State Government of Victoria
Family and Community Development Committee of Parliament
A submission to the “Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Organisations” in relation to the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society corporation
Submission by the Unthank Family
15 September 2012
Submission Prepared by Steven Unthank
To the Family and Community Development Committee of Parliament,
The Unthank family wish to thank the Family and Community Development Committee (FCDC) for giving us the opportunity to share our personal experience, knowledge and opinions before the Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Organisations. Our submission is in relation to the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their administrative corporation, the Watch Tower Society, which in Australia is represented by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia.
Our verbal submission will draw heavily on this written submission and on supporting documentation and audio recordings as made available to the FCDC. These documents also include a complete copy of the Brief of Evidence for the criminal prosecution of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society over breaches of the Working with Children Act 2005 as well as copies of the Charge Sheets, and a complete copy of all articles published on the JW News website www.jwnews.net from June 2011 to May 2012. We will be making references to parts of these documents within our submission format. Therefore, the accompanied documents and audio recordings comprise appendices in relation to our verbal submission. With this in mind, it is not necessary for the FCDC to publish these.
We thank the FCDC for providing us with a comprehensive list of questions and subjects for us to address in our submission. We have carefully considered each and every point in relation to the information you provided to us, and, with your recommendations in mind, we hope to be able to address the following items you are specifically seeking information on in relation to our own personal experiences with the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society corporation:
* The causes and effects of criminal child abuse within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
* How the reporting of criminal child abuse is handled by the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
* The initial response to the disclosure of criminal child abuse and the long-term response.
* The consequences for the perpetrators.
* The effects of the response to the disclosure on the victim/s within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and those who report any criminal child abuse.
* Any support offered by the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society to the victims, including any counselling or psychological help.
* Whether an apology, compensation, or other forms of assistance was forthcoming from the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society in relation to criminal child abuse committed by their appointed ministers of religion, including ministerial servants, elders, circuit overseers, and religious leaders.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watch Tower Society, and their ecclesiastical ruling bodies of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Faithful and Discreet Slave, accepted responsibility for what happened.
* Action taken by the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society as a result of our complaint.
* The length of time involved in responding to complaints; and the religious “three-year rule”.
* The investigating practices, policies and protocols of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society in relation to reports of criminal child abuse, including:
o The nature of their policies and their effectiveness.
o The implementation of policies and how they are complied with.
o Processes for review or evaluation of policies.
o Any accountability mechanisms surrounding them.
o How supports are provided to victims.
o The approach to monetary and other forms of compensation.
o The introduction of religious teachings forbidding church members, including victims and their families, from taking of civil action against the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society in relation to criminal child abuse committed by religious persons, and the adverse religious sanctions that are imposed upon those who lawfully seek civil redress.
* Current policies, protocols and frameworks that are currently in place within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society to address child abuse and criminal child abuse within the religious environment, including:
o The nature of the polices
o Whether the policies are proactive or reactive
o Whether such policies or any child protection policy are publicly available or whether they are internal.
o Whether the “two witness rule” to child abuse is effective or whether it is open to adverse manipulation by religious leaders
o Who is responsible for any policies.
* How alleged and proven offenders are dealt with.
* Whether there is an appeal process or dispute resolution process for victims or offenders.
* What support, if at all, is made available to victims and family members.
* Whether victims can see independent support.
* What is the role of solicitors and lawyers, within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society, in relation to allegations of criminal child abuse committed within the religious environment. Are there any conflicts of interest.
* Whether allegations of child abuse are reported to the police when the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society is made aware of them.
* Whether there are any circumstances in which the alleged abuse is not reported.
* Whether internal systems of investigation within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society discourage reporting of criminal acts to the police.
* Whether internal systems of redress discourage or prevent civil legal action being taken by victims.
* How the local and international legal structure of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society is used to manage their affairs and their assets so as to discourage or prevent civil legal action being taken by victims of criminal child abuse that occurs within the religious setting.
* The consequences of any introduction of mandatory reporting of child abuse within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
* How has the Working with Children Act 2005 been applied within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Watch Tower Society since its introduction for “religious organisations” in July 2008.
* The liability of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses in relation to any criminal breaches of the Working with Children Act 2005 committed by elders and ministers of religion within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
* Whether individuals and officials within the religious and corporate hierarchy of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society, upon becoming aware of criminal child abuse and either ignore it or actively cover it up, should be held criminally responsible for the actions of the offenders of child abuse in their employ or for whom they have responsibility.
* Whether there exists a system within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, or within the Watch Tower Society, that aims to protect the rights of children against personnel who abuse their position of trust.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society maintain comprehensive records data on the incidence and prevalence of abuse against children within the religion, and if so, whether such records are publicly available.
* The maintaining of secret records and comprehensive databases by the Watch Tower Society on members and associates of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and how these records are used adversely to supress the disclosure of alleged or proven offenders.
* Whether there exists a Privacy Policy within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society shares information regarding proven or suspect cases of abuse to other agencies even in cases where it is not compelled to do so (for example, schools, Department of Human Services); and what confidentiality/privacy considerations flow from this.
* Whether the religious leaders of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses or the corporate and legal officers of the Watch Tower Society inform the rank-and-file members of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses or the wider community about abuses committed by its members.
* What steps need to be taken to inform the rank-and-file members of Jehovah’s Witnesses about child abuse/child protection issues or suspicions.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society are proactive in establishing preventative policies and procedures.
* Whether the door-to-door preaching ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses is governed by the Working with Children Act 2005, and if so, whether all door-to-door preachers comply with the Act.
* Whether acts of criminal child abuse has occurred within the door-to-door public preaching ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and if so, how the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society handled this.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society networks with other organisations, including other religions, to address abuse.
* Whether the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society pose an immediate, or ongoing threat, to the sexual or physical safety of children within the wider community.
Our verbal testimony will discuss our personal experience in relation to child abuse and the covering up of child abuse within the church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and in relation to breaches of the Working with Children Act 2005 committed within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Our verbal testimony will also discuss the experience we went through as the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society engaged in an unrelenting ad hominem attack on us as we spoke out against child abuse within the religion. The religious persecution of our family, and the attacks against our family, intensified until they encompassed literally an all-out assault against us. We are still literally fighting for our lives and defending ourselves. This has been going on non-stop since late 2003. The attacks against the Unthank family have only occurred because the police and the State Government have refused to protect us and our children, despite repeated requests.
We do ask the members of the FCDC to review the 66 pages included as a footnote to this letter prior to our presenting our verbal submission. These pages contain allegations of criminal activities and illegal practices and unlawful conduct committed against the Unthank family and others, within the religious environment of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, by ordained ministers of religion, elders, corporate directors, officers, lawyers, and religious leaders as they went about covering up criminal child abuse within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and within the Watch Tower Society, and of which abuse was discovered by members of the Unthank family. This includes:
* Child Sexual Abuse (multiple)
* Criminal Child Abuse
* Rape
* Sexual Assault
* Attempted Rape
* Aggravated Assault (inside Kingdom Hall church of Jehovah’s Witnesses)
* Physical Assault and being Beaten Up
* Death Threats, including the slitting of the throat
* Threats of Violence, including ‘hanging by the neck’ and ‘anal rape with a broom’ and assault with a piece of barbed wire’
* Conspiracy to Commit Murder
* Soliciting of a Contract Killing
* Criminal Extortion
* Blackmail (financial, emotional, and spiritual)
* Threats of Detriment (public and private)
* Perverting the Cause of Justice
* Interfering with Witnesses in a courtroom Criminal Trial
* Providing False and Misleading Information to the police
* Assisting in the Arrest and Criminal Charging of the innocent
* Conduct Endangering Life
* Orchestrating multiple armed police raids
* Fabricating Evidence for use during Watch Tower Society sanctioned judicial and congregational investigations
* Destroying Evidence of Wrongdoing committed by the Watch Tower Society and their lawyers
* Unlawful secret business investigations conducted by the Watch Tower Society covering: Taxation, Superannuation, Workers Compensation, Immigration, Employment, Employee/Sub-contractor Agreements
* Theft of confidential business information
* Obtaining of confidential business financial records by deception
* Revealing of Confidential Information
* Sharing Confidential Church Records by the Watch Tower Society with commercial businesses
* Break and Enter
* Willful Property Damage
* Persecution consisting of: harassment, verbal abuse, ridicule, insults, economic pressure through business interference, imprisonment and depravation of liberty, human rights violations, humiliation, degradation, promoting of hatred
and occurred in the following Australian states: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasmania, committed primarily by ordained “ministers of religion” within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses and by lawyers and “officers” (including directors) of the Watch Tower Society corporation, and of whom currently reside in the following Australian states: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.
This is our family’s story. No family or individual should be subjected to this sort of inhumane treatment, primarily because they spoke up about child abuse within the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses. No organisation, religious or otherwise, should be allowed to escape accountability for persecuting, victimising and religiously vilifying those who stand up for child protection.
15 September 2012
[signed]
Steven Unthank