200,000 people were abused in New Zealand institutions that failed for decades to stop it

BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY
Updated 4:41 AM EDT, July 24, 2024

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care over the span of five decades released a blistering final report Wednesday that found the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the abuse of those they were supposed to look after — even when they knew about it.

The scale of the abuse was “unimaginable” with an estimated 200,000 people abused in seven decades, the report said. Scrutiny of state and faith-run institutions was lax and predators rarely faced repercussions.

In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture, and pledged an apology to all those abused in state, foster and religious care since 1950. But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was too soon to divulge how much the government expected to pay in compensation — a bill the inquiry said would run to the billions of dollars — or to promise that officials involved in denying and covering up the abuse would lose their jobs.

The publication of findings by the Royal Commission — the highest level of inquiry that can be undertaken in New Zealand — 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.

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