SOS Children's Villages Founder Accused of Decades-Long Abuse

Allegations Against SOS Children's Villages Founder

VIENNA (Reuters) -SOS Children's Villages, a charity active in more than 130 countries, said on Thursday its founder committed sexual and physical abuse over decades before his death in 1986, and it has records of eight cases in which compensation was paid.

The Austrian aid group, founded in 1949 to help children orphaned in World War Two, made the announcement as it deals with allegations of mistreatment in recent years at several of its centres in Austria. It is planning a "restart" while looking into current and historic allegations of abuse.

"In recent weeks, further victims and employees have come forward in the course of the investigation," SOS Children's Villages said in a statement, adding that it follows up on every report and has "intensified" its internal research into historic cases.

Details of Abuse Claims

"As part of these investigations, eight internally documented victim-protection cases involving founder Hermann Gmeiner have been uncovered," it said, specifying that they happened at four locations in Austria it did not name between the 1950s and 1980s.

VICTIMS RECEIVED COMPENSATION PAYMENTS

Compensation for Victims

All eight victims, whose cases were dealt with between 2013 and 2023, received compensation payments, it said, without specifying how much or providing further details about the people or acts committed.

Contacted by Reuters, the group said the payments ranged from between 5,000 and 25,000 euros ($5,800-29,200) per person, and that the cases involved "sexual and physical violence", confirming what was first reported by Austrian news agency APA.

Ongoing Investigations

The organisation said it was not aware of any cases of abuse by Gmeiner outside Austria. SOS Children's Villages says on its website it has supported close to 4 million children and young people through a wide range of programmes around the world.

"SOS Children's Villages will immediately hand over all documents that have been retrieved to date and will continue to submit further documents on an ongoing basis," it said, apparently referring to the independent commission of inquiry set up last month to look into abuse cases that had come to light then.

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(Reporting by Francois Murphy, editing by Ed Osmond)