2016 Thematic: Responsibility and Redress 779 14 RESPONSIBILITY AND REDRESS: THEORISING GENDER JUSTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF CATHOLIC CLERICAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IN IRELAND AND AUSTRALIA KATE GLEESON* I INTRODUCTION Justice for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is a defining theme of this age. Inspired by remedies associated with transitional justice and human rights abuses, various governments have sought to investigate and make amends for institutional child abuse perpetrated in the context of welfare and services provided on behalf of states, often by autonomous organisations such as Christian churches. The investigatory-commission model of justice predicated on individual ‘truth recovery’ and restorative outcomes for survivors has predominated since the Republic of Ireland’s Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (‘Ryan Commission’) commenced in 1999.1 Internationally, outcomes for complainants have varied, with all investigatory bodies and redress schemes facing limitations regarding the forms and functions of justice that may be delivered at the meta level of state apparatus.2 In some countries, much more than others, civil justice has been delivered as the outcome of mass and individual lawsuits brought against religious organisations and individuals with a duty of care to protect children.3 In general, the international institutional child abuse scandal of the past 30 years presents a conundrum concerning the ways in which sexual harms are understood. Institutional child abuse has been a feature perhaps *
[email protected]. Senior Lecturer, Macquarie Law School. Earlier versions of this article were presented to the International Conference on Public Policy, Milan; the University of Technology Sydney, Feminist Legal Research Group; and the Macquarie Law School Staff Seminar Series.