King's Birthday Honours: Advocate dedicates award to survivors of abuse in care

RNZ News

2 days ago

Victor Boyd was credited with drawing attention to the abuse and torture inflicted on approximately 360 children and vulnerable adults at Lake Alice.
Photo:
PUBLIC DOMAIN./ Pawful
A tireless advocate for survivors of abuse in care has dedicated his King's Birthday Honour to those who suffered.
Victor Boyd has spent more than 50 years seeking recognition for the abuse that occurred at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit between 1972 and 1978.
He has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
"It was a real surprise and obviously I feel very honoured to get that sort of on behalf of the survivors really who told me their stories all those years ago and continue to do so.
"I felt also it was a nice reward for the voluntary work I had done over the years on this cause."
He said all those involved in exposing the abuse shared in the award.
"Working with the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and the survivors who told me their stories and also the ones who wanted something done, wanted something something to happen about their experiences, that's who I would dedicate this award to."
Now in his mid-70s, Boyd had been volunteer researcher for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights since 1977, and was credited with drawing attention to the abuse and torture inflicted on approximately 360 children and vulnerable adults at Lake Alice.
Boyd interviewed numerous survivors of abuse at the Lake Alice Unit, documenting their experiences and supporting them in raising complaints with relevant government agencies.
He supported former patient Paul Zentveld's
complaint to the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Torture
, which led to New Zealand's
Royal Commission into Abuse in Care Inquiry
.
His tireless advocacy across several decades culminated in a formal acknowledgement by the government of the abuse and torture of children and young adults at the Lake Alice.
When the Commission's initial 500-page report was released in 2020, Boyd told Open Justice activities at Lake Alice looked like medical experimentation on children.
"I think that that is appalling, that's another reason we kept going. I kept working on it, but because I didn't have lists or anything like that it was still running around cold calling people."
He was impressed with the level of detail in the 2020 report.
"It was very gratifying to see after all of this time."
His contribution to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions helped inform the Lake Alice Unit section of the report.
Boyd was actively involved in the inquiry, particularly through engagement with diverse survivor groups, Ministers, Members of Parliament, government officials and independent agencies.
Speaking after receiving his honour he said there was still work to do.
"The accountability side of it still needs to be finalised because there's the redress which is in place and there have been apologies from the government, the prime minister, the Medical Council and shortly the Nursing Council.
"What's missing at the moment is what the mental health staff did actually which was wrong and that has to be acknowledged. In part that has occurred with the Medical Council apology so there's been steps in the right direction there."