Shining a Light on Watchtower’s Lack of Child Protection in the Netherlands

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By: Aswin Suierveld of Reclaimed Voices

I would like to give you an update of the current situation about child sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness organization in the Netherlands and what our group, Reclaimed Voices Foundation – https://www.facebook.com/reclaimedvoices/ – is doing about it. (https://reclaimedvoices.org/)

In December 2017 the Ministry of Justice and Security spoke with men who are responsible for JWs in the Netherlands. This conversation was in response to articles in Trouw, a Dutch newspaper, as the Dutch government was alarmed about Watchtower’s policy on reporting child sexual abuse. The Minister of Legal Protection advised JWs to read and comply with the Deetman Report, which was given to the Catholic Church in the Netherlands in 2011.

Reclaimed Voices was also invited to talk with representatives of the ministry. We decided to write a document with background information about Watchtower, their policy on reporting child molestation, our opinion of how we thought Watchtower would react to the Deetman report, a summary of the Australian Royal Commission’s report, and the goals for Reclaimed Voices. We called our report, which was almost 30 pages, “Sexual Abuse at Jehovah’s Witnesses – background and recommendations.”

On January 26, 2018, we had a meeting with staff from the Ministry of Justice and Security and we gave them our report, which was printed and bound.

On January 18, we met with a journalist from RTL Nieuws. She decided to share the problem of child molestation among JWs on a special television program. She also put pressure on the ministry through the media, hoping they would initiate an investigation, and introduced us to Nico Meijering, a well-known Dutch lawyer.

On January 26, after we had been at the ministry, we had our first meeting with Meijering. Later that evening the first major news story about Watchtowe’s child molestation problems was aired on Dutch TV.

Meijering received our report, supplementing it with Watchtower documents – letters to elders, elders book, guidelines for Branch Offices, Branch Office Child Protection Guidelines, etc.

On February 8, a second major news story was aired by RTL, where it was announced that a number of victims were planning to report their personal stories. It was also reported that JWs keep documents concerning perpetrators of sexual abuse, which are not reported to the police.

Because we were afraid that Watchtower would destroy their files, our lawyer gave a firm warning: “It is a serious crime to destroy evidence that could lead to an investigation and prosecution in order to resolve such crimes as child abuse. So don’t let it get that far and be so stupid to go and destroy evidence, because then there will be an even bigger problem.”

Later that same evening, the Reclaimed Voices chairman, Raymond Hintjes, and Nico Meijering attended ‘Late Night’, a television talk show in the Netherlands.

On February 14, after a few days of very challenging work on our part, thirteen victims of sexual abuse, through our lawyer, made a request to Watchtower-Netherlands to release the files about their abuse. This request was shared in the media.

On February 15,  the problem of child sexual abuse within the JW community was discussed by the committee of the Ministry of Justice and Security. Raymond and I were present and sat at the public stand. The majority of politicians were aware and appeared concerned about the problem. During the meeting, a 11-page letter from our lawyer was discussed, in which he lodged a request for release of the files for the thirteen abused JWs. His letter had been sent to the Public Prosecution Service.

One of the issues that both the lawyer and the ministry are concerned about is the fact that JWs have their own legal system, which they place above the law of the country and based, among other things, on Acts 5:29.

The Minister promised to respond in writing to Meijering’s letter. We have the impression that he takes this problem very seriously. We now hope that an independent investigation will be started.

I sometimes find myself in tears now that people from outside the ex-jw community finally understand what is going on, which is encouraging for victims

We’re not there yet. In the meantime, we are preparing a collective prosecution in which six or seven survivors will participate. This is in full development.

We currently know of more than 250 victims of sexual abuse by JWs in the Netherlands. Most of the victims have left the JW organization because of this. I have read and heard many stories, not only about sexual abuse, but also about physical and emotional abuse. Something is definitely wrong in the Watchtower organization in the Netherlands.

But it is encouraging to know that we are not alone. We are joined by thousands of people worldwide with the same goals as Reclaimed Voices: A safer environment for children, both in a religious setting and in society as a whole.

Best wishes to you all and kind regards,
Aswin Suierveld of Reclaimed Voices (https://reclaimedvoices.org/missie-en-vissie/)

Stop Religious Shunning

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“Religious shunning is quite simply a form of religious persecution.

“We need to raise awareness of the social and economic costs of large and small religious sects who shun and defame those who leave the fold.

“They may raise a child knowing nothing but that religion, fearing the outside, and forbidding higher education or certain aspects of medical care. Once grown, they may throw him or her out on their own with nowhere to go if he or she does not want the religion, or has nagging doubts about it.

“Mandating that if parents talk to their grown children who are now “apostates” that they too will be thrown out (a social death penalty and in their mind a literal one fearing Armageddon) is a common theme that needs to end.

“Shunning one spouse, who no longer believes in the faith, results in the eventual deterioration of the family unit. This splits the family apart. It is all too common, and it must stop!

“These sects who hold people or entire families captive out of a fear of loss of all the people they’ve ever known, thus staying in a group they did not choose on their own are depriving their followers of personal liberty. It is the exact opposite of freedom of religion. This is what we need to change.”

If this message resonates with you, you need to visit https://www.facebook.com/stopreligiousshunning/

It’s All About Control

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For Watchtower, it’s all about control. This time they go over-the-top, trying to control masturbation. Seeing is believing, as no one in control of their critical thinking skills would produce this kind of video. And yet, Watchtower does it. You can read all about it and see the video for yourself at:   http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/01/29/get-ready-to-cringe-jehovahs-witnesses-are-warning-people-not-to-masturbate/

Does Watchtower Speak for God?

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One of the biggest myths within organized religion is that the clergy speaks for God, or, at least has some better line of communication to the Divine than the average person.This of course begs the question: Do Watchtower’s Governing Body members and the Watchtower magazine speak for God, Jehovah God? To help you answer this question, to give you some food for thought, please check out the blog post at:  https://www.openmindsfoundation.org/triangulation/

Love & Sex: Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness

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Four years ago, Mickey Hudson published her story about love and sex growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness. It’s a story that continues to capture reader’s interest and so we want to share her story again in 2018.

In her inimitable way, Mickey told us, “Growing up as a JW can warp and twist a young person’s mind about many activities, sex in particular. At least that’s how it was for me.

“Sitting in the Kingdom Hall as a young child, I would hear talks about sex, but they were, for the most part, warnings about what not to do—what was moral and what was not— but mostly not. Masturbation was wrong, mutual masturbation was wrong, and both oral and anal sex were wrong. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

“I would think: Okay, those things are wrong, but I don’t even know what those wrong things are. So I promised myself that as soon I found out what the heck they were, I would never do them.”

You can read the full story by clicking on the following link at: https://www.aawa.co/blog/love-sex-what-ive-learned-since-leaving-watchtower/