Monday, March 08, 2010

Zero tolerance in child abuse

GERMANY'S education minister Sunday said there should be 'zero tolerance' of the sexual abuse of children, as a scandal rocking the German Catholic Church widened ever further.

'Violence and abuse of schoolchildren is the worst breach of trust imaginable. It makes me livid,' Annette Schavan told the mass circulation Bild am Sonntag.

'Wherever there is a suspicion of abuse or violence against children in schools, there must be zero tolerance and a complete explanation. Nothing must be hushed up,' added the minister.

She said she would meet senior education officials in the coming days to discuss ways to help the victims that have already come forward, as well as to prevent further episodes of abuse.

The scandal in Germany broke in January when an elite Jesuit school in Berlin admitted the systematic sexual abuse of its pupils by two Roman Catholic priests in the 1970s and 1980s.

Last month, two priests and a college rector resigned over abuse cases.

An independent investigator hired by the Jesuit order said that so far around 120 people had come forward alleging abuse.

The scandal has continued to widen with more allegations of abuse at other schools across Germany.
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