A report revealed that there were over 250 thousand abuses …

Some 250,000 minors and vulnerable adults, mainly Maori and Pacific Islanders, have been sexually abused or otherwise between 1950 and 1999 while in the care of homes, public and religious institutions in New Zealand.

This was revealed in a government report, which points out that many child victims of abuse “come from segments of disadvantaged or marginalized communities,” says the interim report of the Royal Commission created in February 2018 by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to ensure that the country “no longer makes those same mistakes.”

Of the 50 survivors interviewed by the Commission, 40 revealed that they had been victims in these institutions of physical or sexual abuse, which includes touching and penetrating, while 33 of them suffered both types, which caused them left consequences for life.

“This time I was raped by the priest. He had a room, in a corner of the sacristy … I remember him telling me that I had to clean my body after telling him that I had been raped by (the abuser). They told me, ‘Shut up, God will solve it,’ “Mark, 71, said, according to the document.

The report also points out that sexual abuse has opened doors for others. John, a 53-year-old Maori, described that these crimes were covered by medical tests.

“I felt humiliated because they stripped us completely. They were checking us out for sexually transmitted diseases … they were looking for drugs in private places and I was only twelve or thirteen,” John told the Commission.

Similarly, Sarah, 49, recalled that they took her to a church and put their hands on her to take “the Maori spirits” away.

Racism and discrimination were key elements in these physical, emotional, psychological, medical, educational, spiritual violence and the cultural neglect perpetrated against these people who were often placed in institutions because their housing was neither safe nor adequate.

“Despite the gravity of their home, many of them were in a worse state than when they arrived,” said this report which explains that Many survivors, including Pacific Islanders with limited English proficiency, struggled to report.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry, a body endowed with special powers and created for serious questions of public interest, It is chaired by Judge Coral Shaw, who is due to deliver her recommendations by the end of 2023.

In Australia, New Zealand’s neighbor, Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized in 2018 to victims of abuse in Australian institutions following the presentation of the final report the previous year by the Royal Commission of Inquiry on these cases.

The Australian commission, which received complaints from 4,500 people of alleged abuse from some 1,880 clerics and priests between 1980 and 2015, recommended to the Catholic Church to lift the secrecy of confessions in cases of pedophilia and to eliminate celibacy, as measures to fight against the mistreatment of minors.