News

The NSW inquiry into coercive control in domestic relationships published its report this week. The report contains the following sickeningly sexist (and factually incorrect) gendered analysis of coercive control. Apparently men and lesbian women can control their partners but heterosexual women are unable to do so except in (presumably) rare cases. The report also cited testimony from…

The Boy Scouts of America have reached a US$850 million (NZ$1.2 billion) agreement with attorneys representing some 60,000 victims of child sex abuse in what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the organisation’s bankruptcy case. The agreement filed in court by BSA attorneys yesterday would mark one of the largest sums in US…

The Oranga Tamariki care and protection residence in Christchurch where a young person was reportedly tackled and held in a headlock will be temporarily closed. The video posted this week on the Newsroom website showed a young person being surrounded by staff, tackled, restrained and held in a headlock at one of the ministry’s care…

A First Nation in Canada’s Saskatchewan province is treating a now-defunct residential school as a “crime scene” following the discovery of 751 unmarked graves just weeks after a similar discovery in British Columbia prompted a fresh reckoning over the country’s colonial past. Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation said that the graves were found on the…

People who were given electric shock treatment as a punishment while in the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital in the 1970s have given first-hand accounts to the Abuse in Care inquiry. The inquiry is hearing from survivors who, as children, were dragged kicking and screaming in the knowledge they were going to be given the shocks.…

It is well established that children were physically and sexually abused in state care in New Zealand over many decades. But what has always been carefully hidden is the subsequent role of the Crown in deliberately, actively suppressing and stifling the bids for justice by survivors of those crimes. This article reveals the lengths to…

Was your mother or stepmother ever slapped, hit, kicked, punched or beaten up? Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic? Did you live with anyone who was depressed, mentally ill or suicidal? Did a parent or adult in your home ever swear at you, insult you, or put you down?…

The government is inviting feedback from tangata whenua, victim-survivors, communities throughout the country, service providers and individuals. The government has launched work to develop a National Strategy and Action plans to eliminate family violence and sexual violence in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Joint Venture is coordinating this work. This consultation starts on 12 May 2021…

People cope with grief in different ways, and the same holds true following a suicide. Many people will experience a broad range of emotions including, anger, hurt and sadness. Although each person experiences grief in their own way, some common patterns occur. In his latest research, Victoria University of Wellington School of Education Lecturer Dr…

A SPACE for male survivors of sexual violence has opened up in the heart of Tairawhiti. The official launch of Te Hokai Male Survivors Tairawhiti was held at 73 Peel Street where Tauawhi Men’s Centre co-ordinator Tim Marshall, former Male Survivors Aotearoa (MSA) national advocate Ken Clearwater, MSA chairperson Phil Chapman, Green MP and former…

The Royal Commission into abuse in state and faith-based care has today heard from a man so affected by abuse that he set fire to his sleeping father, and later in life killed a man in revenge for his hurt. Twenty-eight witnesses are currently giving evidence in a two-week hearing in Auckland.     Dr Rawiri…