WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made a “formal and unreserved” apology in Parliament on Tuesday for the widespread abuse, torture and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in care.

“It was terrible. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said, speaking to a public gallery full of MPs and abuse survivors.

Nearly 200,000 people in state, foster and faith-based care suffered “unimaginable” abuse over a seven-decade period, according to a stunning report published in July at the end of the largest investigation ever carried out in New Zealand. These were disproportionately Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

“For many of you, this has changed the course of your lives, and the government needs to take responsibility for that,” Luxon said. He said he also apologized on behalf of previous governments.

He added that in state-run institutions, including hospitals and residential schools, as well as foster and church care, vulnerable people “must be safe and treated with respect, dignity and compassion.” “But instead you were subjected to horrific abuse and neglect, and in some cases, torture.”

The investigation report said the findings of the six-year investigation, believed to be the most comprehensive of similar investigations worldwide, were a “national disgrace”. New Zealand’s investigation follows two decades of such investigations around the world, at a time when nations are trying to reckon with authorities’ abuses against children removed from their families and placed in care.

Of the 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in New Zealand’s state, foster care and church care between 1950 and 2019 (in a country with a population of 5 million today), almost a third suffered physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many more were exploited or neglected.

“We will never know that true figure,” Opposition leader Chris Hipkins told Parliament. “Many people entering government and faith-based institutions were undocumented. Records were incomplete, lost, and in some cases, yes, deliberately destroyed.”

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In response to the findings, the New Zealand government acknowledged for the first time that the past treatment of some children at a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture; This was a claim that successive administrations rejected.

“I’m so sorry New Zealand didn’t do better on your end. I’m sorry you weren’t believed when you came forward to report your abuse,” Luxon said. “I am sorry that many abusers were not allowed to face justice, which meant other people faced abuse that could have been prevented.”

Luxon said his government was working on 28 of the inquiry’s 138 recommendations, but did not yet have concrete details on the financial compensation the inquiry has recommended since 2021, which he said could reach billions of dollars.

Luxon was criticized by some survivors and advocates early Tuesday for failing to disclose compensation plans along with the apology. He told parliament that a single compensation system would be established in 2025.

But he did not offer a figure for the amount the government expects to pay.

Opposition leader Hipkins said: “It will be a huge bill, but it is nothing compared to what we owe to survivors and should not be the cause of further delay.”

Survivors began arriving in Parliament hours before the apology, winning seats by voting in the public gallery, which held only about 200 people. Some were reluctant to accept the state’s words because they said the extent of the brutality was not yet fully understood by lawmakers and public officials.

As the country’s attorney general apologized, the procession was so loud that he could not be heard. While senior public officials from relevant health and welfare agencies spoke before Luxon’s remarks, others shouted out or left the room in tears.

Tu Chapman, one of those asked to speak, said survivors invited to speak should have done so before Luxon’s apology; Not in response to this.

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“I feel alone and in absolute despair that this government has now taken on the task of accepting survivors,” he told a crowd in parliament. he said.

Keith Wiffin, a survivor of abuse at a notorious state-run boys’ home, said the abuse “torn families and communities apart, with many ending up in prison, incarceration, and many left uneducated.” “This has tarnished our international reputation as defenders of human rights and is something this nation loves to eat.”

Among the investigation’s recommendations was an apology to state and church leaders, including Pope Francis. He also approved establishing offices to prosecute abusers and enact reparations, renaming streets and monuments dedicated to abusers, reforming civil and criminal law, rewriting the child welfare system, and searching unmarked graves in psychiatric facilities.

Its authors harshly expressed how widely known the abuse and the identities of many abusers were, and how nothing was done to stop it.

“This means you have to relive your trauma over and over again,” Luxon said. “Agencies need to do better and commit to doing so in the future.”

He did not accept that public servants or ministers in his government who denied that state abuse was widespread when they served in previous administrations should lose their jobs. Luxon also rejected suggestions from survivors that his policies disproportionately targeting Māori – such as a crackdown on gangs and the establishment of military-style training camps for young offenders – had undermined his government’s remorse over the abuse.

Maori people are overrepresented in prisons and gangs. In 2023, 68% of children in state care were Maori, despite making up less than 20% of New Zealand’s population.

“Apologizing is not enough,” said Fa’afete Taito, a former gang member who survived violent abuse at another state-run home. “What really matters is what you do to heal the wounds of your actions and make sure it never happens again.”

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