U.N. Wants Sexual Abuse Reported Immediately

Stung by a scandal at the United Nations over its failure to promptly protect child victims of sexual abuse by peacekeepers, the organization’s top human rights official said Tuesday that he had ordered subordinates to inform him immediately when allegations of such abuse first arise.

The official, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the high commissioner for Human Rights, said his order applied to everyone down to the lowest-ranking field officers in his branch of the United Nations. It obliges them to jump the customary chain of command and communicate directly with him concerning instances of possible sexual abuse, even before all the facts are known.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/world/un-wants-sexual-abuse-reported-immediately.html?emc=edit_tnt_20151222&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

Former St. Margaret Mary Parish pastor scheduled for change of plea

A change is expected Monday in the case of a Louisville priest accused of child exploitation. Former St. Margaret Mary Parish pastor Stephen Pohl was scheduled to go on federal trial this month. By he is now scheduled to appear for a change of plea hearing.
Authorities say Pohl violated federal child exploitation laws, when he was pastor at the parish on Shelbyville Road. He was first charged with the crime back in August and resigned after a student came forward. The boy said he was asked to pose in provocative positions.

http://www.wdrb.com/story/30875937/former-st-margaret-mary-parish-pastor-scheduled-for-change-of-plea 

Soldier admitted abusing boy but was never prosecuted, inquiry told

A serving soldier admitted abusing a boy from a residential home run by Anglican missionaries in Northern Ireland but was never prosecuted, a public inquiry lawyer said.
The serviceman first came to Northern Ireland at the start of the Troubles in 1969 and visited Manor House Children's Home near Belfast to take children on day trips and play football, his testimony to police said.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/soldier-admitted-abusing-boy-but-was-never-prosecuted-inquiry-told-34335901.html 

Ramsey County won't prosecute in 7 priest cases; 4 remain open

Prosecutors will not charge seven priests and one deacon accused of sexually abusing children decades ago, but four other cases remain open, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Friday.
Four of the cases were closed by the St. Paul police because the suspect was dead or not identified, or the case was impossible to prove. One of those cases involved two priests.  Three other cases, in which the alleged crimes occurred in 1976 or 1977, 1981 and 1984, were declined for prosecution because the statute of limitations has run out.

http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_26749750/ramsey-county-wont-prosecute-7-priest-cases-4

Ex-students of prep school call for 2nd probe into sex abuse claims Investigation found 26 students were sexually abused

Former students who say they were sexually abused at a prestigious Rhode Island boarding school are calling for another investigation after the school issued a report acknowledging the accusations. An internal investigation recently found that 26 students at St. George's School were sexually abused by six school employees in the 1970s and '80s.
The private coeducational Episcopal school in Middletown sent a report to alumni in which school officials apologized and detailed the credible allegations. Administrators at the time fired three staff members but didn't report the matter to state authorities.

http://www.wcvb.com/news/exstudents-of-prep-school-call-for-2nd-probe-into-sex-abuse-claims/37236878

The Devastating Story of Washington’s Peeping Tom Rabbi.

When a politically connected rabbi was arrested, the news stunned Washington. It turns out his betrayal was worse than we knew. Bethany Murphy grew up in a trailer park outside Rochester, New York.

Her father was Jewish, her mother Catholic. When they divorced, they gave her a choice between the two faiths. “The Jesus statues creeped me out,” Murphy says. “And the story about Jesus being reborn didn’t seem plausible.”

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/crime/washington-dc-peeping-rabbi-barry-freundel-voyeurism-case.php

UK Jehovah's Witnesses accused of sex abuse 'cover-up'

It comes as a member who throttled young girls for sexual gratification was jailed after his crimes were kept secret by the church for more than 25 years.

Ian Pheasey first attacked a sevenyear-old girl while he was working as a volunteer librarian at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Warwick in the 1990s. Last week Pheasey, from Warwick, was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to assaulting one girl causing her actual bodily harm and indecently assaulting two others.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/484952/UK-Jehovahs-Witnesses-sex-abuse-cover-up 

Pastor in sex ‘counseling’ goes on trial

After years of delays, a former storefront church pastor and international fugitive is due for trial Monday in Las Vegas on allegations that he sexually assaulted girls in his congregation under the guise of counseling. Otis Holland, 59, faces life in prison on charges he abused girls as young as 7. He has been in jail since his arrest in January 2012 in Tijuana, Mexico. Known to his United Faith Church congregation as “Reverend Otis,” he was featured before his arrest on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/752231/pastor-in-sex-counseling-goes-to-trial-for-child-abuse 

Cosby lawyers ask to delay Camille Cosby's deposition

it amazes me how the abusers... are all the same... the delay tackiest which they always do... just to try to put off their day in court... or to put more pressure onto the victim - survivors... but it never works... it makes us stronger... and more determent to fight for justice... Ann

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Lawyers for Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, asked a federal judge on Monday to delay a deposition by her scheduled for Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit brought by seven women who allege the entertainer sexually abused them.

The lawyers said in papers filed in U.S. district court in Massachusetts that the sworn interview should be delayed pending an appeal on whether Camille Cosby could be required to testify at all.

https://nz.entertainment.yahoo.com/a/30488328/cosby-lawyers-ask-to-delay-camille-cosbys-deposition/ 

Catholic Church linked to Uganda child labour

During his November visit to Africa, the continent which now counts nearly 200m Roman Catholics, Pope Francis said that children were some of the greatest victims of Africa's historical exploitation by other powers. He also urged young Africans to resist corruption.
But should the Vatican be doing more to put its own house in order? A BBC investigation has uncovered evidence that church land in Uganda is being used for child labour. Alex Turyaritunga has first-hand experience of child exploitation, albeit of a more extreme kind.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35220869 

Home run by evangelical missionaries to come under abuse inquiry's scrutiny

A public inquiry into alleged child abuse will turn its attention today to a residential home run by evangelical Anglican missionaries in Ireland.
The Irish Church Missions was established to convert Catholics to Protestantism. The conservative organisation ran Manor House Children's Home near Belfast in Lisburn, Co Down, and had links to the Church of Ireland.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/home-run-by-evangelical-missionaries-to-come-under-abuse-inquirys-scrutiny-34335901.html 

Labour MP Simon Danczuk facing police inquiry over rape allegation

A Lancashire police spokeswoman said on Monday: “We can confirm that we have today received a report of a rape against a 49-year-old man. Inquiries are ongoing.”
It is understood that the allegation is against Danczuk, who has been under mounting pressure after a series of revelations about his private life.

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/01/04/labour-mp-simon-danczuk-facing-police-inquiry-over-rape-allegati/ 

Marc Gafni and the Misused Power of Religious Leaders

With the recent New York Times profile airing the troubling past of Jewish spiritual guru Marc Gafni, issues of sexual impropriety by spiritual leaders in the Jewish community are again being brought to the surface. Past reports include Washinton D.C. Rabbi Barry Freundel’s covert filming of more than 50 women in the mikvah;
New York-based Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt and allegations of his sexual inappropriateness with minors (brought to light earlier this year in The New York Times); and the case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks of Winnipeg and his alleged abuse of minors in the 1980s.

http://forward.com/opinion/328369/marc-gafni-and-the-misused-power-of-religious-leaders/