Sex abuse cases in Norwegian church have more than doubled

ChurchChurch.Photo: pixabay.com

In 2016 and 2017, 34 cases of sexual offences in the Church have been reported. In 2014 and 2015, the figure was seven.

 

Of the 34 cases reported in the period 2016-2017, 16 cases concerned violation of the laws of employment or for volunteers in the Norwegian Church.Six of them were violations by young leaders show figures from the Employers Organization for Church
Activities (KA).

“These are the numbers that I particularly notice. In church youth work, there is often a small difference between leaders and participants,and it can be difficult for the young to see the power imbalance that occurs when one of the parties is in charge. The awareness of it is very important, especially now that we face a period of many camps and festivals. When you are a camp leader, you are not on a checkerboard,” said Helene Horsfjord in KA.

Many of the increase in the number of reported cases are due to the ‘Metoo’ campaign, Horsfjord believes.

Horsfjord further said that the abuse problem in the Church has been taken seriously, but admits they have not been good enough in dealing with harassment between colleagues.

18 other issues have been reported that are not affected by law or where the accused were neither employed nor voluntary.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today