Name: The World Organisation Against Torture
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At a glance

Following its ratification of the Convention against Torture in 2002, the Holy See submitted one report to the Committee Against Torture (CAT) for its 2014 review. The CAT criticized the Holy See for its failure to prevent, stop, sanction and provide redress for child sexual abuse committed by Catholic Church officials worldwide, and called the Holy See to “take steps to ensure that victims of sexual abuse committed by or with the acquiescence of the State party’s officials receive redress, including fair, adequate and enforceable right to compensation and as full rehabilitation as possible, regardless of whether perpetrators of such acts have been brought to justice”.

At the time, the OMCT, together with the Children’s Rights International Network (CRIN) had stated that many of the reported cases of sexual abuse of children by clerics fulfilled the criteria that have long been established for rape to amount to torture.

In March 2020, the OMCT together with its SOS-Torture Network member Xumek alerted the UN Human Rights Council that the Holy See had since done little to implement the recommendations of the CAT. It called for the disclosure of all information on cases of sexual abuse of children, and to ensure compensation and reparation to victims, among others.

Holy See

At a glance

Related resources

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Unofficial Minutes of the UN Committee Against Torture's review

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