The Mental Health Commissioner (2021)84 reported “The rate of Māori held under the Mental Health Act compulsory treatment orders continues to be high. In 2018, 28% of those subject to compulsory treatment orders were Māori.ξ Gender-diverse disabled people In 2017, Dickson85 surveyed gender-diverse disabled people about their experiences of partner violence and abuse. All of the 159 people who responded to the survey had experienced abuse from a partner. This included sexual, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse, isolation and threatening behaviour. This has been reiterated for disabled trans and nonbinary people who report high levels of violence and abuse including a seven times increased risk of sexual violence.86 People with learning disability The Donald Beasley Institute, a centre for learning disability research, has not carried out any research specifically about abuse, but reports findings about abuse in many of the studies it does undertake. For example, research into the institutionalisation of disabled people found: Neglect was common… Emotional and psychological abuse was seen through people talking about being scared a lot of the time. People…said they were unable to make decisions because they had always ξ been made for them…Most people said they had been physically restrained or controlled in some way…Most people had been physically abused…Sexual abuse started when the person was a child and was often kept secret until they were adults. People did not talk about it because they were ashamed, and they thought they would not be believed. Those who did report that they had been sexually abused were not supported…Institutions followed Pākehā customs and did not allow for Māori or Pasifika customs to be part of people’s lives. Most said they did not have control of their money and things that they treasured were often stolen.87 Research about learning disabled people’s experience of the Aotearoa justice system identified that: … abuse, both physical and sexual, was evident amongst the group of New Zealand men and women with intellectual disability who participated in this study. Of the 40 individuals who took part in this study approximately half the women and one third of the men disclosed that they had been physically or sexually abused. This is likely to be an underestimate as participants were not directly asked to disclose experiences of abuse, but rather offered this sensitive information during the interview process.88 The Director of Mental Health’s annual report covering 2018 and 2019, issued in 2021, reports rates of compulsory treatment per 100,000 of the general population by DHB. These statistics support the conclusion that “Māori were more likely to be assessed or treated under the Mental Health Act than non-Māori” (p. 1). The report states that in 2018 “Māori made up approximately 16 percent of New Zealand’s population, yet they accounted for 28 percent of all mental health service users.” (p. 18) and that [based on age-standardised rates per 100,000 population] “Māori were 4 times more likely than non-Māori to be subject to a community treatment order and 3.7 times more likely to be subject to an inpatient treatment order” (p. 18). The report says “In 2019: 6.6 percent of Māori accessed mental health and addiction services, compared with 3.2 percent of non-Māori • Māori were 3.8 times more likely than non-Māori to be subject to a community treatment order and 3.6 times more likely to be subject to an inpatient treatment order • Māori males were the population group most likely to be subject to community and inpatient treatment orders (compared with non-Māori males and Māori and non-Māori females) • DHBs varied in their ratio of Māori to non-Māori subject to community and inpatient treatment orders • on average, Māori and non-Māori remained on community and inpatient treatment orders for similar lengths of time • Māori were 2.9 times more likely to be subject to indefinite community treatment orders than non-Māori, and 2.7 times more likely to be subject to indefinite inpatient treatment orders than non-Māori • Māori made up approximately 17% of New Zealand’s population, yet they accounted for 29% of all mental health service users • approximately half of all Māori service users were under 25 years of age, compared with approximately 29% of non-Māori service users • among service users under a community treatment order, 79% of Māori were living in the most deprived deciles (8–10), compared with 30 percent of non-Māori” (pp. 18/19). Acting now for a violence and abuse free future 31