Expert witness evidence by Gordon Lynch, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology in the Department of Religious Studies, has been extensively cited in the recent Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse report on the sexual abuse of former British child migrants.
In recommending that the UK Government set up a national compensation scheme for former child migrants, the Inquiry said that it had been persuaded by evidence from Professor Lynch, and Professor Stephen Constantine from Lancaster University, that the UK Government had allowed the ‘high politics’ of maintaining strategic links with the Australian Government to over-ride its duty of care to British child migrants.
The report also drew widely on evidence from Professors Lynch and Constantine to make criticisms of a number of voluntary organisations involved in child migration work which has already led to further apologies from some of these organisations.
The Report received wide national media coverage including this article in The Guardian.
A breakdown summary of the findings may be found here: www.kent.ac.uk/news/society/17183/profound-organisational-failures-in-the-child-migration-schemes