Abuse victims threaten to withdraw from government inquiry
A number of alleged victims of child sexual abuse have said they will withdraw from the inquiry into the issue unless the Government makes major changes to it.
The inquiry as it stands is not fit for purpose, they said in an open letter to Home Secretary Theresa May.
They said: “As survivors and associated professionals, we were very much hoping to take up the invitations to engage with your ministerial officers to discuss the child sex abuse inquiry but we regret to say we have to decline.
“We, alongside many survivors, have made numerous representations to you regarding our view that the inquiry as it stands is not fit for purpose.
“Its terms of reference are inadequate for delivering the original declared intentions of the inquiry, namely to investigate government and establishment cover-ups of paedophiles in their ranks and aiding bringing the perpetrators to justice.
“Secondly, both your appointees to head the inquiry panel have had to be forced out by survivors because of obvious conflicts of interest, and you have failed to address similar issues regarding other panel appointees.
“Thirdly, that the cut-off date for the inquiry investigations was set at 1970 is highly disturbing given that the 1969 Children’s Act transferred Home Office-run youth establishments, from which thousands of abuse allegations eventually emerged.”
The 24 signatories said they had little option but to end engagement with the inquiry until Mrs May scrapped the current panel, replacing it “on a transparent basis”, declared a statutory inquiry, and extended the cut-off date to 1945.
The inquiry has been bedevilled with problems, mainly around finding a chairman, since it was announced in July.
Mrs May has apologised to victims for failing so far to find a suitable person to fill the role.
Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down as chairwoman in July amid questions over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.
Her replacement Fiona Woolf, the then Lord Mayor of London, resigned in October following a barrage of criticism over her ”establishment links”, most notably in relation to former home secretary Lord Brittan.
Since then, Mrs May has asked the Home Affairs Select Committee to draw up a list of three candidates for her to consider.
But committee chairman Keith Vaz said he had insisted Mrs May should identify a ”suitable nominee” and allow the committee to examine the individual before he or she was appointed.
Mrs May has acknowledged it will be difficult to find a chairman who has the expertise to lead the inquiry and has no links with institutions or individuals that may fall under investigation.
A spokesman for the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse referred callers to the Home Office.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The Home Secretary is absolutely committed to ensuring the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has the confidence of survivors and that is why she is meeting them and their representatives to hear their views and to ensure the right person is appointed to lead the inquiry panel in its vital work.
“As the Home Secretary has said, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to the truth.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2014, All Rights Reserved.
