Cassation appeal and CEDAW-complaint to follow ruling by Appeals Court that claims against Good Shepherd are time-barred

On September 21, 2026, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the appeal concerning the forced labor case involving the Good Shepherd, a catholic congregation that falls directly under the Pope. The case is brought by women who, during their youth, had been placed in one or more residential houses run by the Good Shepherd-congregation in the Netherlands, where they were made to perform forced labor.

The legal successor of the Good Shepherd in the Netherlands, Klooster Euphrasia, invoked the statute of limitations both at the district court level and on appeal. The Court of Appeal upheld that defense and thus dismissed all our clients' claims.  This is a deeply disappointing ruling for our clients, which in their view also demonstrates a lack of insight into the forced labor they had been made to perform, and the context within which that took place. They will therefore lodge cassation appeal with the Dutch Supreme Court and, if necessary, subsequently file a complaint with the CEDAW-committee for violation on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ('CEDAW').

The women in these proceedings are supported by the foundation Bureau Clara Wichmann, which also acted as a co-plaintiff on the district court level on behalf of other women who also became victims of forced labor at the Good Shepherd.

The women are represented in these proceedings by lawyers Liesbeth Zegveld and Brechtje Vossenberg.

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