(UPDATE) WELLINGTON — New Zealand's prime minister delivered on Tuesday a historic apology to citizens abused in state care, acknowledging the 'unimaginable pain' suffered within children's homes and psychiatric hospitals.
Some 200,000 vulnerable New Zealanders were abused in state care in the seven decades since the 1950s, according to a six-year public inquiry that described its findings as an 'unthinkable national catastrophe.'
SORRY TO SURVIVORS New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (center) talks with survivor Whiti Ronaki (left) and Laura Cherrington following his formal and unreserved apology in parliament in the capital Wellington, on Nov. 12, 2024. STUFF PHOTO VIA AP