A Papua New Guinea NGO says poverty is a prominent factor in ongoing sorcery-related attacks and killings.
Women Arise PNG, a movement working to counter violence against females, says there's been a growth of such incidents particularly in the Highlands.
Under-resourced policing and a lack of witnesses remain obstacles to sorcery-related attacks reaching PNG's courts.
Furthermore, the NGO's Esther Igo told Johnny Blades lack of evidence to prove sorcery activity is complicating efforts to legislate around the problem.
Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Transcript
ESTHER IGO: We have a society that is highly cultural and highly suspicious of any deaths. So any deaths that happen any sicknesses that happen most of those are believed to be sorcery related.
JOHNNY BLADES: How would you change that mindset when it is so entrenched?
EI: It is going to take a lot of education but you know sorcery and poverty is very directly related. The interesting thing is the trend is that in the past sorcery and witchcraft and all of that was an older men domain and younger men did not really engage in such. But today there is a lot of youth and younger men involved in sorcery because they see that as a source of income. And so let me just explain how it happens. So if somebody actually are envious of me or are jealous of me or have ill feelings towards me and would want to see me dead, and would want to actually want to engage a form of sorcery as a means of causing my death they would pay a sum of money to actually cause that. So that is talking about the act of sorcery and then you have the young people going and doing whatever they do to actually cause that to happen.
JB: But that would just be an attack to kill someone wouldn't it? I mean if some young man has been tasked to kill someone, how can they prove he has done that through sorcery?
EI: You see sorcery is not done by physical contact, the cause of death of sorcery is they actually believe it is spiritual, They come and they harm a person indirectly by, I don't know, I cant explain it. Your question of how do you prove, is the issue the government has in passing the Sorcery Act or the Sorcery Bill. Because it is very difficult to have very direct causal effect. Saying that this person died because of sorcery caused by this person. And therefore evidence is actually really difficult to produce.
JB: Wouldn't the legislators just say there is no such thing as sorcery, You can't prove it therefore it doesn't exist or it cant be legislated for. So it is just about trying to get the people who launch these killings and these attacks on people it is about getting them.
EI: It is difficult because some places also believe in sorcery legislators of Papua New Guinea, some of the leaders in parliament as well practice or would be seen as believing in sorcery, So it is very difficult like I said it is a mindset thing unless you start taking people away and start giving them opportunities. The issue we have in Papua New Guinea is poverty and opportunities that keep people busy and keep people engaged.
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