"Violence against children is the genocide of the 21st century"warns the president of the commission of inquiry into the violence in Bétharram

“Society must realize that the issue of child protection, violence against children, is the genocide of the 21st century. It is the most common violence in the world”alert on France Culture Saturday June 20 Jean-Pierre Massias, president of the independent commission of inquiry made up of magistrates, lawyers and psychologists, who delivered a report on Saturday on the mechanisms of violence at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram and in other establishments of the congregation religious.

“Bétharram is a place of exceptional criminal seriousness, but it is not the only one”warns Jean-Pierre Massias. “The horror of Bétharram should not hide the horror of the banality of evil in terms of violence against children”he said. “There are several Bétharrams”according to him.

Jean-Pierre Massias speaks of a “criminal organization with extremely serious violence” Who “a été silenciée”. “A whole series of conscious or unconscious mechanisms were put in place, which made the words of the victims inaudible”he assures despite “alerts”. “No one wanted to hear, could not hear, dared to hear, what was said, as the congregation had an image of respectability and a sort of presumption of credibility”he analyzes.

We want to put in place a mechanism that will allow the victim to have a sort of one-stop shop in which they can have a legal, medical, psychological and social assistance service to support personal reconstruction.

Pierre Massias, president of the independent commission of inquiry into the mechanisms of violence at Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram and in other establishments of the religious congregation

à franceinfo

According to him, the objective of this presentation organized on the steps of Betharram, was “to make the words of these people heard at the scene of violence”. “Societies must agree to look at children as people and agree to protect them”insists Jean-Pierre Massias. “These children were abandoned, today they need national solidarity”he said, so that “Bétharram does not reproduce, neither here nor elsewhere”.

La commission d’enquête prône des réparations “of three levels”. First financial repairs “because victims of sexual and physical violence must be repaired through financially decent mechanisms”assures Jean-Pierre Massias. “We will rely on the model of the Recognition and Reparation Commission [créée pour reconnaître et réparer les personnes victimes de violences sexuelles présumées commises par des membres d’instituts religieux NDRL] with an extension of this model for physical violence”he continues. The commission also calls for “put in place care mechanisms” for the victims.

“The people who have suffered this violence are extremely traumatized. These traumas tend to get worse the more time passeshe details. Finally, the commission calls for setting up a “memorial repair”. In particular, it aims “to erect a monument around Bétharram and make a place of memory” in order to “ensure that the lessons learned from Bétharram are passed on throughout society”.