“For the moment, 54 people have been accompanied, or about 10% of the situations that have been addressed to us”, explains on franceinfo Marie Derain de Vaucresson.
“The challenge is to succeed in making yourself known”, believes Marie Derain de Vaucresson, president of the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation (Inirr), Wednesday April 6 on franceinfo. On the occasion of the plenary assembly of the Conference of Bishops of France which opened on Tuesday in Lourdes, an initial assessment was presented: 526 victims of sexual violence within the Church have come forward to this structure. while the Sauvé commission had received nearly 6,500 reports. “So far, 54 people have been supported, i.e. about 10% of the situations that have been sent to us”says Marie Derain de Vaucresson.
franceinfo: 526 victims reported themselves to the compensation body. Is this number surprising to you? It is recalled that the Sauvé commission had received nearly 6,500 reports.
Marie Derain de Vaucresson: There are many explanations for understanding this number. There is the question of the recent existence of the instance. It is not necessarily spotted and that does not necessarily allow the victims to understand how it will happen. We also have people who come to us saying: “But I prefer to wait, I prefer to see what happens before contacting you.” Then, there are also people who wanted to report to the Ciase [Commission indépendante sur les abus sexuels dans l’Église] to be counted among the victims. Moreover, some say it very clearly. But they do not necessarily wish to enter into a process of recognition and reparation. So the challenge is to succeed in making ourselves known, of course, to succeed in reaching the greatest number of victims, to succeed in understanding and making people understand what we do and how we do it. In particular, by clarifying the question of support, recognition and construction of reparation with the financial question but which, for the moment, actually concerns specific requests from half of the victims.
What is the profile of the victims who have reported themselves?
We first observe that 68% of men come to us. While Ciase had spotted, quite in accordance with what exists in the figures for the general population of victims of child crime in the Church, rather 80% of men. That may mean that women would be more comfortable leading this type of process. There is all this analysis that would have to be done. We also have a rejuvenation, that is to say that we have a certain number of victims who come to us, in the consolidated figures, from the age of 41, and for the most part between 56 and 70 years old. . It is also a rejuvenation compared to what the Ciase had observed. Then, in recent weeks, we have observed that younger people contact us: young people between the ages of 20 and 35, also make the link with the Civise [Commission indépendante sur l’inceste et les violences sexuelles faites aux enfants] and freedom of speech on the side of sexual violence and incest in society as a whole. Several having said, in a necessarily different mode: “I understood that it was important to speak.”
Are you launching a new call for testimonials?
On the question of the call for testimonies, I explained to the bishops that we had trouble starting discussions with the victims for a simple reason: the body is being structured. She is five months old and we are in the process of hiring a secretary general, we have not filled up the situation referents who are the people who will receive victims. For the moment, 54 people have been supported, that is to say about 10% of the situations that have been addressed to us. I do not think it would be wise vis-à-vis the victims to relaunch a call by saying do not hesitate to report yourself because that means that these people will have to wait and that is absolutely not desirable when one is a victim. and you want to move on, get redress. The proceeding is scheduled to last three years. I was appointed for three years renewable. That means maybe three more, but maybe for a year or two more. So, we can wait until the organization is stabilized to make a call for testimonies again, which would be secure.
What work do you do once the testimonies have been received?
People contact us, often by email, sometimes by written mail. They are contacted to assure them that their request has been taken into account. Then, a situation referent is designated and initiates the exchange to find out the facts, the person’s expectations and to have enough elements to be able to confirm the likelihood. Since the principle is to believe all people and to contact the diocese where the facts may have happened to confirm the likelihood and the fact that these facts did indeed take place. Then, once all of this is confirmed, we go back to a discussion again to understand what the expectations may be, which may be of different natures: meeting with Church officials, sometimes simple, if I may say so, financial compensation or a memorial process. There are people who would like to write and we are wondering if it would not be worth doing, like the Ciase sentence, a collection of stories or writing workshops. We are really in the process of building responses in the temporality of the victims. And that is also important because there are victims who have already made great progress in the dioceses. And it’s not worth repeating, it’s a big point of attention because you can’t revive delicate memories. Then when things have already progressed indisputably, we are not going to go back behind to check what happened.