German government to establish panel of ministries, church, charities on sexual abuse

German government to establish panel on abuse

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet is meeting Wednesday to establish an expert panel in response to the recent spate of sexual abuse allegations in the Roman Catholic church and elsewhere.

The panel will be headed by the ministries of Justice, Family and Education and first meet on April 23. It will include 40 experts from the government, the church, charities and educational institutions.

Merkel has said before that the panel should examine past abuses and also reevaluate Germany’s current statute of limitations on sex crimes as well as possible compensation for abuse victims.

Germany has been rocked by a sexual abuse scandal at Roman Catholic and secular schools for several weeks with more than 250 victims having come forward.