The victims “feel once again betrayed”, deplores Tuesday June 14 on franceinfo Olivier Savignac, president of the association of victims of sexual abuse Parler et Revivre. The Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation (Inirr), the main body responsible for reparations for acts of pedocrime in the Church, receives at the end of the day in Paris the associations of victims. Eight months after the creation of this structure, several collectives denounce the slowness of processing files and even its “amateurism”. Some victims have been waiting for several months for an appointment. For one person “all his life in disarray, in suffering”it is “very complicated to trust the world around him again. This tiny link had to be there and it is not there”he regrets. “We expect better transparency from them and that finally things are on track”, he said.
franceinfo: What is not working?
Olivier Savignac: The first stone of this recognition process is first of all people trained with the same process and who are also active people. The same cannot be expected from volunteers as from professionals.
“People are only received in Paris. That means what about people who are at the other end of France.”
Olivier Savignac, president of the Parler et Revivre associationat franceinfo
Why not regionalize these referents? We don’t see any of this and we are very worried. The problem is that we are faced with an instance that did not know how to build itself correctly, but in haste. You have people who have written to this body because there is not even a telephone number. They wrote six months ago, they still don’t have an answer. This is where it gets serious. We realize that it is one and the same person who responds to 700 requests. It can’t work. This is why we are very worried. We were already very worried a few months ago. And there, finally, it is confirmed.
This instance started working without being really ready, in your opinion?
There was pressure on the back of the Church to set up a commission. This commission should have taken the time to set itself up like at the time the Ciase, the commission which had investigated these sexual crimes in the Church. It had taken at least six months to seven months to set up. There, it was rushed with deadlines that this commission advanced, that it set itself and that it did not meet. And you are faced with people who really need, first of all, this act of recognition and then what we can symbolically call reparation, but also compensation. And you have these people who are waiting and feeling betrayed yet again. This is where it gets serious. A victim who has been all his life in disarray, in suffering, it is very difficult to trust the world around him again. This tiny link had to be there and it is not there.
What changes do you actually expect?
A better structuring of the commission and getting much closer to people. Already the same training process for all the referents listening, all the referents who take the files since for each file submitted, a referent is appointed. Taking the time to listen to people, to listen face-to-face and not on the phone and then properly process the file, this can take several months, but it still needs to be explained in an educational way so that people are completely confident.
“This body was not transparent from the start between what should be sent to the criminal and those concerning restoration, repair, symbolism, because these are old cases.”
Olivier Savignacat franceinfo
It is the lack of transparency in the process and in relation to what they offer to victimized persons that means that there is no trust. We expect better positioning, better transparency and finally things to be on track.