extrapolating to at least 4,815 victims. Twenty-five cases were sent to the State Department, which opened 15 investigations, nine of which were closed.
The commission has transmitted to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference a list of alleged rapists, some of whom are active, who have forwarded to the dioceses a decision to fire priests suspected of abuse.