#title error changed. This is the news report:
Researchers: place Jehovah’s under stricter state control Jehovah's Witnesses have a serious problem of sexual abuse, do not (or reluctantly) report allegations about this to the police and need "a sharpened state investigation" because they are a "closed community." That is the conclusion of a report that Utrecht University will release tomorrow. The researchers received no fewer than 751 reports. Sander van Mersbergen 23-01-20, 03:00
This is evidenced by the summons of the summary proceedings that the Jehovah's brought against the publication of the investigation yesterday. This summons is in the hands of this newspaper. "The UU report wrongly seeks to justify the claim that Jehovah's Witnesses are a closed community and require special government intervention, including supervision of their children," write Jehovah's lawyers. Three-quarters of the victims of abuse within the Church of the Jehovah's Witnesses feel that they have received insufficient help from the Church. In the survey, 751 respondents shared a story about sexual abuse. Almost 300 people (292 to be precise) did this for themselves, 459 respondents reported abuse of someone in their environment. Reporting point The document also shows that the researchers, who work on behalf of Minister Dekker of Legal Protection, believe that there should be a hotline for sexual abuse within the church. An annual report should be made on the way in which that contact point deals with these reports. Another striking fact: according to the summons, the researchers suggest that the education inspectorate should better monitor the school performance of Jehovah children. They would be lower than might be expected based on their capacities. "So to speak because the parents want the child to be more actively involved in his / her church community." The Jehovah’s Witnesses think that is unfair. "Such supervision is not recommended for children raised in other religions, and there is no evidence that children of Jehovah's Witnesses perform worse on average than other children in Dutch schools. That would be surprising, given our own experience that children of Jehovah's primary and secondary education witnesses perform better than average in other countries and that the literature of Jehovah's witnesses urges parents to ensure that children meticulous school obligations. " Elder The researchers received 751 reports, but it is possible that the same people made several reports. The questionnaire was anonymous. In any case, the number of reports is considerably higher than the number that the Reclaimed Voices foundation, which represents the interests of victims of abuse, previously collected: there were 300. In total, Jehovah's in the Netherlands have around 30,000 members. Just over half of the reports (52 percent) were made by people who no longer belong to the church. Of the reports, 4 percent is about abuse by an elder from the church. The majority took place outside the church, in family circles or at home with members of the church. The Jehovahs argue on that basis that the abuse was primarily non-institutional. They also find it unjust that the abuse by the elders is directly linked to their religion. "No previous study in the Netherlands, certainly not a study commissioned by the government, is based on such a discriminatory definition of" sexual abuse, "the only requirement being that the alleged victim or alleged perpetrator is a supporter of a certain believe".
Researchers at Utrecht University make a firm judgment about how to deal with sexual abuse within the community of Jehovah's Witnesses. Marianne de Voogd (56) was abused by an elder as a young teenager, and is happy with that judgment. "We can no longer be dismissed as liars." A survivor, she calls herself conscious. No victim, she no longer wants that role. Marianne de Voogd has mastered sexual abuse in her youth. "I could have been in the gutter with a syringe in my arm." But that is not the case, certainly not. De Voogd (56) is now a cruise manager. In March she boarded again, for a trip on the Portuguese river Douro. She is already busy arranging everything, but apart from the departure date of that cruise there is another day in her diary, and that day has arrived today. Researchers from Utrecht University wrote a report about abuse among the Jehovah's Witnesses, the main outcomes of which are in the hands of this newspaper. Jehovah's Witnesses have a serious problem of sexual abuse, do not (or reluctantly) report allegations about this to the police, and need "a sharpened state investigation" because they are a "closed community." "I really hope that this ensures that we are no longer put away as liars," says De Voogd. She was thirteen when she was abused. The perpetrator was an elder from her church in Meppel, with whom she and her peers regularly came to visit. He taught her - behind a tree - how that went, such a French kiss. He put his hands in places where they didn't belong - and hers too. The man did the same for a friend of Marianne's.
Managers
The story came out. The man was subjected to the Jehovah's Witnesses' own legal system. He confessed guilt and lost his position as an elder. In the eyes of the church, that was the end of the matter. Marianne just had to learn to live with her torment, the church leaders thought. She saw how, after a while, the man again had children under his care.
,, I am not saying that child abuse is more common in Jehovah's. Wherever children go, there is danger. But if something like this happens at a sports club, the police are added. With Jehovah's, it is dismissed internally, and is called a "sin." But there is quite a difference between sin and pedosexual behavior, isn't it? ”
Just like every former Witness, De Voogd has struggled with her release process. At the age of 17 she left the church forced to come back at the age of 31. Living without family, it just couldn't be. She has since left the church, just like one of her brothers. Another brother is still "inside".
Bad feeling
Marianne knows how difficult it is to rebel against a body that determines your entire life, which is your entire life. That is why she hopes that the university's report can break things open. ,, It is not forbidden to go to the police now, but you are told that you get a very bad feeling about it. You do not declare a brother, that is the motto. I think that children who are affected should be helped better. Elders must be forced to report, if they hear of abuse cases. "
The story of De Voogd was brought out in 2017 by Dagblad Trouw. Opposite that newspaper, two former elders of the church in Meppel confirmed her story. The publication in Trouw ultimately formed the direct reason for Utrecht University research, in combination with alarming stories about abuse within the movement from other countries.
She has shared her story with researchers from Utrecht University, and she has also reported on behalf of a friend and on behalf of her father, who was abused in the 1950s. ,, I hope that Minister Dekker will intervene on the basis of the report. Take away the status of church and the associated tax breaks. In the end, it's just a publisher of booklets and magazines. "
Ultimately, she says, she doesn't seek publicity to throw mud. ,, My reproach comes from my family, but it is not at all. I want people who are still in it, or who doubt whether they will get out, give the feeling that they are not alone. Maybe I can just give them the support they need. ”