The state commission investigating paedophilia has issued its first report, along with a raft of recommendations including amending the Polish criminal code to crack down on sexual abuse.
The commission was created by the government following the release of a documentary in 2020 revealing cases of abuse and alleged cover-ups in the Catholic church in Poland.
Its aim was to estimate the scale of the problem of sexual abuse of children aged under 15 in Poland and to evaluate the responses of the justice system and analyse sentences received by perpetrators.
An interactive map of church pedophilia cases has been published by NGO @fundacjaNLS and liberal opposition MP @JoankaSW.
It contains 59 cases brought to conviction, but they've also included media reports and victims' testimonies for cases that haven't resulted in any sentence. pic.twitter.com/Fr8R7R8LNQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 7, 2018
The commission looked into 345 cases and 245 court proceedings (some involved more than one victim or perpetrator). The majority of the 188 girls and 173 boys who were abused were between the ages of 11 and 15, but the youngest victim was one year old.
The state body also found that in half of the cases, no one noticed any symptoms of sexual abuse. In 35% of cases, the perpetrator was a relative of the victim, and the vast majority of offenders – 275 out of 292 – were men.
Moreover, almost 30% of perpetrators were clergymen. The Catholic Church in Poland has come under increased pressure in recent years for its perceived failure to deal with the problem of paedophilia. This year has brought a firm response from the Vatican.
“These materials are horrifying, but at the same time they are an impetus to say ‘enough’ and force us never to stop fighting these disgusting crimes,” said Błażej Kmieciak, the president of the commission and co-author of the report.
The analysis also pointed to problems during trials, such as victims not receiving psychological support in most analysed cases. “Children who experienced the trauma of sexual abuse also experienced the trauma of contact with judicial bodies,” said Hanna Elżanowska, the vice-president of the commission, quoted by Rzeczpospolita.
The commission filed 137 notifications to the prosecutor’s office and put forward 22 recommendations. Among these are changes to the Polish criminal code, including the removal of the statute of limitation for sexual abuse cases and tougher punishments.
“The victims of sexual abuse often speak up after 30 or 40 years, and because of that the offenders are no longer held criminally responsible,” argued Agnieszka Rękas, a member of the commission and retired judge.
However, more recently larger numbers have started coming forward. The data published by the Episcopate show that 368 cases of sexual abuse by clergy were reported to the church from July 2018 to the end of 2020. By comparison, over the previous 28 years, 382 such reports were filed with the church – an annual average of 13.6.
Main image credit: Sławomir Kamiński/Agencja Gazeta
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
