WELLINGTON, New Zealand— Up to 250,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults, were physically and sexually abused in New Zealand’s faith-based and state-care institutions over four decades, Reuters news agency has reported.

The revelation, Reuters said, was made by a public inquiry covering from the 1960s to early 2000s.

“An interim report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry found children, some from as young as nine months old, suffered years of abuse, which included rape and electric shock treatment, by staff at psychiatric and state-care facilities, clergy and foster guardians,” Reuters reported.

The wire service story said the interm report, relased on Wednesday, estimated that up to 256,000 people were abused, accounting for almost 40 per cent of the 655,000 people in care during the period, with most abuse occurring in the 1970s and 1980s.

“The hurt and anguish that has been caused in New Zealand’s history is inexcusable,” Reuters quoted the country’s Minister for the Public Service Chris Hipkins, who said the report was “difficult read”.

“All children in the care of the State should be safe from harm, but as the testimony sets out, all too often, the opposite was true.”

According to Reuters, the report said most abuse survivors were aged between 5 and 17. Most were abused over a five- to 10-year period.

“The abuse included physical assault and sexual abuse, with staff in some psychiatric institutions forcing male patients to rape female patients. It also included the improper use of medical procedures, including electric shocks on genitals and legs, improper strip searches and vaginal examinations, and verbal abuse and racial slurs,” the news agency reported.

“Sometimes I’d have shock treatment twice a day,” the report quoted Anne, who at 17 was placed in a psychiatric institution in 1979.

“The records [said] I went blind, then they gave me shock treatment again that night,” she told the inquiry.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had announced the royal commission in 2018, saying the country needed to confront “a dark chapter” in its history, and later expanded it to include churches and other faith-based institutions.

“The report said the likelihood of children and young people abused in faith-based or religious homes ranges from 21 per cent to 42 per cent,” the Reuters story said. “It found the number of people passing through care institutions was six times higher than previously estimated.”

“On any assessment this is a serious and long-standing social problem that needs to be addressed,” the report said, adding there was evidence that abuse continued today.

Reuters said the royal commission will make recommendations to the Government in its final report. The news agency also said the inquiry is one of longest and most complex undertaken in New Zealand.