Child abuse victims to begin giving testimonies to Truth Project inquiry
Child abuse victims will begin giving testimonies for the first time next week about their ordeal as part of the huge independent inquiry into alleged sexual abuse in Westminster and beyond.
The Truth Project starts in Liverpool on Monday with survivors of abuse speaking to inquiry members during three weeks of private sessions, recording and taking their accounts of abuse.
The pilot scheme is part of the massive inquiry launched by Home Secretary Theresa May, looking at the failure of institutions and organisations to protect children.
It was prompted by growing concern over how paedophile Jimmy Savile was allowed to operate within the BBC for decades amid claims of powerful individuals covering up alleged child sex abuse at the heart of government and security services. A series of police investigations are ongoing.
The independent inquiry, led by senior New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard (pictured), will look at how the responsibility to protect children was handled by institutions and organisations including the BBC, police, armed forces, schools, children’s homes, charities and churches.
The inquiry has three parts, the Truth Project, listening to survivors, a research project and forthcoming public hearings, when witnesses will give evidence, under oath, to the inquiry.
Any allegations of on-going abuse uncovered during the Truth Project will be referred to police, but testimonies given by survivors during the private sessions are not a legal process and are only aimed to “bear witness” and add to the “big picture” of how and where abuse occurred and “inform” the Inquiry’s eventual findings.
Identities of abuse victims taking part will be kept private.
How the pilot runs in Liverpool will also shape further sessions as more are held across England and Wales.
Launching the project today, inquiry chair Ms Goddard said: “It brings home to me the importance of the work of the Inquiry in identifying organisations and institutions which have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse.
“And it highlights that this Inquiry must, as I have said before, shine a light on the failings of organisations and institutions across the breadth of England and Wales and not simply within the Westminster context.
“Next week, here in Liverpool the first phase of the Truth Project that I announced in July will begin.
“The Truth Project will enable victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to contribute to the work of the Inquiry.
“It will help us gain a better understanding of the patterns of abuse, and will assist in explaining why many crimes went unreported and undetected for so long, often leaving other children at risk of abuse in later years.
“If you have suffered, because any organisation within England or Wales has failed in its duty to protect you as a child from sexual abuse, we want to hear from you.”
Abuse survivors will have access to a professional support package and those who do not wish to attend a private session can provide a written statement to the inquiry.
Numbers of victims “in double figures” will attend the private sessions in Liverpool.
The first institutions publicly named as under investigation by the inquiry will be announced at the end of the month.
Anyone who wants to contact the Truth Project can do so through the inquiry website at www.iicsa.org.uk/share-your-experience or calling 0800 917 1000.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2015, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Peter Byrne PA / Wire.
