Royal commission of inquiry says ‘unimaginable’ and widespread abuse in care between 1950 and 2019 amounts to a ‘national disgrace’. 200,000 out of an estimated 655,000 in care were abused and many more neglected, with Māori disproportionately affected and subjected to overt and targeted racism. Violence and sexual abuse were common, and in some cases children and young people were ‘trafficked’ to members of the public for sex.
Report calls for apologies from the Government, and the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury as global heads of the churches responsible, along with other religious bodies and organisations. It also recommends an inquiry into evidence of unmarked graves at former psychiatric hospitals and the establishment of a specialist police unit dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the abuse. The abuse and neglect of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in the care of state and faith-based institutions has been branded “a national disgrace”.
The long-awaited report of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission , six years in the making, has been released this afternoon..
