Honouring the promise made to survivors of abuse in care_

Challenge

Between 1950 and 1999, over 200,000 New Zealanders were abused in state and faith-based institutions.

In July 2024, the Abuse in Care Inquiry released recommendations to make things right and keep future generations safe. The government promised action. However, two years later, only a small fraction of the recommendations have been fully committed to.

The challenge from Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission was to make the promise impossible to ignore and put survivors’ voices at the centre of the national conversation.

The scale of the recommendations risked becoming another political statistic, rather than a human story with real consequences for survivors and their whānau. We needed to turn the call for action into something tangible and emotionally resonant. 

Solution

Flowers were gathered from nine sites across Aotearoa where abuse is known to have occurred. Together they became a symbol of resilience.

The flowers were brought together into bouquets and delivered to MPs from all major parties on the steps of Parliament, wrapped in a cloth printed with all 233 recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

With all of New Zealand’s major media organisations in attendance, this emotionally charged event served as a platform for survivors to be heard once more, calling for Aotearoa’s leaders to honour their promise.