This Is Guernsey

If remains had not been found at Haut de la Garenne the abuse story would never have come out, believes Jenny Kitzinger.

ISLANDERS should not feel threatened by allegations of child abuse, according to an expert on the subject.

Jenny Kitzinger, Cardiff University professor and writer of the book, Framing Abuse, which focused on media coverage of incidents, has done significant work on island-based scandals.

She said she had been watching the developments in Jersey and how it would affect the whole of the Channel Islands.
‘What interests me is that if they had not found a body, all of this would never have come out,’ Prof. Kitzinger said yesterday.

‘There were rumours for a long time but nothing was done, it seems,’ she said.

‘It really illustrates how hard it is for children’s voices to be heard. If it hadn’t been for the body being found it would be dismissed as another island crisis.’

Prof. Kitzinger carried out significant work on alleged child abuse in the Orkney Islands.

‘Orkney was celebrated as a place of strong community, of escape from the mainland – just like the Channel Islands,’ she said.

‘And with child abuse allegations, there is a particularly strong sense of whether they are true or false.

‘My guess would be that many in the Channel Islands are feeling threatened by this.

‘But it’s really important not to give into that because it suppresses the allegations – and possibility that child abuse ever takes place in their community.’

She added that in particular it was important to have solidarity with people who might have been abused.

‘And I do think it is important to keep making connections about it happening everywhere else, too,’ she said. ‘That it’s not just a subculture.’