Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) have filed a suit against Pope and other high ranking Vatican officials. To read the submissions CLICK HERE.German lawyers were the first ones to file the complaints at International Criminal Court (ICC) and CCR followed. British are nowhere to be seen. Why is that? US lawyers from CCR have submitted about 20, 000 pages in evidence which, as you can see, if you click on the link above, contains various reports about longstanding abuse of children in various parts of the world.
One of the reasons is that maybe, British have not overcome their inhibitions about jurisdiction issue and are waiting or shall I say queuing (British are so good at it) to see what happens first. As far as I know ICC does not have to recognize Vatican as a state. It is not their job. There are states in this world which are not recognized as such by others. So why are British so shy? Yes, it is awkward to admit one has been submissive, conformist and did something that was not right for the sake of "peace". This dysfunctional tendency to avoid confrontation is familiar to psychologists and psychiatrists. It perpetuates dysfunctionality.
There are policies and procedures in UK which make it more difficult for the victims to get justice. Whistleblowers who pointed to it have been persecuted intensely in UK, and when appeals were made in courts no justice resulted either for the victims or for the whistleblowers.
The current government is making efforts to change things and has opened a whistleblowing line but it just for the NHS (National Health Service) staff. It is not open to those who have been dismissed because of whistleblowing. In UK, religious bias in quasi judicial proceedings also favors faith over science. Anybody, no matter how extreme can, for example, judge doctors at General Medical Council, the only regulator of medical profession. Commission for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence refuses to engage with complainants who are excellent in their work when it comes to faith or racial discrimination issues. One gets the impressions of the mutually supporting network of regulators and no more.
The stale and oppressive atmosphere in state institutions makes it impossible or very difficult for many victims to confide in professionals about what happened to them when it comes to sexual abuse in childhood. There is no trust.
Recently, I read one report about prisoners who reported rates as high as 70% of history of abuse in childhood. This is of interest because it may indicate that men cannot trust other men in state institutions and become anti-social as the direct result of lack of social support.
Other studies indicated that prompt social support and justice result in healing and can prevent development of serious mental health issues. There are times when lawyers can do more for the patients than doctors! It cannot be true that British lawyers are ignorant or uneducated. But is there a problem? There must be. Is it to do with religious education at schools and embarrassment over it? How can children be responsible for the choice of their education?
And what about Italians? Vatican is in Italy. Political disaster and lack of courage over long time from the population resulted in this situation of Holy See maintaining its status as a sovereign state. Shame. Well, other countries have sorted their mess so can Italians.
So who signed up to ICC and who did not? READ HERE.
I noticed a place called Rwanda who did not sign up but ICC for Rwanda was formed when UN so desired. It is not necessary for a state to sign up to ICC when UN mandate can establish ICC specifically for the purpose of particular proceedings.
ICC has rules known as Rome Statute. Read here and see the rules on admissibility especially 17
USA signed up for ICC and then unsigned.
Rome Statute can be amended. Admissibility rules can be changed.
