New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon expressed regret yesterday after a Royal Commission of Inquiry report found some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in state and religious care over the past 70 years. Source: Reuters.
The publication of findings capped a six-year investigation that followed two decades of similar probes around the world, echoing other nations’ struggles to reckon with authorities’ transgressions against children removed from their families and placed in state and religious care.
Nearly one in three children and vulnerable adults in care from 1950 to 2019 experienced some form of abuse, the report found.
“This is a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand’s history as a society and as a state, we should have done better, and I am determined that we will do so,” Mr Luxon told a news conference after its release.
“New Zealanders just don’t think this thing would happen, that abuse on this scale would ever happen in New Zealand.
“We always thought that we were exceptional and different, and the reality is we’re not.”
Survivors and their supporters filled the public gallery of the country’s parliament as the report was debated, while still more watched from a separate room.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry spoke to more than 2300 survivors of abuse in New Zealand, which has a population of 5.3 million people.
In a statement, the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference said it was carefully reviewing the report and had previously acknowledged the abuse occurred.
“We will ensure that action follows our review of the inquiry’s findings,” the statement said.
The bishops said “everyone must play their part in responding to the Inquiry’s report to the extent that they can”.
“There are things that all of us can and must do to eliminate abuse of any kind in whatever context we live and work in. We hope this report and the work that flows from it will result in a better society and a safer environment for all people.”
FULL STORY
New Zealand inquiry finds 200,000 children and vulnerable adults abused in care (By Lucy Craymer and Alasdair Pal, Reuters)
Catholic Church thanks Royal Commissioners for their final report (NZCBC)
