Dutch clerical sexual abuse survivors get compensation

Sculpture in Maastricht church, photo: ANP

This photo shows a sculpture about clerical sexual abuse in the Basilica of Our Lady, in Maastricht city in the Netherlands.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Damages for 250 unrecognized abuse victims of the Roman Catholic Church

Today, 00:12

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes a group of about 250 victims of sexual abuse whose complaints were rejected earlier. They will be given compensation.

These are people whose complaints originally were not upheld as there was no supporting evidence for their statements. Their complaints
were quite credible, but other victims of the suspects had not reported the abuse. Therefore there was insufficient evidence.

Compensation scheme

In June it was announced that there would be a compensation scheme for the group. 150 of them have meanwhile through revision, mediation or a settlement received compensation.

The remaining group of 100 victims will now receive compensation, which is between 1,000 and 17,500 euros. That will cost the church nearly a million.

The church has paid some 16 million euros to the victims. More than 1800 complaints had been submitted by January 1, 2015. Nearly 400 complaints still have to be dealt with.