The Catholic church in the Netherlands is falling short in its duty towards the victims of sexual abuse and should come up with a collective compensation scheme, according to a government commission investigating the scandal.

The commission, under the leadership of CDA parliamentarian Wim Deetman, says the church’s complaints office Hulp en Recht needs far-reaching improvements to its treatment of complaints.
Transparency and standards of service must be improved and any compensation should be open to everyone, no matter how long ago the abuse took place, the commission says.
Complaints
The Deetman commission has had almost 2,000 complaints about physical and sexual abuse within the church. Of these five anonymous complaints have been sent to the public prosecution department to assess the likelihood of successful legal action.
In a statement, the Catholic bishops association again apologised for the abuse. ‘But apologies are not enough,’ the statement said.
The church will now study the recommendations and advice given by the commission.