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An Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales was announced by the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, on 7 July 2014. The inquiry was established to examine how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was set up after investigations in 2012 and 2013 into the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal revealed widespread abuse, including claims of abuse stretching back over decades by prominent media and political figures, and inadequate safeguarding by institutions and organisations responsible for child welfare. Originally the inquiry was intended to be a Panel Inquiry supported by experts, similar to the Hillsborough Independent Panel. However after strenuous objections related to the panel's scope and its independence from those being investigated, and the resignation of its first two intended chairs, the inquiry was reconstituted in February 2015 as a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, giving it greatly increased powers to compel sworn testimony and to examine classified information. The first two chairs appointed to the original panel inquiry were Baroness Butler-Sloss (appointed 8 July 2014, stepped down 14 July 2014) and Fiona Woolf (appointed 5 September 2014, stepped down 31 October 2014). The reasons for their withdrawal in both cases were objections related to their perceived closeness to individuals and establishments which would be investigated. There were also objections related to survivor testimony, the scope of inquiry, and the ability to compel witnesses to testify. In December 2014 it was reported that Theresa May was reconsidering arrangements for the inquiry. On 4 February 2015 May announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard QC, a New Zealand High Court judge who had no ties to the UK bodies and persons likely to be investigated. The existing panel was disbanded, and the inquiry was given new powers as a statutory inquiry.〔( Independent inquiry into child sexual abuse: criteria for chair and panel, ''Gov.uk'', 4 February 2015 )〕 The Statutory Inquiry opened on 9 July 2015, with an introductory statement by Justice Goddard. In November 2015, she announced that twelve separate investigations would take place as part of the Inquiry, including investigations into MPs, local councils, and church organisations.〔 ==Background== In 2012, UK celebrity Jimmy Savile, who had died the year before, was identified by police as a prolific child sexual abuser, who had accessed and abused children in hospitals, schools and other institutions during the past six decades. In the ensuing investigations, a number of prominent household names in media and politics, among others, were alleged to have been responsible for, and in some cases were convicted of, child sexual abuse. Calls were raised from 2012 onwards, for a public inquiry into child sexual abuse, and to examine how such failings had been possible, and to what extent those responsible for these institutions had known of the abuse, or had cause to be aware. In June 2014, a cross-party group of 7 MPs, co-ordinated by Tim Loughton and Zac Goldsmith, wrote to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, calling on her to set up an overarching investigation into a series of cases in the United Kingdom concerning allegations of historic child sex abuse within government and other institutions. Goldsmith said that "The Government should establish – and properly resource – an independent inquiry so that a line can be drawn, once and for all." Other MPs were quick to add their names to the call for an inquiry, and within three weeks more than 150 British MPs were backing the call for an inquiry. An inquiry was set up in 2014, initially constituted as a panel. However this led to strenuous public complaints on several grounds - that the panel's scope was too limited (and specifically it could not compel sworn or unsworn testimony), and that those involved had past links to those persons and bodies known to have been sexual abusers or who might be investigated as part of the panel's work, and therefore the panel's independence from the establishment was in question. Two chairs were appointed and resigned in 2014, both having had past links with possible subjects of the inquiry. The inquiry was therefore finally re-established as a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, in February 2015, and a New Zealand High Court judge appointed, to address these concerns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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