Independent, comprehensive, transparent: The Evangelical Church and Diakonie want to systematically deal with sexual violence that occurred within their ranks. In a statement they committed themselves to binding standards.
After several years of negotiations, the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Diakonie signed a so-called “joint declaration” with the Federal Government’s Independent Commissioner for Issues of Child Sexual Abuse (UBSKM), Kerstin Claus.
The declaration underlines the goal of independent processing and obliges the EKD and the Protestant welfare association Diakonie to comply with criteria and standards when processing. This includes professionalism, transparency and the participation of those affected.
Negotiations dragged on for years
The declaration states that education and processing includes, among other things, the naming of acts, causes and consequences of sexual violence, the identification of structures that enable abuse and the recognition of injustice that has occurred. The institutional processing should also help to draw conclusions for protection against abuse.
Such an agreement has been in place with the Catholic Church since 2020. The negotiations with the Protestant Church took a long time, among other things, because of the different constitutions of the two churches. There were also disagreements about the participation of those affected.
The EKD and Diakonie cannot make any binding decisions for the independent 20 regional churches and 17 Diakonie regional associations, which are ultimately responsible for the processing. The declaration is not immediately binding for them. However, the paper states that their associations – the church conference and the conference for diakonia and development – make corresponding decisions for implementation.
Participation of those affected is enhanced
Based on the declaration, according to the EKD, nine “Independent Regional Processing Commissions” will begin their work within the next few months. Experts from science, the judiciary and administration, those affected and representatives of the church and diakonia will work together in them.
There should be an office in the EKD church office for the chairmen of the various commissions. It is also intended to create a binding structure for reporting. The participation of those affected is enhanced overall. For example, there should be an annual forum for those affected where they can exchange ideas and network.
Diakonie wants to continue the process “completely”.
“After the long phase of negotiations, it will now be important that the regional churches and regional Diakonie associations implement the “Joint Declaration” as comprehensively and bindingly as quickly as possible and that there are no further delays,” said the federal abuse commissioner. It is high time that those affected were able to demand reappraisal according to uniform standards and were fundamentally involved in the reappraisal processes, said Claus.
The EKD representative Anne Gidion emphasized the importance of the participation of those affected in the processing. This is the only way it can succeed in a transparent manner, she said. Diakonie President Ulrich Lilie said that it will be the task of the coming years to “continue to fully address” the injustice caused by sexual violence against those in protection. Detlev Zander, spokesman for those affected, said that the declaration would also provide more transparency and certainty of action for those affected.
Abuse study announced for January
In the past, there had been criticism of the slow pace of coming to terms with sexual violence among Protestants. The abuse commissioner Claus also criticized, among other things, that there was no structure in the Evangelical Church for recognition payments to those affected, which was separate from the church.
The EKD has commissioned a large-scale study to address abuse in the Protestant Church, the results of which are to be presented in January. The study is intended to provide information about the extent and causes of sexual violence in the church and diakonia.