The Israeli Independent Public - Abstract of the Inquiry Report - December 2021

to accompany victims, but even this solution has not been allocated a budget – not to mention legal representation. Victims who have filed complaints cannot receive documents from the file in case of a gag order, despite the fact that court rulings have explicitly stated that gag orders are intended to protect the victim, and not to protect the proceedings from the victim. On the other hand, victims often discover details from the bill of indictment after it has been published, without having been asked whether there are details they’d rather not disclose since the disclosure may violate their privacy. It should be emphasized that these conclusions are particularly important in the case of sexual abuse by a family member, since in such cases the conflict of interest is clear and obvious, harming the right of the minor (the victim) to justice. Thus, for example, letters sent to the family home of the minor, which contain information on proceedings, or a letter summoning the minor to an investigation, may not reach the minor’s knowledge or may cause them significant distress due to the fact that their family, including the perpetrator, are aware of the letters. “A lawyer should be appointed to each minor who files a complaint against a family member! There’s no point in contacting the minor through the family or welfare services in such a case. There should be someone whose job it is to consider solely the good of the minor and not the good of the ‘minor and their family,’ which is what happens in the welfare services.” 4. The right to protection: it appears this group of rights is not implemented properly. Victims attest that they do not feel protected during criminal proceedings. Today, victims are not entitled to state their opinion regarding remand of the suspect – as if this issue has no impact on the safety of the victim. Similarly, in arrest reviews the victims are not asked for their opinion. In other words, the impact of the perpetrator’s release – to home arrest or other detention alternatives – on the victim is not taken into account. Factually speaking, the leading value in this context is rehabilitating the perpetrator. Not only does this negatively impact the victim and their surroundings; it signals that, from the legal

The Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

30