Vienna: The organization SOS Children's Villages in Austria has admitted to violence against children at one of its locations in recent years. The weekly newspaper Falter reported on Tuesday about allegations against a facility in the town of Moosburg in the southern state of Carinthia.
According to Ghana News Agency, SOS Children's Villages Austria stated in a press release on Wednesday that the head of a children's group had inflicted violence in the mid-2000s. Additionally, it was revealed that an employee shared photographs of half-naked children in 2016. The organization issued an apology for the suffering the young people had experienced.
The accused employees have been reported, but the investigations were discontinued, as noted in the report by Falter and the news agency APA. It was stated that these employees have not been working for SOS Children's Villages for years. The incidents have been addressed, and new structures have been established to prevent future occurrences. Some affected individuals have received compensation payments.
SOS Children's Villages also announced that another case at the children's village in the town of Imst, dating back four years, is currently under examination. In the past, there have been incidents of abuse in SOS Children's Villages facilities in Germany as well. An independent commission last year tallied 189 reports of physical or emotional abuse, violations of privacy, and sexual abuse from the period of 1976 to June 2023.
The first SOS Children's Village was opened in 1951 in Imst, Austria, for orphaned and abandoned children after World War II. Today, the organization cares for children and young people worldwide whose parents are unable to look after them for various reasons.
