Please find below the ECAJ’s media release regarding the Final Report by Royal Com­mis­sion into Insti­tu­tion­al Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. To download this media release in a PDF format, click here.

MEDIA STATEMENT

18 December 2017

The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry has welcomed the Final Report of the Royal Com­mis­sion into Insti­tu­tion­al Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which was released on December 15.
“The Inquiry, its public hearings, findings and recom­mend­a­tions have been of seminal ongoing import­ance for the whole of Aus­trali­an society”, said ECAJ President Anton Block.
“All Aus­trali­ans must take notice of the 189 recom­mend­a­tions made in the final Report. Jewish community insti­tu­tions will need to pay special regard to recom­mend­a­tion 16.30, which calls on them to ensure that their complaint handling policies expli­citly state that the halachic concepts of mesirah, moser and loshon horo do not apply to the com­mu­nic­a­tion and reporting of alleg­a­tions of child sexual abuse to police and other civil author­it­ies”.
At its annual con­fer­ence on November 26, the ECAJ adopted a detailed policy con­cern­ing Child Sexual Abuse, with the backing of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Task Force on Child Pro­tec­tion. The policy:

“RECOGNISES that child sexual abuse has occurred within some Jewish insti­tu­tions;

RECOGNISES further that in some instances indi­vidu­als in positions of lead­er­ship and trust within those insti­tu­tions failed to report the abuse to the appro­pri­ate author­it­ies and in doing so, acted unlaw­fully and uneth­ic­ally, and failed the children who had suffered the abuse and exacer­bated their suffering, and brought shame to our community;

NOTES the halachic rule that the civil law of the land is binding (dina d’malkhuta dina) and supports fully the state­ments by Jewish religious and rep­res­ent­at­ive rab­bin­ic­al bodies that “there is a religious oblig­a­tion to inform the relevant author­it­ies of all inform­a­tion known con­cern­ing possible harmful criminal conduct, espe­cially conduct as serious as child sexual abuse, and to co-operate with the author­it­ies in every way to bring the per­pet­rat­ors to justice”;

AFFIRMS that the principle of mesirah, which precludes the reporting of fellow Jews to the secular author­it­ies, was his­tor­ic­ally applied in places where Jews were subjected to insti­tu­tion­al per­se­cu­tion and racism and could not receive just treatment by the civil author­it­ies, and has no relevance or admiss­ib­il­ity what­so­ever in Australia, as has been stated by multiple Aus­trali­an rab­bin­ic­al sources;

CONDEMNS any con­ceal­ment of, or failure to report, alleg­a­tions of child sexual abuse and any instances of intim­id­a­tion or retri­bu­tion against children who have suffered sexual abuse or their families or other sup­port­ers, noting that all such conduct is unlawful, dis­grace­ful and contrary to Jewish ethics and law, and serves to deepen the suffering of survivors and their families;

AFFIRMS the imper­at­ive of pro­tect­ing children from harm, which is a core Jewish value, and calls on all organ­isa­tions in the Jewish community to adopt and actively implement a policy of zero tolerance towards child sexual abuse, and to promote clear lead­er­ship and trans­par­ent gov­ernance to combat the secrecy on which abuse thrives; and

CALLS ON Jewish community organ­isa­tions which have the care of children to adopt and implement appro­pri­ate standards of child pro­tec­tion if they have not already done so, and to work together with other Jewish organ­isa­tions under the auspices of the Jewish community State roof bodies and the ECAJ to develop a best practice model of Jewish Pro­fes­sion­al Standards on Child Pro­tec­tion.”

Mr Block added, “I want to emphasise, espe­cially in light of the Royal Commission’s final report, that the ECAJ calls on Jewish community organ­isa­tions which at any time have the care of children to adopt and implement appro­pri­ate standards of child pro­tec­tion if they have not already done so, and to work together with other Jewish organ­isa­tions, including Tzedek, under the auspices of the Jewish community State roof bodies and the ECAJ to develop a best practice model of Jewish Pro­fes­sion­al Standards on Child Pro­tec­tion. Leaders of Jewish organ­isa­tions must take a pre­vent­at­ive, proactive and par­ti­cip­at­ory approach to child safety issues, so that the safety and wellbeing of children in each of their organ­isa­tions is a paramount con­sid­er­a­tion when devel­op­ing activ­it­ies, policies and man­age­ment practices”.
“It is not enough to express our deepest sympathy with all survivors of child sexual abuse and profound sorrow at the pain and ongoing hardship they have suffered, and to extend the same sen­ti­ments to the family and friends of survivors who have suffered in any way for sup­port­ing them. Our insti­tu­tions must be proactive and vigilant to prevent any further instances of abuse occurring within them, and we need to extend whatever support may be necessary to survivors of child sexual abuse in their pursuit of justice and redress.”
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au