Jehovah's Witnesses - Group Action Lawyers Fighting
for Justice | Artemis Legal
Artemis Legal | Watchtower Claims
13 October 2015
Artemis Legal has fought many institutions for its failures to protect
people, particularly children, from sexual abuse. We are currently
gathering evidence and encouraging people to come forward to tell their story
with regard to abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Artemis Legal has launched an inquiry into group or class action against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia. This follows criticism by the Australian Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that revealed flaws in the deeply secretive religion’s attitude to dealing with child abuse and in response to a spike in recent enquiries to the Sydney based law firm.
Artemis Legal has over 15 years of experience of fighting institutions who have failed in their duties to protect people from abuse. These include the Catholic and Anglican Church. Jason Moody, the Principal of Artemis Legal says “the code of secrecy is so strong that survivors of abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses have are only recently starting to contact us. Those accounts are deeply troubling and show a reckless and systematic tolerance of child abuse by some elders and those in authority within this religion. The Royal Commission identified over 1,700 alleged victims of child sexual abuse within the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia. The Royal Commission heard that none of those cases were reported to the police by either church elders or by the Watchtower Society. That is unacceptable in our society”.
Artemis Legal is building a war-chest of documentation and information for civil actions in Australia. Jason Moody said recently “The Royal Commission helped give survivors a voice and now we are helping them take on the fight. We currently have over 15,000 pages of documents in our growing war-chest from this and other jurisdictions. In addition we have started assembling a team of experts within their various fields. We are urging survivors not to delay in coming forward and seeking advice”.
Artemis Legal invites anyone who is a survivor of Jehovah’s Witnesses or other institutional abuse to contact them for confidential advice.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have rules that possibly run contrary to good practice rules that minimise the chance of child abuse. Those include:
· Two witness rule- officials cannot accept and accusation of child abuse unless there was a second person who also witnessed the abuse. The organisation considers this to be a protection against malicious accusations of sexual assault.
· Women’s role (or lack of) - As a patriarchal religion, women are to view men as their head. They cannot be part of a judicial committee. This means that a young female victim must divulge details of her abuse in front of three older men.
· Survivors are expected to confront the perpetrator.
· It is not (or was not) mandatory for elders to report accusations of abuse.
· Allegations are not reported to police due to general ‘mistrust ‘of non-witnesses.
· Fear of psychologists- give advice that does not align with Watchtower principles.
· Theocratic War Doctrine – encouraging members to lie and purge themselves if it is in the interests of the church.
CONTACT US CONFIDENTIALLY
Artemis Legal respects freedom of religion but there are no excuses for permitting child abuse or failing to take reasonable steps to prevent it.
Join us in our fight. Help us and others create change. Call the number below for confidential advice.
Advice Line 1300 887 390 (Australia only)