LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AFOOT OVER UK CHILD MIGRANT ABUSE

Britain's Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has recommended that up to 2000 child migrants who were sent to Australia be compensated.

Donaldson Law Director, Adair Donaldson, said his firm was working in conjunction with a UK law firm to represent abuse survivors who had suffered sexual abuse in Northern Ireland before their forced migration to Australia in the 1960’s.

"The tragedy here is that not only were many survivors abused when they got to Australian institutions, but many had already been abused before they even left UK soil. It’s an incredibly complex situation and the most tragic case of double abuse. It spanned countries and the psychological impacts to these survivors are extreme," Mr Donaldson said.

"My clients are deeply disturbed by claims that the policy to effectively "transport" children continued and has been swept under the carpet so the UK government could keep up good international relations as part of the forced migration scheme," he said.

"Around 2000 reported potential abuse survivors may become entitled to compensation but you can’t put a price on what these brave survivors have gone through. We should all be in awe of the courage that they have shown to survive the abuse and their stoicism," he said.

According to Mr Donaldson, these survivors of abuse now find themselves in the same ‘holding pattern’ as hundreds of survivors of historic abuse in Australian institutions.

"Like the recommendations made into the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse here in Australia, these child survivors are now faced with waiting on the UK Government to act on the recommendations," Mr Donaldson said.

"Although we are taking steps in a positive direction, Governments and Inquiries can make recommendations until the cows come home but they are not worth the paper they are written on if no action is taken to bring them into existence," he said.

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