This article contains the latest information regarding the New Zealand Royal Commission Vs. Jehovah’s Witness Organization, along with elucidating the Organizations teachings. An interview with Shayne Mechen helps update the recent news regarding the NZ commission, his statements are in Bold. To see just the latest updates with the Commission, scroll below to “Update on the New Zealand Royal Commission and the Jehovah’s Witness Organization” the Asterisk * near words will provide definitions and links at the end of this article.
Written by Miss Usato, first published November 28th, 2023
Currently In 2 countries the Jehovah’s Witness Organization is actively caught in the nets of legal binds causing underground chaos within its organization. These binds are not the 1st occurring, nor will be far from the last. The areas of most concern are failures to report abuse, Internal judicial processes, the Blood Doctrine, and Shunning.
One occurring Legal bind is Norway, where already the organization has been deregistered for almost a year. The Oslo district court is to rule whether the religious community should retain its status as so and have the right to seal marriages, the trial being set for 2024. The organization has tried 3 times to fight for a temporary conjunction but the Norwegian Supreme Court refused their appeal. The State Administrator in Oslo ruled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses should lose this registration and right for their exclusion practice, and did so. The reasons behind the deregistration? Because they shun their loved ones who decide to leave their group. Shunning causes life threatening situations in social isolation, mental conflictions, and in many cases leading to suicide. The case with Norway will be explained in another article interviewing Jan Frode Nilsen.
The next legal matter for the Organization is happening in New Zealand, where for almost 5 years starting in 2018 the Organization has filed legal action against an attempt of investigation into their actions and practices within the legal framework in New Zealand. While the commission seeks to understand the extent of any wrongdoing, breaches of the law, or the impact of any victims and survivors, the Organization is trying to be set free- dismissed from the New Zealand Royal Commission*, an Inquiry into abuse in care. The Royal Commission has been allowed to investigate and report on responses to allegations of historical abuse (as for example the heavy allegations of Child Sex Abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness organization) in state care and faith based institutions since 1950.
The Religions the commission has said they are looking to open an investigation against are:
Methodist, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, Gloriavale, Exclusive Brethren and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Interestingly enough though, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only religion in this list that has tried to be dismissed, even though it has been said that if they were successful- others were prepared to try to be dismissed as well. The commission did not believe that other faith base organizations would attempt to follow the Organizations example due to the phrase “In care”. It wasn’t until in the court that the lawyers then said that this has a wider ramification. It took a number years to understand and reach that point. They last minute spoke about it at the judicial Review.
There are many ways to look at this, but it generally boils down to 2 major points on why they attempted to be dismissed;
In the end the 2015 Australian Royal commission (ARC) recommended the Organization to change 3 things
Involve women in judicial committees
Abandon the 2 witness rule
Stop Shunning people who leave due to abuse.
The Organization will by no means change these doctrines and abide by the Australian Royal Commissions request, because these teachings are a part of the solid base that holds up the Watchtower Organization. In November 2017, Gary Breaux, a senior official at the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ global headquarters went on their JW broadcasting video channel and said, “We will never change our Scriptural position on that subject*”. He was referring to the 2 witness rule. With this organization the manipulation of scripture legitimizing their actions can be easily done.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught to welcome doctrinal changes, which they consider to be “new light” or “new understanding” from God. However, the Governing Body establishes the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the denomination does not tolerate dissent over doctrines and practices. Members who continue to openly disagree with the movement’s teachings are expelled and shunned. In the end the downfall to this is that the Jehovah’s Witness organization will never change their disfellowshipping policy- that is regarding the actual routine of shunning ones who have “Sinned ” in the Governing Body’s eyes. It is very unfortunate that they won’t attempt to change this, because so many lives have already been lost due to shunning and it is a matter that needs to be known all over.
On October 9th-11th 2023 in Wellington, New Zealand Shayne Mechen and other former witnesses traveled to attend a hearing in the High Court. There were 7 elders in the courtroom as well. On the 2nd day of the hearing- the 10th at lunch time, William Terite a NZ journalist was given a letter from their PID department* of the Jehovah’s Witness Organization. He came back to his seat, shaking his head in disbelief. The carefully worded letter states that the Jehovah’s Witness organization does not provide or sponsor any activities that separate children from their parents. They list (the obvious activities to former and active members) That they do not sponsor schools, orphanages, or home care. Yet they exclude the activities with car groups, door to door service, hall and assembly cleanings, the intrusive and detailed questions asked in Judicial committees, and the fact that as an unbaptized or baptized member you are often alone with elders and other members of the congregation in various settings. If you are not allowed to befriend anyone else in the world, what would you expect?
The conclusion of the letter says that they have published ‘extensive educational materials’ on the need of parents protecting their children- It does not include in the same context or articles that this should also apply to their own members. In fact, there are publications that encourage children to befriend their congregation including putting their trust in the elders- their authoritative figures.
The reason for the sounding alarms of disbelief is the blatant hypocrisy to fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses, active and inactive on this matter. Even since 2018, the Jehovah’s Witness organization has been adamant that they should not be included in the New Zealand’s Royal Commission. They deny that they have enforced any activity allowing adults to be alone with children. Below are a few of their very own articles explaining the relationship between elders and children of the congregation.
What was different about this Commission?
The New Zealand Commission was not solely based on Child Sex Abuse, as was the 2015 Australian Royal Commission. It was on every type of abuse. Emotional, physical, mental, and medical abuse. Abuse to wives, kids, regarding baptism, blood doctrine and shunning as well.
Interview with Shayne Mechen
So now for the unfortunate update. It’s been the New Zealand’s Royal Commission’s turn to expose the harmful acts- especially with Child sex abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness organization. The commission recently replied to those involved claiming that they have contacted the Australian Royal Commission to learn about their dealings with the Jehovah’s Witness Investigation- but the New Zealand Commission has never investigated the organization itself. “The problem is that I had been told the government claimed that they went to the Australian Royal Commission, then came back saying “Well we can do better than them with this”.. Yet it seems they didn’t contact them at all.” The only way the Royal Commission received information on the organization was from the ones coming forward giving their stories.
“This is what made the organization in the top 8 of faith based organizations to be investigated in the 1st place, in 2022. No official investigation was actually started.” The commission was not investigating, they were looking into the checked boxes of abuse.
This in itself though, is not a problem specifically with the Jehovah’s Witness organization, this is a problem with faith based organizations themselves and the Government in New Zealand not wanting to pursue them.
Jehovah’s Witnesses were never investigated in New Zealand
I’m stemming off that topic regarding why the New Zealand Royal Commission may not want to investigate faith base. Though these are possibly their rationalities on why, its still not fair to ones abused with no justice served while the faith based Organizations are being protected by these reasons.
Impartiality and objectivity: A royal commission or any investigative body strives to maintain impartiality and objectivity while examining issues or conducting investigations. In some cases, faith-based organizations may be closely affiliated with specific religious beliefs or ideologies. To ensure an unbiased investigation, the commission may choose to exclude or limit the involvement of organizations that could be perceived as having a potential bias.
Secular nature: Some royal commissions operate under the principle of secularism, which means they maintain neutrality on matters of religion and do not favor any particular religious group. Including faith-based organizations in the commission’s investigations might be seen as compromising the secular nature of the inquiry.
Accountability and transparency: Investigations often require a high level of accountability and transparency. Faith-based organizations, like any other organization, may be subject to scrutiny regarding their practices, policies, or actions. However, concerns may arise about the potential influence or protection these organizations may receive due to their religious affiliations, which could hinder the commission’s ability to thoroughly investigate and provide transparent findings.
These points are general observations and may not directly apply to the Jehovah’s Witness Organization, but due to what has been reported and recorded in the past, it seems likely this is why. This is solely (Miss Usato’s) my perspective.
Shayne Mechen is a former Jehovah’s Witness and was an elder for 12 years. He is now an advocate in New Zealand that has been involved since the beginning of the NZ Commission in 2018. He is also spokesperson for Jws4justice* “We have a small team working on the things we do in New Zealand. I help by connecting with others who want to make a change. The ones that have helped the most were the NZ Network of Survivors*. They did most of the lobbying, and not just on the Jehovah’s Witness Organization but on the other faith based Organizations. We are apart of them now, they have done so much work. Our media help is with Anusha Bradly, Bill Hickman with RNZ*, Phil Parkinson and Phil Pennington an NZ radio reporter. We’ve all worked hard with the commission but it’s not until this year that we’ve had success. Yet, not as much as we had hoped. It’s very frustrating.”
On October 10th 2023 at the hearing, one of the Crown lawyers* did say that they will consider looking at the organization further. Looking and investigating are two different meanings here though. “On our end it seems like the New Zealand Government did not want to investigate faith based. Much like Scotland. They didn’t want faith based included but there was so much pressure.”
Even though there’s no investigation started, they mentioned that there’s a possibility something could still happen in the future. Shayne asked for the transcript, he was told that it appears there isn’t one. “There’s a number of things that were said, that they were considering changing familiar abuse/family abuse into institutional abuse because of the Jehovah’s Witness’s policies and other things, who knows if that will happen. One of the elders at the hearing when that was said became a bit agitated, very animated. Shaking his head and all.”
“At the hearing, on the 10th the crown stood up and said “Look we are here for the survivors, we are so sorry you had to go through this-” They went on showing empathy for the survivors there in the courtroom. On the 11th, the judge implied 3 or 4 times that the organization should say something similar, as in some sort of gesture of remorse “-And you know what? The organization didn’t do anything. They wouldn’t say anything.”
This is because the Jehovah’s Witness organization views themselves as the one true religion. Let’s disregard what Geoffrey Jackson said in the 2015 ARC Royal commission mentioned above. “That would be presumptuous to say that we are the one true spokesperson that god is using”– Yes, because it would be quite presumptuous, and they do think this way. Below are articles stating that they are working under the one channel of God.
Along the same line is a similar statement of Governing Body member Jeffrey Winder in the 2023 Annual meeting*, where he defined the reasoning and management of the Governing Body’s findings of ‘new light’ on how they perceive things, changing their doctrines. “We are not embarrassed about adjustments that are made. Nor is an apology needed for not getting it exactly right previously.” Apparently, that is also involving Child sex Abuse.
“What’s next is to see if the appeal* is going to go through. The Appeal has just been filed- on November 22nd. The courts could say No, end of subject or they could set a date- It being accepted. We just have to wait and see. The court documents are unable to be seen yet with what they are exactly appealing. So we can’t help the commission out.” Simon Mount* is the lead lawyer of the Commission, who would stand and give clarification to the commission as he did twice during the hearing. Shayne comes in contact with him regarding the commission. “When the ruling came out before, I sent Simon this ‘This is what you can expect-It’s the current study book “Bearing thorough Witness about God’s Kingdom’ where it talks about the unfavorable decision will be contested. He said he would pass it onto legal.
“Scientologists, Catholics, everyone has different words, different phrases, with exactly the same disciplinary meaning.” Authoritative figures to their followers who are not real authoritative figures and should not be allowed to govern and manipulate your life.
“Our Commission hasn’t investigated a number of faith based. They never did a proper investigation on Gloriavale, the CCCB (other faith-based Organizations)- They both have schools. How can they do it in 3 days now? We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. What we are hoping is when that final report comes out that the government can be seen for what happened. This is on them.”
One would think without an investigation, how much faith based are going to be missing in the Commissions report? The problem is there was an announcement that there would be no more investigations around August 2023 because the commission was running out of time. “In 2019 we passed along the the letter about elders destroying documents to the Royal commission. I also sent it to Phil Pennington, and that’s when it appeared on the news. They sanitize the records to get rid of any evidence once they start changing forms. The government has the power to subpoena this, seems like they didn’t subpoena anything.”
They have only a few days now, until the 29th of November 2023 for the organization to hand over the copy of the report to the government. So what do you think Jehovah’s Witness tactics were? They’ve been delaying things since 2019. Of course, they never wanted to be a part of it. So what did the Organization do? “It’s a delay tactic after delay tactic after delay tactic. The judge even said “How can you make this claim when the final report has not even been released?” It is just delaying, and confusement. As Judge Ellis stated similar in an RNZ article* regarding the organization.
“I was speaking to one of those commissions, and it sounded like at the 1st public hearing that we were going get something going, I thought “Great!” Because I wanted to speak and stand out in front of people. It was put off though. They kept saying next time. They kept changing their thinking process. We had a change of commissioner, we had a different change of lawyers, different ways of approaching but not really approaching, then things disappearing- that’s the government here. This has happened from day 1. This happened in Australia too, the 1st part of it was all over the place but then it all settled down in about 18 months.”
So though the Commission didn’t allow the organization to back down, they are not investigating them either. “We are all a bit upset about it, we just have to wait. Now that we just found out there was no investigation, sadly it feels like it’s over, and there’s nothing more to come of it. We now won’t know anything else until March of 2024.”
“We warned the commission that this is what the organization will be doing, stalling. We know what they are like. ‘Are you sure? Yes we are sure, this is what they will do.’ It was hijacked right from the very start when they approached the Watchtower association in New Zealand.” The commission approached the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (CCJW) for records, but the CCJW came back saying that they do not have any records, “Them replying that they have no records- well they are 100% correct. They wouldn’t have the records. That letter in 2019 told the elders to destroy any files. They have been deceptive all along when dealing with the commission, they know what they are asking for- We all do.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses who are fully involved and consumed in the organization would not see the manipulation, and New Zealand does not see how they are hoodwinked in as well. It’s all a confusion and fear tactic. They attempt and use these ways to not be investigated. They have done this with multiple trials, including the Australian Royal Commission.
“Former Jehovah’s Witness’s abuse victims and survivors that came forward have now be retraumatized. They lost hope in this commission, and now they don’t want to be apart of it any further. This happened with every faither based organization survivors regarding this commission.”
The Unfortunate fact that the Royal Commission in New Zealand is not investigating the Jehovah’s Witness organization is undoubtedly upsetting. On the flipside, the ones that spoke up about their abuse are the ones who sparked the fire, and it does show. This means that the organization is being recognized, stories are being told, truths are being revealed. The stories are not from ones who have never been affiliated with the organization, but ones that were mislead of its teachings in their care. The figures they looked up to let them down, and now they are the stronghold coming back to help others see the organization for what it really is. The best thing we can do now is provide support and encourage the ones speaking out. Raise awareness, and share information with what’s going on. Document Cases, and Collaborating with Legal and Advocacy organizations that specialize in child protection and survivors rights. We want to work together to hold the responsible parties accountable and seek justice for survivors.
The Royal Commission* have broad powers to hold public hearings, call witnesses under oath and compel evidence. Royal Commissions make recommendations to the government about what should change. They can only inquire into matters that relate to the Commonwealth’s responsibilities.
Geoffrey Jackson Lying Under Oath in ARC 2015
Australian Royal Commission article inside the brutal World of Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Jeffrey Winder 2023 Annual Meeting “Nor is an Apology needed-“
PID Department* PID stands for Public Information Department. In the USA, this is the Watchtower’s Public/Media Relations arm. WT claims PID tells “accurate words of truth” to the media and officials. They also push JW positive stories to get published in local media.
lobbied* A group of people who try to influence legislators on behalf of a particular interest
The crown* is used to mostly mean the authority of government, crown lawyers as in lawyer’s of New Zealand Commission.
Appeal* In late October 2023, the High Court in Wellington, New Zealand dismissed a judicial review brought by the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Australasia) Ltd. The review was against the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions. The review sought to exclude the Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Royal Commission’s investigation.
In 2019 elders in New Zealand were told to destroy documents, which caused survivors of child sex abuse to fear that cases would be covered up.
2022, November the Royal Commission of New Zealand started exploring how people in care who were abused by the institutions meant to protect them in . This included physical, sexual, psychological and racist abuse.
While comments are welcomed on this article, please be mindful that this is a very sensitive and delicate matter. Insensitive or inflammatory comments will not be tolerated.
Aiding Transparency to Watchtowers teachings. If you have additional information about this topic or would like to reach the author- Please email [email protected]
