The former members of the Gloriavale community claim they were "deliberately entrapped into slavery". File photo. Photo: RNZ / Jean Edwards
A multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit has been filed against Gloriavale and five government agencies by former members who claim they were held as slaves from birth by the Christian community's leaders.
Anna Courage, Pearl Valor, Gideon Benjamin and Hosea Courage are also seeking a High Court declaration the government has breached international treaties by failing to protect girls and boys from the worst forms of child labour, according to a statement of claim obtained by RNZ.
Representing other Gloriavale leavers, the four plaintiffs are each seeking damages of $2.5 million.
Gloriavale facing class action lawsuit from former members
The statement of claim said Gloriavale's founding document What We Believe and the Declaration of Commitment signed by their parents were "instruments of slavery" for anyone born into the isolated West Coast community.
Leaders' "absolute control" of community members resulted in a "master/slave" relationship, in which they were held as property and deprived of free will, the document said.
The former members claimed they were "deliberately entrapped into slavery".
"The leaders deliberately designed the Gloriavale community to entrap children from birth into the community, where they have no free will, no control of any assets, no access to any money and are not remunerated for their labour," the statement of claim said.
"The relationship between the plaintiffs and (Gloriavale's leaders) is unlawful as it is slavery."
The document said free will was deliberately destroyed from birth, "including practising a technique of denying babies the ability to breathe until they learn to be and are subdued".
RNZ has been told this involved members covering the nose and mouth of babies until they relaxed.
The leavers were suing the Attorney-General on behalf of the Ministries of Social Development, Business, Innovation and Employment and Education, Department of Internal Affairs and Oranga Tamariki, as well as Gloriavale's Overseeing Shepherd, seven other senior leaders, and the trust behind Gloriavale, the Christian Church Community Trust.
A Gloriavale spokesman said the community was aware of the legal proceedings but it was too early to comment.
Gloriavale has previously said the community has always worked to comply with New Zealand law and denied members were employees, rather than volunteers.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden said it was not appropriate to comment because the matter was before the courts.
"It's important to allow time for the judicial process to run its course," she said.
Threats of damnation
The former members said the male-dominated leaders controlled where and how they lived, their long, hard hours of work from a young age, freedom of thought, food, and who they married.
The leaders also denied them a proper education, including assigning women and girls to work on Gloriavale's domestic teams, preparing and cooking food, cleaning, and laundering and sewing clothes, they said.
The four plaintiffs claimed the leaders did not protect members from sexual abuse and exerted undue influence during the signing of legal documents.
They said they were severely disciplined for failing to follow the leaders' directions, forbidden from going to the police and threatened with damnation if they ever left.
The statement of claim said New Zealand was a signatory to two International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and a protocol obliging the country to stamp out forced labour and the worst forms of child labour, including slavery, and to ensure victims had access to remedies such as compensation.
In addition to a High Court declaration that they were held as slaves from birth by Gloriavale's leaders, the plaintiffs also sought a declaration that the government had breached the ILO treaties, and that the Christian Church Community Trust should not be registered as a charitable trust.
The alleged breaches included failing to take steps to shut the community, failing to protect children from child labour and failing to prevent girls being "trafficked to India, where their slavery continues", while protecting Gloriavale's leaders by inaction.
RNZ has been told internal dissent about the treatment of workers at Gloriavale has led one current member to question, "if the government won't protect me from slavery, who will?"
The fresh legal proceedings follow separate High Court action alleging five government agencies knowingly allowed abuse to happen at Gloriavale.
Anna Courage, Pearl Valor and Hosea Courage were among nine former members involved in two landmark Employment Court cases, in which chief judge Christina Inglis ruled they were community employees, rather than volunteers.
The six women and three men have lodged an Employment Relations Authority claim against the Christian community for lost wages and compensation believed to total $5.2 million, although Gloriavale was granted leave to appeal in the women's case on two narrow questions of law.
Police have been investigating allegations of forced labour, slavery and servitude at Gloriavale.
Authorities were also examining concerns about human trafficking and coerced marriage at Gloriavale's sister community in India, although leaders said the women who went there and married did so of their "own free will and with the convictions they had in their own hearts".
The fresh legal action comes two months after the government disbanded the Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group made up of business, union and human rights representatives tasked with providing advice on modern slavery law.
Van Velden said the government's workplace relations and safety priorities included improving the Holidays Act and reforming health and safety law.
"It is unlikely that other policy issues, such as modern slavery supply chain legislation, will be picked up before those priorities have been progressed," she said.
"Modern slavery is a concerning issue, that should be appropriately punished where it has occurred. However, I would stress that regulations are not required for businesses to review their supply chains and ensure that they are free from modern slavery."