Executive summary

1. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have been active in Aotearoa New Zealand for over 100 years, with the movement growing significantly just prior to the Inquiry period. The Christian faith takes a literal interpretation of the Bible and relies on first century principles to set practice, policy and procedure.

2. Like many faiths there is a leadership hierarchy, with the Jehovah’s Witnesses being globally led by a governing body, which provides direction and guidance to all congregations. The governing body is currently comprised of eight men in New York. Within congregations, power and authority sit with male Elders whose attributes for appointment are biblically based. During the Inquiry period, the faith exercised an elevated degree of influence over the daily lives of members, including how they spent significant portions of their time, the level of education they attained, their relationships and access to certain medical treatments. Two witnesses described themselves as being under the ‘control’ of the faith, a description the faith disputed.

3. Children and young people were in the care of the Jehovah’s Witnesses during faith activities including door to door preaching or witnessing, pastoral support, working bees and other organised activities, and investigation and judicial committee processes. The faith contested whether these situations fell within the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference, but the Inquiry is satisfied that children and young people were in the care of the faith in these situations for the reasons set out below.

4. Several factors within the faith increased the risk of abuse occurring during the Inquiry period, including the status of Elders and the power and influence they exercised, particularly over children and young people. The faith had high barriers to the disclosure of abuse, making it more difficult for individuals to disclose any abuse either to others within the faith or to secular authorities. These barriers included the inferior position of women within the faith, rigid disclosure processes, the fear of being shunned and the relative disconnection from non-Jehovah’s Witnesses, all of which likely prevented or delayed victims from disclosing abuse. There was also inadequate vetting of Elders and insufficient training in preventing or responding to abuse.

5. The faith’s approach to record-keeping did not provide an adequate basis for well-informed risk-based decision making to ensure the safety of children and young people in the care of the faith. The lack of detail in records retained by the faith also inhibited the Inquiry’s ability to assess the extent of abuse in the care of the faith because of the lack of detail about the nature of the relationships between Elders and abused children and young people.

6. Despite the high barriers to disclosure and the faith’s inadequate approach to record-keeping, the Inquiry heard from one person who was sexually abused in the care of the faith during the Inquiry period, with others experiencing psychological and emotional abuse during investigations and judicial committee processes.

7. The Inquiry concludes that the Jehovah’s Witnesses took inadequate steps to prevent and respond to abuse in care during the Inquiry period. The policies, rules and standards relevant to child sexual abuse more broadly were primarily based on passages from the Bible and located across many different Jehovah’s Witness publications. Processes for handling and responding to disclosures of abuse of any kind were outdated and ineffective, such as the requirement for two witnesses to child abuse. There was a lack of reporting to external authorities and inadequate consequences for abusers within the faith. These factors applied equally to abuse in care.

8. The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ approach to this Inquiry and to its activities was premised on the basis that no children or young people were ever in its care. The ongoing failure of the faith to recognise that children and young people were in its care gives the Inquiry concern about the faith’s overall approach to the safety of children and young people in its care during the Inquiry period.