New Zealand Abuse in Care Report Speaks of ‘National Catastrophe’

More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been abused by state and religious organizations in New Zealand that had been entrusted with their care, according to the final report from a landmark independent inquiry released on Wednesday.

The abuse included sexual assault, electric shocks, chemical restraints, medical experimentation, sterilization, starvation and beatings, said the report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry Into Abuse in Care. Many of the victims were children who had been removed from their families and placed in state, religious or foster care.

“For some people this meant years or even decades of frequent abuse and neglect,” the report said. “For some it was a lifetime; for others it led to an unmarked grave.”

In a statement accompanying the release, Coral Shaw, the inquiry’s chair, described the abuse as an “unthinkable national catastrophe.”

The results of the investigation were presented to New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday.

“I cannot take away your pain, but I can tell you this: Today you are heard and you are believed,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told survivors at a news conference. “The state was supposed to care for you, to protect you, but instead it subjected you to unimaginable physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse.”

Mr. Luxon said New Zealand’s government would formally apologize to survivors in November and he committed to implementing a redress process. He did not answer questions on Wednesday about how much he expected it would cost to compensate victims, but the inquiry indicated that the total could reach billions of dollars.