New Zealand’s Historic Abuse Claims – A Voice for Claimants
Please sign our petition, launched 31/1/2015, to help New Zealand’s historic institutional abuse survivors to realize truth and justice. Sign now…..
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela
Child Abuse and Child Poverty in New Zealand: The “staggering” rates of child abuse and poverty in New Zealand were condemned in a United Nations 2011 report which called for the Government to better recognise childrens rights. Child abuse rates in New Zealand are among the highest in countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and 27 per cent of children are living in poverty – defined as a household earning 60 per cent less than the median income. As a quick summary of NZ and child abuse, among other things:
- New Zealand has the dubious distinction of having the fastest growing rate of social inequality of all OECD countries.
- Between the years of 2007 – 2010 data showed that 1 in 6 Pakeha children (white European), 1 in 4 Pacific Island children and 1in 3 Māori children were living in poverty (figures show that children in homes below the poverty line increased from 22 per cent in 2007 to 28 per cent in 2010, and had dropped back only slightly to 27 per cent by 2012)
- New Zealand has the fifth-highest rate of child abuse in the OECD (and the second-highest rate of teen pregnancies after the US).1
- A 2003 UNICEF report demonstrated that New Zealand has one of the highest rates of child death from maltreatment (physical abuse and neglect) among rich OECD countries. NZ ranked 25th on a league table of 27 countries with 1.2 deaths per 100,000 children.2
- Over one in four NZ adults has experienced childhood trauma or abuse, family violence and/or sexual assault.3
- NZ Police respond to one ‘family violence’ call every seven minutes. Police say that in 60% of domestic violence cases children are also being abused.
- An international survey found that one in four New Zealand girls is sexually abused before the age of 15, the highest rate of any country examined.
- Research shows the police only hear about 20% of all family violence incidents and 10% of sexual violence offences.
- Rates of child abuse in New Zealand have risen by 32% in the last five years, with instances happening to children who are already in the care of the state.
- New Zealand’s suicide rate for 15-19 year olds is one of the highest in the OECD and double that of neighbouring Australia.
- New Zealand has entered a reservation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which reads: “Nothing in this Convention shall affect the right of the Government of New Zealand to continue to distinguish as it considers appropriate in its law and practice between persons according to the nature of their authority to be in New Zealand including but not limited to their entitlement to benefits and other protections described in the Convention, and the Government of New Zealand reserves the right to interpret and apply the Convention accordingly.” This effectively negates New Zealand’s responsibility to respect child rights within the international human rights framework.
Link here: New Zealand’s Historic Abuse Claims