Survivors of child sex abuse are campaigning for the UK government to introduce mandatory reporting laws to help tackle abuse within Jehovah’s Witnesses communities. This follows on the heels of the Australian Royal Commission Investigation regarding the handling of child abuse by Jehovah’s Witnesses and their policies. The Royal Commission considered similar demands for improved reporting by all religious organizations – including the Watchtower.
Several of the Jehovah’s Witness elders appearing and offering testimony during those hearings indicated that if the government required “mandatory reporting” of child abuse and other criminal acts, that would not only allow – but force them to fully report crimes and let the civil authorities get involved. Even Watchtower Governing Body member, Geoffrey Jackson suggested that “mandatory reporting” would make elders’ jobs simpler and that the organizations would welcome more government involvement.
Now that movement toward mandatory reporting has moved to the United Kingdom after an almost constant stream of horrific child abuse cases have been uncovered and tried in British and Scottish courts. Read a complete report on this story published earlier.