“This should never have happened”

Today, on behalf of the government, I apologize to everyone who was abused, harmed and neglected while he was in care,” said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in the Wellington parliament on Tuesday.

The official apology was preceded by a public, comprehensive investigation, which established that between 1950 and 2019, more than 200,000 children and adults cared for in state and church institutions suffered some form of abuse. The commission of inquiry spoke to more than 2,300 victims of abuse. In their report, they listed the abuses committed in state and church-run institutions, including rape, sterilization and electroshock.

At Tuesday’s session of the New Zealand Parliament, which was attended by 200 victims and family members, the prime minister emphasized that he is asking the survivors to forgive the victims and their relatives on behalf of his own government and the previous governments. The report made more than a hundred recommendations, including calls for an apology from the New Zealand government and leaders of the Catholic and Anglican churches. It turned out that Maori people and people with mental or physical disabilities were particularly vulnerable to abuse.

At Tuesday’s parliamentary session, Luxon also reported that a national day of remembrance will be held on November 12, 2025, and that they will begin removing the memorial plaques and street names that paid tribute to proven criminals, and instead commemorate the victims buried in anonymous graves in psychiatric or other care facilities. . The New Zealand Parliament also discussed the first reading of the draft law to improve the safety of public care on Tuesday.

Every eighth girl and woman in the world is affected by sexual violence”Shame on you” – Katalin Novák pardoned the deputy director of the children’s home who tried to cover up a pedophile case

However, what happened in a country very far from Hungary can also be a lesson for our country, since at the beginning of the year, in the background of the pardon case – in which the then head of state Katalin Novák and former justice minister Judit Varga fell, and in which the role of the Reformed bishop Zoltán Balog is still unclear – in the children’s home in Bicske committed pedophile crimes. Since then, several similar cases have come to light.

The former employee of one of the Újbuda kindergartens suspected of sexual rape will remain in a mental hospital until the beginning of December. The Catholic Church is listening to the better: one investigation has been launched against priests in the Eger Archdiocese and two in the Szeged-Csanád Diocese. in his home