Dutch Catholic bishops and church officials have voted in favour of giving compensation to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse which took place within church institutions, Trouw reports on Monday.

This summer, a church commission recommended paying a up to €100,000 in compensation to abuse victims and the bishops have now agreed with this.
The total bill for the church could be as high as €5m.

Seriousness
Compensation will be calculated on the basis of the seriousness of the abuse, the commission says. It will range from €5,000 for remarks or behaviour of a sexual nature to €25,000 for rape or multiple rape. The €100,000 will be paid in exceptional cases such as gang rape or serious abuse causing permanent damage.
It is almost two years since the scandal broke in the Netherlands with revelations that three Catholic clerics from the Don Rua cloisters in ‘s Heerenberg, Gelderland, had abused at least three children in the 1960s and 1970s.
Since then, a government commission has had reports of almost 2,000 cases of abuse within religious institutions. A number of cases will be taken to court