Indigenous children: UN experts call for clarification after mass grave

UN human rights experts demand clarification following the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children on the premises of a former boarding school for indigenous people in Canada. In a statement on Friday they called on the Canadian government and the Vatican to initiate extensive investigations into the circumstances of the death of the children and whoever was responsible. All suspicious deaths would need to be reviewed and remains would need to be forensically examined. Similar investigations are needed at all such facilities in Canada to investigate allegations of torture and abuse and possibly bring evildoers to justice.

The mass grave near the town of Kamloops in the western province of British Columbia was discovered in late May.

It was found on the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School, a type of re-education camp for Native Canadian children that had been in operation between 1890 and 1978.

When and from what the children died is not yet known.

Some of them were only three years old.

The facility at Kamloops was the largest of its kind in Canada, according to indigenous peoples.

From the 17th century to the 1990s, such so-called residential schools were administered and financed by the government.

Most of the operators were churches and religious organizations.

It is one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history: For decades, the government tore thousands of sons and daughters from their families and sent them to boarding schools.

There they should forget their culture - festivals, songs, language, religion - and learn the traditions of European immigrants.

Violence and sexual abuse were practically the order of the day.

The UN human rights experts spoke of "heinous crimes" and human rights violations in the boarding schools.

The statement said it would be "simply inconceivable" if the Canadian state and the Vatican let those responsible get away with it and not take care of comprehensive compensation.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made serious accusations against the Catholic Church. She has never lived up to her responsibility and is still resisting an unreserved explanation. He was "deeply disappointed" with the actions of the church, which must now finally release documents and compensate the victims of the crimes.