Current statements on the controversial discussion on ORG

 

We strongly support the following statements in the ongoing debate about the credibility of victims of organised sexualised or ritual violence and the work of those who help them.


Statement by the Independent Commission for the Investigation of the Past (UKASK) on the blanket questioning of victims of child sexual abuse in organized and ritual structures from July 2023:


"The current discussion about child sexual abuse in organized and ritual structures seems like déjà vu: It is less than three decades ago that victims of sexualized violence in the family context had to contend with massive questioning of their credibility. At the time, their reports were also dismissed with the generalization that it was a matter of influence through counseling and therapy.
Against this background, the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse is concerned about the general questioning of reports on organized sexualized and ritual violence. The investigation to date has made one thing clear: those affected who speak out about organized and ritual structures of violence still find it particularly difficult to be heard and recognized. (...)"


Statement by the Council of Victims at the Independent Commissioner of the Federal Government (UBSKM) from April 2023 on the topic of Organized Sexual and Ritual Violence:

 

"(...)Ritual violence is a supposed last straw that can be used to generally and personally discredit those affected, professional supporters and scientists. Anyone who makes even the slightest effort to present a differentiated picture would hardly be able to do so.(...)"


In view of several recorded cases of ritual violence in the Protestant Church (see final report of the ForuM study from January 2024, p. 430), the Participation Forum on Sexualized Violence of the Evangelical Church in Germany makes the following statement in a press release sent upon request in July 2023:


"In view of the press coverage on the topic of organized and ritual sexualized violence, the EKD Participation Forum on Sexualized Violence states that the "principle of testimony" of affected people is central and guiding for its work. This means that the descriptions of affected people about the sexualized violence committed against them are generally taken seriously. This also includes the testimonies of affected people about acts of organized and ritual sexualized violence. The focus is on the specific and personal experiences of those affected and the structural steps that can be derived from them.
In addition, the Participation Forum emphasizes how important it is to maintain good standards in trauma therapy and, where this does not happen, to demand them. The Participation Forum firmly rejects questionable forms of therapy or even manipulation in therapy because of the harm they cause to the people affected. However, the justified demand for good standards in trauma therapy must not lead to the fundamental negation of the experiences of injustice experienced by those affected as a "conspiracy theory". In this sense, the Participation Forum supports the statement of the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse and calls for an open and interdisciplinary dialogue without blanket discrediting."



We also refer to

- the very impressive open letters from courageous victims collected by the Lichtstrahlen Oldenburg eV association

- the statement of the renowned Swiss specialist for the diagnosis and therapy of trauma-related disorders Jan Gysi on untenable allegations in the media

- the statement of the GPTG (Society for Psychotraumatology, Trauma Therapy and Violence Research) on the discussion about ritual violence

- the joint statement of the BKSF (Federal Coordination of Specialized Expert Advice), the DGfPI, the bff and the BAG Forsa on the discussion about organized sexualized and/or ritual violence

- the objective paper "Organized and Ritual Violence" by the Trauma Education Association

- the statement of the DGTD (German Society for Trauma and Dissociation)

- the specialist information of the DeGPT (German Society for Psychotraumatology) on organized sexual violence

- the statement by frauenzimmer eV Bad Segeberg and 14 other North German specialist advice centres on the discussion about organised sexualised and ritual violence




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