PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY 12 PM CMT Clergy Sex Victims to Urge Top International Prosecutor to Investigate High Level Vatican Officials Over Abuse Scandal. WHAT: Holding signs and childhood photos at a news conference, leaders of a clergy sex abuse victims’ support group and a human rights complaint will disclose and discuss a detailed formal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor urging him to investigate high-level Vatican officials for crimes against humanity.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 13, 12:00 PM Central European Time
WHERE: The Hague at the Mövenpick Hotel, Stationsplein 8, 2275 AZ Voorburg, Netherlands
WHO: Eight adults who were abused as children by priests and are with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and two human rights attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Photos of the survivors as children at the age they were when they were abused. And, following the press conference, SNAP and CCR members will be delivering boxes filled with more than 20,000 pages of documents to accompany the formal request for an investigation to the International Criminal Court.
DETAILS:
Representatives of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and leading human rights organization the Center for Constitutional Rights are traveling to The Hague to formally urge the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to investigate high-level Catholic Church officials for crimes against humanity. The detailed complaint will assert a systematic and widespread practice of concealing rape throughout the world, tolerated and enabled by the Vatican. The complaint — including those named as most responsible — will be released at the news conference at 12 PM Central European Time.
The jurisdiction of the ICC names rape, sexual assault, and torture as crimes against humanity. It also provides for individual criminal liability for those with superior responsibility over those who directly commit such crimes. Through these mechanisms, the complaint urges investigation and prosecution of high-level Vatican officials for their roles in the system that protects perpetrators and conceals and enables rape, sexual assault, and torture of thousands of individuals around the world. If the ICC launches the investigation, this action could mark the first time that an international court asserts jurisdiction over the Vatican for crimes committed by its agents worldwide.