Children’s Commissioner Speaks Out Against Culture Of Violence

Friday, June 18, 2004
Press release

Children’s Commissioner speaks out against culture of violence

Children’s Commissioner Dr Cindy Kiro has spoken out against children and this country’s poor track record for protecting children against physical harm.

In a keynote presentation to the Children’s Issues Centre seminar being held in Wellington today (Friday 19 June), Dr Kiro says concerted action by both government and the community is needed to improve New Zealand’s statistics on children and young people.

Dr Kiro says New Zealand has high rates of maltreatment of children and escalating rates of notifications to Child, Youth and Family for cases of child abuse and neglect.

From 1989 to 2000, 162 children and young people aged 0-19 years died as a result of homicide and 3584 children were admitted to hospital as a result of non-accidental injury inflicted by others, Dr Kiro says.

“Like other western nations, we venerate and romanticise childhood, while at the same time we abuse, molest, incarcerate, segregate and exploit our children”

The Children’s Commissioner notes UNICEF research shows a pre-school child in New Zealand is 13 times more likely than a child in Sweden to die as a result of pedestrian injury.

“There seems to be a widespread indifference to the need to actively manage risks to our children and young people, both physical and psychological. Despite our outcry when tragedy occurs, we too frequently sit by and allow lesser abuses to go unquestioned”

Dr Kiro says the government’s SKIP programme (strategies with kids, information for parents) and the recently released Children’s Issues Centre research into alternatives to physical punishment provide important information for parents and people who work with children.

However Dr Kiro says people need to realise since Sweden banned physical punishment in 1976, only four children died in the following 20 years.

“There are more deaths from maltreatment in Aotearoa each year, than in Sweden over the entire 20 year period” Dr Kiro says.

For more information:
Dr Cindy Kiro 021 396 782
Penny St John (Communications Advisor) 025 687 3123