Jehovah's Witnesses believe it is unfair that the state only investigated their handling of abuse cases, and not other religious organizations.
Jehovah's Witnesses have sued the Dutch state for discrimination, the national government told Trouw. The reason: only their handling of sexual abuse has been scrutinized by the government, while other religious groups remained unaffected. They find the fact that only they were the 'target' unfounded and therefore discriminatory.
The fact that a religious organization is suing the state is 'fairly unique', says special professor of law and religion Paul van Sasse van IJsselt. From an international perspective, it is no surprise, he sees. The Witnesses litigate a lot in Europe against government interference and have often been successful in the European Court.
Traumatic for victims
The research surrounding this lawsuit was published in 2020 and was conducted by Utrecht University. Former minister of legal protection Sander Dekker ordered this. The reason was publications in Trouw, which showed that the handling of abuse cases within Jehovah's Witnesses (about 30,000 members in the Netherlands) left much to be desired.
The conclusions of the controversial study by Utrecht University were not pleasant. It turned out that 60 percent of abuse victims gave the (often internal) handling within Jehovah's Witnesses a grade of 1. The way the organization deals with abuse is traumatic for victims, the report concluded.
The Witnesses believe that those conclusions do not follow logically from the findings. They believe that the results 'indicate an opinion of the researchers rather than a scientifically substantiated position'. They also say they are experiencing 'adverse consequences' as a result of the investigation, in the form of 'many allegations'.
'One can take a stand'
The fact that Jehovah's Witnesses are now suing the state for discrimination is threatening to abuse victims, says Reclaimed Voices, the foundation that represents them. “This lawsuit undermines the compassion the Witnesses claim to have for victims of abuse. They may even experience this move as even more threatening,” says chairman Raymond Hintjes.
Sander Dekker ordered this investigation because Jehovah's Witnesses themselves refused to have their dealings with abuse investigated, as the Catholic Church did at the time with the Deetman Commission. The entire House of Representatives then supported a motion to set up such an investigation from the government.
The fact that the research was a wish of the House is no reason not to oppose it, says Professor Van Sasse van IJsselt of the University of Groningen. “That is a political wish. If an organization, in this case a religious community, feels discriminated against, it can defend itself against it.”
Chance of succeeding
From the outset, the Witnesses strongly criticized the investigation, in which they did cooperate. They called it scientifically and factually incorrect, and defamatory. Just before publication, in January 2020, they filed summary proceedings to prevent the report from being made public. That request was rejected by the court.
Now they are trying to have the state convicted of discrimination through substantive proceedings, a more serious remedy. The Witnesses, among other things, disagree with the characterization of their religion as a 'closed community'. They also disagree with the conclusion that this closedness makes it difficult to make an internal report or report to the police.
The fact that they are the only religious community that was investigated does not mean that there is discrimination, says Van Sasse van IJsselt. “There may be legitimate grounds for paying special attention to this, such as signals that reports are not being handled properly.”
The precise indictment of Jehovah's Witnesses against the state is not public. That is why it is difficult to say whether the lawsuit has a chance of success. The substantive treatment has already taken place. The ruling will be announced next Wednesday, December 13, a spokesperson for the court in The Hague said.
source: https://www.trouw.nl/religie-filosofie/jehovah-s-getuigen-klagen-de-staat-aan-voor-discriminatie~b58b0e90/
second article:
Jehovah's Witnesses sue the state for discrimination
Jehovah's Witnesses are suing the Dutch State for discrimination. A spokesperson confirmed this after reporting in Trouw. The Witnesses believe it is unfair that only their dealings with sexual abuse have been investigated, while other religious groups are not taken into account.
The Jehovah's Witnesses refer to research conducted by Utrecht University in 2020. This showed that reports of abuse were not handled properly. Those who reported the sexual abuse only to parents or elders within the community gave an average grade of 3.3 to the handling of the incident.
The participants in the study blame the unsatisfactory approach on the closed culture of Jehovah's Witnesses. The elders are focused on keeping the community together and quickly strive for reconciliation between perpetrator and victim. In addition, the aftercare for the abuse victim remains underexposed. Nearly half of the abuse cases involved incest.
Independent research
The legal process of Jehovah's Witnesses is not well received by the Reclaimed Voices foundation. This foundation stands up for victims of sexual abuse within closed communities.
"This means that Jehovah's Witnesses do not want to take the results of the research seriously, says Raymond Hintjes, chairman of the foundation, in the NOS Radio 1 Journaal. "They are much more concerned with protecting their own reputation instead of the stories of victims who indicate that they have been duped."
According to Hintjes, it is not surprising that the research by Utrecht University only focused on this religious group. "There was also reason for this. There had been a number of media reports about sexual abuse within the circles of Jehovah's Witnesses. Subsequently, there were discussions with the State, both by the Jehovah's Witnesses and representatives of our foundation."
Reclaimed Voices has indicated that the way the group deals with sexual abuse could be detrimental to victims, says Hintjes. "We then also said that people should not rely solely on our story, but that independent research should be conducted. And since it was about Jehovah's Witnesses, it seems obvious to me that you should investigate what was said about Jehovah's Witnesses. "
Legal battle
Hintjes calls the timing of the lawsuit remarkable. "About four years after the publication of the study, a lawsuit was filed with that argument, while the same argument also applied when the study was conducted. They ultimately participated in the study, but when it was to be published and the results did not like the research, they opposed publication. They then lost the summary proceedings initiated."
According to Hintjes, the religious community chooses to dismiss stories from victims of abuse as stories from disgruntled ex-members who are out to discredit Jehovah's Witnesses. "They could use the results to improve abuse policy, but instead they are fighting a legal battle. In doing so, they ignore the stories and the victims of abuse do not receive recognition."
source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2501171-jehova-s-getuigen-klagen-staat-aan-voor-discriminatie