The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and 1978 did not have any form of mental illness yet were subjected to unmodified electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or paraldehyde injections.
The United Nations Committee against Torture found New Zealand in breach of its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (see UNCAT communications below).
On 24 July 2024, the Government formally acknowledged that torture(external link) occurred at the Lake Alice Unit as defined in the Convention.
From 18 December 2024 to 31 December 2025, the Government is providing redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit).
The redress scheme includes:
an expedited pathway that offers:
an individualised pathway that offers:
Applications for redress are now closed. 144 eligible registrations were received. 105 survivors chose the expedited pathway and 37 survivors chose the individualised pathway. The government is currently processing payments.
As of 20 November 2025, 103 expedited payments and 29 individualised payments have been made, and 70 survivors have received wellbeing and other support.
The Government has also released a report by independent arbiter Hon Paul Davison KC, outlining his determination on financial redress for 37 survivors who chose the individualised pathway.
Independent Arbiter Report [PDF, 2 MB]
Information about the appointment of the independent arbiter
| Week of 20 January 2025 |
Registered survivors will be provided with details of members of the independent legal panel Registered survivors able to nominate chosen payment option |
| February 2025 | Appointment of independent arbiter |
| March 2025 | Payments will commence for fixed payment |
| 30 April 2025 | Applications for individual payment closes |
| 30 September 2025 | Applications for fixed payment closes Arbiter required to have completed individualised process |
| 31 December 2025 | Final payments complete |
Personal information is collected and held by the Crown Response Office to administer the Lake Alice torture redress process. The information is collected and held to:
Find out how the Crown Response Office looks after your personal information
Privacy Statement Lake Alice torture redress [DOCX, 87 KB]
Financial advice is also available, and you can also ask the Crown Response Office to make the redress payment in instalments, if you do not wish to receive your financial redress in one payment.
Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand
ACC
Disabled People support
Telephone helplines or services that offer support, information and help
Adopted on 4 December 2019, the United Nations Committee Against Torture made a decision concerning communication No. 852/2017 under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee can consider communications from those claiming to be victims of a violation. On 10 July 2017, the complainant Mr Zentveld, made a communication to the Committee claiming a violation of his rights under Articles 2, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention. The Committee found articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention had been breached. The Committee asked New Zealand to publish and disseminate the decision widely.
Committee decision 852 2017 [PDF, 451 KB]
Adopted on 12 May 2022, the United Nations Committee Against Torture made a decision concerning communication No. 934/2019 under article 22 of the Convention. The committee can consider communications from those claiming to be victims of a violation. In this case Mr Richards, the complainant, made a communication on 13 March 2018 claiming a violation of his rights under articles 2, 10, 11, 12 and 13 and 14. The committee found articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention had been breached. The committee asked New Zealand to publish and disseminate the decision widely.
Committee decision 934 2019 [PDF, 372 KB]
lakealice@abuseinquiryresponse.govt.nz
