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WORLD NEWS Thursday 25 July 2024
A report says 200,000 people were abused in care in New Zealand

over decades in ‘national disgrace’

By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM- er. Complaints were disre-
McLAY garded and records were
Associated Press lost or destroyed.
WELLINGTON, New Zea- “These gross violations oc-
land (AP) — New Zealand’s curred at the same time
independent inquiry into as Aotearoa New Zealand
decades of abuse of chil- was promoting itself, inter-
dren and vulnerable adults nationally and domestical-
released a blistering final ly, as a bastion of human
report Wednesday finding rights and as a safe, fair
the country’s state agen- country in which to grow
cies and churches failed to up as a child in a loving
prevent, stop or admit to family,” the inquiry heads
the mistreatment of those wrote, using the country’s
in their care. Māori and English names.
The scale of abuse was “If this injustice is not ad-
“unimaginable” with an dressed, it will remain as a
estimated 200,000 peo- stain on our national char-
ple abused over seven acter forever,” they wrote.
decades, many of them Hundreds of survivors and
Māori, New Zealand’s In- their supporters filled the
digenous people, the re- public gallery Wednesday
port said. in Parliament, where law-
In response to the findings, People arrive at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, for the makers responded to the
New Zealand’s govern- tabling of a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in findings. They stood and
ment agreed for the first care over the span of five decades wrote in a blistering final report. sang a Māori song in an
time that historical treat- Associated Press emotional scene.
ment of some children in a volved in denying and cov- “a dark and sorrowful day” The results were a “national The report lambasted some
notorious state-run hospital ering up the abuse would for the country. disgrace,” the inquiry’s re- senior figures in government
amounted to torture, and lose their jobs. The findings by the Royal port said. and faith institutions, who it
pledged an apology to all The prime minister said the Commission the highest Of 650,000 children and said continued to cover up
those abused in state, fos- government now heard level of inquiry that can be vulnerable adults in state, and excuse abuse in public
ter and religious care since and believed survivors, undertaken in New Zea- foster, and church care hearings. Many of the worst
1950. and that he was shocked land capped a six-year between 1950 and 2019 episodes had long been

But Prime Minister Christo- by the findings. He said the investigation that followed in a country that today common knowledge, it
pher Luxon said it was too government would formal- two decades of similar has a population of 5 mil- said, and officials at the
soon to say how much the ly apologize to survivors on probes around the world, lion nearly a third endured time of the abuse were “ei-
government expected to Nov. 12. as nations struggle to reck- physical, sexual, verbal ther oblivious or indifferent”
pay in compensation a “We always thought that on with authorities’ trans- or psychological abuse. about protecting children,
bill the inquiry said would we were exceptional and gressions against children Many more were exploited instead shoring up the rep-
run to billions of dollars or different, and the reality is removed from their families or neglected. utations of their institutions
to promise that officials in- we’re not,” he said, noting and placed in care. The figures were likely high- and abusers.q

Japan’s population falls for the 15th year in a row. Births hit a

record low, deaths a record high

By MARI YAMAGUCHI surpass 3 million for the first for young couples to have
Associated Press time. more children, such as in-
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s to- They now make up nearly creasing subsidies for child-
tal population marked the 3% of the total population care and education, and is
15th straight year of de- and are mostly of working expected to spend 3.6 tril-
cline, according to gov- age from 15 to 64. lion yen ($23 billion) in tax
ernment data released Surveys show that younger money annually over the
Wednesday, dropping by Japanese are increasingly next three years.
more than a half-million reluctant to marry or have Experts say the measures
people as the population children, discouraged by are largely meant for mar-
ages and births remain low. bleak job prospects, the ried couples who plan to
Births in Japan hit a record high cost of living which have or who already have
low of 730,000 last year. The rises at a faster pace than children, and don’t ad-
1.58 million deaths last year salaries and a gender- dress the growing number
were also a record high. biased corporate culture of young people reluctant
Japan’s population was that adds a burden only on to get married.
124.9 million as of Jan. 1. women and working moth- Japan’s population is pro-
The data released by the ers. jected to fall by about 30%,
Internal Affairs Ministry also The government ear- to 87 million by 2070, when
showed that the 11% in- marked 5.3 trillion yen ($34 four out of every 10 people People holding parasols sit on the bench under an intense sun at
crease in foreign residents billion) as part of the 2024 will be 65 years of age or a park in Tokyo, July 8, 2024.
helped their population budget to fund incentives older.q Associated Press