Consular officials contact Gloriavale’s Indian community

| Greymouth Star | Laura Mills |
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says consular officials have been in touch with the Gloriavale Christian Community outpost in India.

In the recent TVNZ ‘docuseries’, Escaping Utopia, former Gloriavale members travelled to India and met a member who moved there seven years ago and now has six children. She was among five women born on the West Coast at Gloriavale, who had mothered children in India.

Deborah Manning — a specialist in refugee, immigration and human rights law — subsequently claimed concerns of trafficking under the Crimes Act as well as coerced marriage.

“As expected, the agencies have clicked immediately into gear and are taking this very seriously. It’s led out of MBIE, in terms of the trafficking issue, along with NZ Police and there are other agencies involved as well. So it’s being taken seriously and there’s active work under way.”

MFAT said this week that for privacy reasons, no further information would be provided.

“We continue to liaise with other government agencies as required.”

MBIE is also involved and said in a statement: “Investigations can be complex and time-consuming”.

“It can take months to fully investigate a case and achieve an ideal conclusion. That being said we are unable to comment on any active investigations as doing so could compromise the integrity of the investigation and impact those involved.”

A Gloriavale spokesman provided a statement to RNZ recently: “We are in constant contact with our brethren in India and have heard no complaints from them on these issues”.

“Our New Zealand women who went to India and married there did so of their own free will and with the convictions they had in their own hearts. Some of those people have also returned to New Zealand with their families, and then gone back to India. Family relatives from New Zealand also visit them regularly.”