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

abuse: first, the creation of additional trauma, beyond the trauma caused by the abuse itself, following the survivor's encounter with the system. This is often called “secondary trauma,” yet survivors experience it as a central and significant trauma that accompanies them and their struggle to cope throughout their lives. The second outcome is that survivors avoid contacting the various systems as a result of previous distressing experiences. This result is cardinal and has very severe consequences both in the area of the law enforcement and legal systems and in the field of medical treatments. The testimonies of the survivors raise fundamental questions: how can the State of Israel ensure that a child knows they’re protected? And if a child is hurt, how will they know that the system sees them? The survivors ask for validation, visibility, respect, adaptation, and accessibility. An analysis of the testimonies submitted to the Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reveals the necessity of establishing an authority for the protection of children in Israel. The state signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, committing itself to protecting children on both the national and international level. It is therefore obliged to ensure that one body is responsible for providing continuous and appropriate services to victims of child sexual abuse. The Authority for the Protection of Children will include a senior, permanent inter-ministerial staff, which will act to ensure coordination and continuous improvement of the policies, operational procedures, cooperation, and sharing of information between government ministries. This authority will appoint professionals whom child sexual abuse victims will be able to approach without fear. These professionals will lead and accompany the treatment of the children through all the relevant professional systems and will follow up on their treatment while sharing information with the children, in order to prevent issues “falling through the cracks” and to make all the different procedures more accessible to the children. They will be deployed throughout the country and their training will include cultural adaptations.

The Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

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