JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Early day motion 1624, tabled 15 July 2002 by Helen Clark (Labour). Signed by 38 members.

That this House congratulates the BBC on its showing of the Panorama programme which exposes the lack of an appropriate child protection policy amongst Jehovah's Witnesses, since it is the organisation's policy to consider congregation members accused of child sexual abuse innocent unless there are two witnesses, even in the case of listed paedophiles; notes that previous attempts on the part of victims of this abuse to obtain official recognition of the issues involved have been unsuccessful; and calls upon the Government to institute an immediate inquiry into the circumstances of the past and present cases of such abuse.

Signatures by party: Labour 25, Liberal Democrat 9, Labour/Co-operative 2, Plaid Cymru 1, UUP 1.