New Zealand delivers landmark apology to survivors of state abuse

Some 200,000 vulnerable were abused in state care in the seven decades since the 1950s, according to a six-year public inquiry

By AFP

Published: Tue 12 Nov 2024, 10:30 AM

Last updated: Tue 12 Nov 2024, 10:40 AM

New Zealand's prime minister delivered a historic apology Tuesday to victims abused in state care, acknowledging the "unimaginable pain" suffered within children's homes and psychiatric hospitals.

Some 200,000 vulnerable New Zealanders were abused in state care in the seven decades since the 1950s, according to a six-year public inquiry that described its findings as an "unthinkable national catastrophe".

Youngsters were sexually abused by church carers, mothers were forced to give up children for adoption, and troublesome patients were strapped to beds for seizure-inducing electroconvulsive therapy.

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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday apologised on behalf of successive governments that turned a blind eye to such harrowing reports.

"I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse," he said in an address delivered to parliament.

"Some of you may feel my words count for little after so long and so much hurt.

"But I hope that today, with this apology and the acknowledgement of your burden, it becomes a little lighter for some of you."

Survivors packed a public gallery inside New Zealand's parliament to watch Luxon deliver the apology, many of them weeping and overcome with emotion.

Others jeered when New Zealand's solicitor-general, accused of hindering survivors' legal claims, stood at a press conference to give her own apology.

Survivor Tu Chapman told reporters the government had to answer for "decades of abuse, neglect, and torture by those running state, church and faith-based institutions".

Officials had started work to scrub the names of proven perpetrators from street signs and other public memorials, Luxon said.

Churches implicated in the abuse would be expected to "do the right thing" and take part in the redress process, he added.

"I want to acknowledge those of you who struggled to get help from government agencies when you came forward to report your abuse.

"This has meant you have had to re-live your trauma over and over again."

Luxon singled out the now-notorious Lake Alice psychiatric hospital in rural New Zealand, where patients recalled being sterilised, used for unethical medical experiments, and punished with electric shocks.

"To those of you who were tortured at Lake Alice -- young, alone, and subjected to unimaginable pain -- I am deeply sorry."

Many victims reported lingering trauma that has fuelled addiction and other problems.

The report found that some of the abuse was "overlaid with racism" targeting Indigenous Maori.

The inquiry was set up in 2018 and has made 233 recommendations that Luxon's government has promised to consider.