Jehovah’s Witnesses is an international new Christian church, with approximately 8.5 million believers worldwide. Recently, amid growing attention towards this organization, significant allegations have been made by former believers who were raised in families of that faith since childhood.

The organization JW Child Abuse Archive, made up of former second-generation Jehovah’s Witnesses, has highlighted the issue of child sexual abuse within the religious group and publicly released their findings on the 28th. According to their research, a staggering 159 reports of sexual abuse were received. These allegations are based on responses from the former believers surveyed, and the fact that there were so many allegations within the limited scope of the survey highlights the severity of the problem.

This issue has also been picked up by many media outlets within Japan. Although specific details of the abuse cases have not been disclosed, suspicions that sexual abuse was carried out within the organization are intensifying.

Furthermore, the founder of the JW Child Abuse Archive has issued a statement saying that the reported cases are just ‘the tip of the iceberg’. Children of believers have been educated about sex from a young age through meetings and publications. However, the founder points out that there is a lack of appropriate procedures and channels to report when sexual abuse has happened.

The findings released by the JW Child Abuse Archive spotlight the issues surrounding the Jehovah’s Witnesses. How these will be addressed is drawing attention. Their efforts to expose the situation within the church could be seen as the initial step to prevent further victims from being harmed.