DK calls for mandatory reporting of abuse cases

Deputy DK leader Ágnes Vadai announced at an online press conference on Sunday that the party will reintroduce its legislative proposal for mandatory reporting of paedophilia cases. This would oblige all institutions, including the Catholic Church, to report such cases.

Criticism of internal investigations

According to the current legal situation, the Catholic Church can order an internal investigation into suspected paedophile offences and then decide on a purely subjective basis whether to report them. Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén recently confirmed that the Catholic Church is not obliged to report paedophile cases. The DK had already submitted a draft law in 2021 on the obligation to report sexual offences against minors, but this was rejected by the government majority in parliament’s Justice Committee.

Church not on the side of children

In recent years, and even more so in recent times, those responsible in the Catholic Church have sided with the perpetrators and not the children, said Vadai. On Thursday, the Justice Committee in parliament rejected the appointment of a special committee made up of civilians and church representatives to investigate the sexual offences committed against children within the Catholic Church in recent years. Vadai announced that they would not give up and would next turn to the legislative committee. If the bill is also rejected there, the DK will ask the plenary session of parliament for a decision.