NEW ZEALAND
Crux
March 26, 2018
Just months after the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse issued its final report, New Zealand is beginning its own royal commission – and the nation’s Catholic bishops are asking its institutions not to be excluded from scrutiny.
A royal commission is the highest form of inquiry in most countries where Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, including Australia and New Zealand.
Right now, the New Zealand royal commission will look into youth detention centers, psychiatric hospitals and orphanages, as well as any government care services contracted out to private institutions.
Although this will include some Church-run facilities, the commission doesn’t include a broad mandate to look into religious organizations.
“We are of the firm view that no individual should be denied the possibility of making a submission to this Government inquiry,” said a letter from the New Zealand bishops’ conference.
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