Malcolm Richards, who was admitted to the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit at age 15, speaks to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care on 18 June, 2021. Photo: Supplied / Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care
A survivor of abuse at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital says he feels fobbed off by the New Zealand government's response to questions by the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
New Zealand officials were asked in Geneva, Switzerland, overnight about findings that two patients at the Rangitīkei facility were tortured in the 1970s.
Officials said they had made progress on UN orders to provide compensation and apologies, but one of the two former patients, Malcolm Richards, disagreed.
He said he was yet to see compensation, rehabilitation, or a specific apology for the torture.
At New Zealand's regular review of its obligations since signing the treaty concerning the convention against torture in the 1980s, it did not take long for Lake Alice to come up.
UN rapporteur Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov asked for an update on Richards' case, and that of Paul Zentveld.
In 2019, the committee ruled Zentveld was tortured at Lake Alice, and last year it made the same ruling for Richards.
The abuse the pair received included being given electric shocks and paralysing drugs as punishment.
As well as making rulings of torture, the UN committee ordered the government to take action.
New Zealand justice secretary Andrew Kibblewhite summarised what had happened since, noting that the UN committee urged the government to provide the pair with appropriate redress and compensation.
A system for this for survivors of abuse in state care is not yet in place, although there is work happening to develop one.
Some former Lake Alice unit patients received small compensation payments as part of a class action settlement two decades ago, but there was no acknowledgement of torture.
New Zealand justice secretary Andrew Kibblewhite Photo: RNZ / Jane Patterson
The UN committee also ordered the government to publicise its decisions. Kibblewhite said that had happened.
"We have published those decisions in New Zealand on the website of the New Zealand Police, and they've been made available and published on the Crown response to the abuse in care inquiry to ensure they are well disseminated."
This is disputed by watchdog organisation, Citizens Commission for Human Rights (CCHR), which helped Zentveld and Richards with their UN cases.
CCHR said few people would see the decisions if they were only published there.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care examined the Lake Alice unit two years ago, and the unit Kibblewhite mentioned was set up in response to the commission's work.
Kibblewhite said there were plans to publicly acknowledge the UN findings of torture, likely next year.
"There will be references to Lake Alice and those specific decisions as part of the public national apology for abuse in care, which is to be developed after the royal commission provides its final report."
Citizens Commission for Human Rights director Mike Ferriss Photo: RNZ / Andrew McRae
Citizens Commission for Human Rights director Mike Ferriss said including acknowledgement of the UN decision there, rather than as a standalone action, would diminish their importance.
Kibblewhite said the UN findings noted that something more than the settlement of the early 2000s was needed.
"There are two broad ways that that is being responded to.
"The most substantial one is through the report and the government's response of the royal commission to abuse in care, though in addition to that the minister for the public service has asked officials to see whether there are some other options that could be looked at ahead of that time."
Kibblewhite did not say what those options were.
Richards told RNZ the government's response was a fob off, especially in referencing the compensation from two decades ago.
He said no rehabilitation was provided after that, and he reiterated that torture was never mentioned in that settlement, so had not been acknowledged.
Kibblewhite told the UN committee it was clear Richards and Zentveld were not alone in suffering as they did.
"The experiences we would note of both Mr Zentveld and Mr Richards, and [with] the committee's decision noting that what they experienced as children was torture, it is likely that other children at the institution also experienced torture.
"That will be a really important part of looking at appropriate redress for survivors of abuse in care, and particularly from Lake Alice."
The three-hour session covered plenty of ground, including questions about deaths in custody, New Zealand's response to acts of terror, and the country's high imprisonment rate for Māori.
Officials face more questions on Wednesday night.
