Written Submission to the Northern Irish Committee for the Executive Office on Clerical Child Abuse

Our children's rights submission to Stormont's Committee for the Executive Office, offering recommendations on how new research on historic clerical child abuse should shape the government's response

Amnesty International UK has long worked to secure a rights‑based response to clerical child abuse in Northern Ireland. As a member of the Inter‑Departmental Working Group on Historic Clerical Child Abuse, and drawing on more than a decade of engagement with victims and survivors, we contributed to the development of research and recommendations presented to Executive Office Ministers in 2025 – the most comprehensive account ever produced of historical clerical child abuse in Northern Ireland.

This submission was drafted to aid in the Committee's scrutiny of the Executive Office's response to this research. In it, we call for full publication of the research to honour the victims and survivors who shared their experiences, to strengthen public understanding, and to support informed and accountable policymaking.

We also urge the Executive Office to implement all six recommendations arising from the research. Taken together, these measures form a coherent framework to ensure accountability for past wrongdoing and to strengthen safeguarding protections that prevent future harm.

Finally, we demand reinstatement of structured engagement with the Reference Group. Victims and survivors must be able to participate meaningfully in shaping the decisions that affect their lives, ensuring that their rights and lived experience remain central to the Executive’s response.