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Girl Scouts take part in a press conference to present a study on sexual violence
Photo: Lukas Barth/dpa
In Munich, the Association of Girl Scouts (BdP) presented a study on sexual abuse within its own ranks.
The investigation, which was presented by the Institute for Practical Research and Project Consulting (IPP), assumes that there are at least 50 accused and 123 affected people in the BdP.
According to the study, there are also 24 accused and 26 affected people who come from the “boy scout context” but do not belong to the association.
According to the BdP, this is the first such investigation in Germany that relates to a youth association.
Perpetrators are almost exclusively male
According to the scientists, just as many girls as boys were affected, but the perpetrators were almost exclusively male.
According to the study, there are “two prototypes”: the older, adult scout and the teenager or young adult “who uses his position as a leadership figure to sexually exploit younger people.”
The IPP Munich, which, among other things, investigated sexual violence in the Odenwald School and in the Upper Bavarian Catholic monastery Ettal, carried out the study together with “Dissens – Institute for Education and Research” in Berlin.
The focus of the study is on the years between 1976 and 2006. The researchers assume that there is a high number of unreported cases - among other things because no information at all was provided from some federal states.
For the study, the authors looked at the period from 1976 to 2006 and examined documents in archives.
They also evaluated reports from those affected and contemporary witnesses.
Accordingly, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts would identify very strongly with other members.
The authors say that the close relationship made it difficult to name the abuse because it could be understood as betrayal.
In addition, clear power structures had become apparent.
Individual scouts enjoyed “cult status” because of certain abilities.
The Association of Boy Scouts was founded in 1976, says it is interdenominational and non-partisan and has around 30,000 members.
The aim of his educational work should be to convey to children and young people “a sense of community and responsibility, cosmopolitanism and environmental awareness”.
“We are shocked at how many places the BdP has failed to protect its members from sexualized violence and (power) abuse in the past,” said BdP federal chairwoman Annika Schulz.
“There was silence, people looked the other way.”
kha/dpa/AFP