State and religious institutions in New Zealand have failed to prevent, stop, or acknowledge abuse against children and vulnerable adults, a comprehensive public inquiry reveals.
The institutions have not managed to protect those in their care, not even when the abuse has become known, the inquiry's final report shows.
Of 650,000 people who were in the institutions between 1950 and 1999, nearly a third suffered physical, sexual, verbal, or psychological abuse, the report states, calling the result "a national shame". The extent of the abuse has been "unimaginable", the scrutiny of state and religious institutions has been lax, and the perpetrators have rarely faced consequences.
The government has promised an apology to those affected and states that the treatment of some children in a state-run hospital amounts to torture. The question of compensation is not settled, but the government expects it to cost several billion New Zealand dollars.
Corrected: In an earlier version of the text, the wrong currency was specified.
