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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Boot camp is often
advanced as the classic solution to aimless or troubled youngsters, says the
Nelson Mail in an editorial. Its proponents pitch it
as the perfect way to instill purpose and direction. At exactly this time in
the last general election cycle, October 1999, New Zealand First leader
Winston Peters was calling for three months' compulsory military training for
all 18-year-old males. Not only would this
boost respect for authority, skills and even the defence force's strength, it
would also make men of bored or vulnerable teens with too much time on their
hands, Mr Peters declared. Boot camps have been
popularised lately by a reality TV show of the same name and are likely to be
well supported in workingmen's clubs and public bars in conservative New
Zealand. However, some of the problems that can arise when groups of young
men are placed together in unusual environments have been given prominence
this week in a growing file of reported abuse at the army's former Waiouru
Cadet School. The latest round of
revelations has been sparked by an ex-cadet, now living in Australia, who
survived a range of ``negative experiences'' at the school in 1971 and went
on to serve with the army itself as a communications officer. Those who saw former
cadet Ian Fraser interviewed on television this week would have seen a man
still troubled by his experiences of more than 30 years ago. He claimed to have been
beaten unconscious and hospitalised twice. Boys would be savagely beaten and
left, bloodied and unconscious, in wardrobes, from which the doors were
eventually removed to improve the chances that victims would be discovered. There has been talk,
too, of young men being sexually assaulted with broom handles. The violence Mr Fraser
reveals was largely carried out by other youths, those who'd been given some
measure of responsibility. However, to suggest the camp authorities might not
have been aware of the abuse beggars belief. The evidence would have
been apparent, had anyone cared to look, in damaged bodies and spirits. There
was a fatal shooting and talk of at least one suicide. The hospital records
must have had their own tale. Even the removal of the wardrobe doors spoken
of by Mr Fraser suggests concurrence among those on the chain of command. Defence Minister Mark
Burton has ordered a preliminary Defence Office inquiry into the allegations.
Though the school has been closed since 1991, there will be no shortage of
information for the inquiry team to consider. Some 5000 cadets passed through
the school, which started in 1948. Mr Fraser says he has
received more than 100 emails already from other ex-cadets with their own
tales of abuse. More than half that number has already contacted Mr Burton's
office. Given the Government's
recent record of awarding generous compensation to prisoners treated
illegally, the probe is likely to have ramifications for the taxpayer, as
well as for the armed forces generally. Raising the question of
compensation is to jump the gun, however. A full-scale inquiry - which needs
to be independent- comes first, and it should focus on how widespread the
historic ``physical, psychological and sexual abuse'' of cadets really was at
Waiouru and whether those in authority at the camp share complicity in the
abuse or simply turned a blind eye to it. Someone should also be
seeking to determine whether similar problems occurred at other training
facilities and, most importantly, whether abuse of this nature is continuing
today. The line between making and breaking young adults is clearly a fine
one, and it appears to have been crossed all too often at Waiouru. |
