Justice David Susame told a National Court hearing in New Ireland, that it is becoming a practice in some parts of the country to round up people, accuse them of sorcery, and torture them.

He said some of the victims die, others have brutal injuries and their properties are often destroyed.

The judge said the situation has caught the attention of the global community and human rights advocates, forcing the government to act.

The National newspaper reported the six were originally charged with attempted murder but Justice Susame sentenced them on the lesser charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Read more

O'Neill said the old mentality and belief in sorcery was affecting the nation in rural and urban areas.

He said the most affected were always women and girls.

O'Neill called on churches to lead in driving awareness in the villages because the government could not go there. He said the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV) and sorcery accusations needed the help of the churches.

"Our churches must identify solutions and address these social issues in our villages and communities, and address it through mission and the word of God," he said.

"The church has an important role to play among our population by influencing people's behaviour."

O'Neill acknowledged church workers in rural areas but said the issues were affecting people.

He said the government was ready to work with churches to address sorcery and gender-based violence.

The prime minister was speaking at Mogl Kagai village in Sinasina-Yongomulg, Chimbu, on the first day of the 31st synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG.

The church's Bishop Rev Jack Urame said they were ready to work with the government to address issues that were affecting people in rural areas.

Two high-profile sorcery related attacks in January have highlighted how Papua New Guinea's problem with belief in sorcery is spiralling out of control.

The first attack was on the country's Chief Justice in his Highlands province.

In the second attack, villagers in Port Moresby attacked a man who they claimed had used sorcery to cause the death Kato Ottio, a former Canterbury Raiders player just days before flying out for a chance to make his first-grade rugby league debut in England's Super League.

It's believed Ottio was training with players from Queensland Cup side Papua New Guinea Hunters when he collapsed after a long running session.

He was taken to hospital but fell into a coma and never recovered.

Source

• The National
• RNZ
• Social Concerns
• Image: 4.bp.blog.spot

Father Victor Roche made this call, after reports from many parts of the country of torture and killings that have resulted from sorcery or sanguma.

"Churches have failed in their part to stop this, even though 96 percent of the people of Papua New Guinea are Christians," he said.

"Why we are not able to translate the Bible into our lives - and this is not a Christian value, so this has to stop.

Jesus did remove evil spirits from these people and we have the power to do that so pastors, layman, priests and others should preach more against sangomas and sorcery-related killings," he said.

Roche said the Government is not capable of effectively addressing the issue.

"Though it is funding and hosting a lot of seminars, conferences, workshops and others, these things are still happening.

"So, now it is the Churches' responsibility and I call upon the Church Partnership Programme that in the next forum, this should be the main topic," he said.

When asked if Catholic Church had programmes in place to address this issue, Roche said the Catholic Church has preached against sorcery in some parts of the country including Kundiawa, Mendi and Mount Hagen.

"There is also a centre in Mt Hagen where women who have been tortured and accused are rescued and are safely kept there and later returned to their communities and families.

"Catholic Church is taking efforts to prevent things happening at the same time, there are centres run by Catholic Sisters where women can seek refuge," he said.

Source

• Post Courier
• Image: Stop Sorcery Violence
  

"That's just in Enga and not counting the border areas of Hewa and Paiela," he said. "And the number of sorcery-related cases might in fact be higher."

Lutz said the latest attack last Saturday at Pompabus, Wapenamenda, left one woman dead and another with serious injuries after they were burned with hot irons and cut with razors.

The two women were blamed for causing the death of a three-year-old child.

Enga provincial police commander George Kakas said a post-mortem showed the child had died after choking on a piece of sweet potato.

Anton and Julie Lutz are based in Enga Province and have been active there in combating sorcery-related violence.

In June the Immigration Department attempted to have them deported.

The allegation made at the time was that the sponsoring church organisation no longer employed them.

It is not the first time they have been threatened with deportation - one particular occasion in 2014 was related to a dispute in the Gutnius Lutheran Church hierarchy between one-time Head Bishop David Piso and his former Deputy Nickodemus Aiyane.

Julie Lutz has been a missionary in Papua New Guinea since 1986.

Anton first came to Papua New Guinea with his family in 1986. He then returned in 2004 as a full-time missionary.

Anton's late father Dr Steve Lutz served in Enga as a missionary surgeon for more than twenty-three years until his death.

The Lutzes are missionaries of the USA-based Lutheran Church's Missouri Synod.

The church has been working in PNG since 1991 under a group called Concordia Lutheran Professional Mission Services.

Source

• The National
• The Loop
• RNZ
• ABC
• Facebook
• Image: stopsorceryviolence

Earlier on 122 suspects had appeared in court charged with wilful murder - in relation to the same incident in April 2014.he suspects were detained at Gusap police station and subsequently brought to Madang.

Of the 122 men charged, 99 reportedly appeared in the Madang national on March 23, with the trial set to begin in April.

Meanwhile they have been remanded in custody.

Twenty-four others failed to show. One other suspect had since died.

69 young men who were juveniles at that time were also charged and left back in Gusap , the youngest was a 10- year-old boy.

They were were accused of being in procession of offensive weapons and were given court fines of K200.

The alleged killing happened in the Naho Rawa Local Level Government area of Raicoas District in April 2014.

A party of men from six different villages in the Tauta area, raided Sakiko village located at the back of Ramu Sugar township in April, 2014.

Shortly after the incident a mass arrest was made by a police party under the command of former Madang provincial police commander Chief Inspector Sylvester Kalaut.

The suspects were detained at Gusap police station and subsequently brought to Madang. They were released on bail later.

At the time of the arrests Kalaut said the men were part of the group called "haus man".

The suspects are alleged to have killed five men they encountered while raiding the village, shooting them with arrows and hacking them with machetes.

One of them was then thrown into a burning house.

It is also alleged that they killed two boys, aged three and five, by slashing them with machetes.

Source

• thenational.com.pg
• thenational.com.pg
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: thenational.com.pg

It is alleged the 9 pastors are implicated in the torture and killing of a woman accused of sorcery.

In May Enga Provincial police commander acting Superintendent George Kakas urged the nine from Kombiam district to step down from their pastoral duties and surrender themselves to police for questioning.

Kakas alleged that the pastors had signed an agreement with 50 other leaders on behalf of their Poroyalin tribe last month to torture and kill the elderly woman they had accused of killing a 20-year old man through sorcery.

Kakas, who has seen the copy of the agreement, said instead of protecting the woman, the nine allegedly conspired to have her killed.

He said such so-called pastors were fake servants of the church.

"I have the copy of the agreement that all the leaders signed and given to me while in Kombiam.

He said he wanted all the leaders who signed to come to the police station.

He urged village court officials, councilors and village leaders to uphold the law and stop people from carrying out evil acts.

Kakas warned that it they failed to turn themselves in, officers would hunt them down.

He said sorcery was something new to Enga and what the Poroyalin tribesmen did was criminal in nature.

Source

• www.onepng.com
• Image: i.telegraph.co.uk

He has described the nuns who venture into the worst areas of the country as incredibly and inspiringly courageous.

Lippert says they are putting their lives at risk in a desperate bid to reach those in need of help.

"They go right to the midst of where it is happening."

"They have been threatened, pushed, stoned and in one case burned."

"They have been accused of being witches."

"They are not always successful the first time, but they do not give up until they take the victim into their care."

According to Lippert "most, but not all, victims are women with no one to stand up for them."

"Women here (in the Highlands) are still in many ways, second class citizens," he said. "They make easy targets."

Luckily, so far the nuns have survived the attacks, and the bishop adds they and local helpers are not deterred from returning to help.

One problem, according to Lippert and many activists, is that the law is not enforced and the government does not push the police to act.

"Changing beliefs can take a long time. However, society has the duty of protecting the vulnerable and must hold accountable those who perpetrate violence against them. Right now people do these things with impunity," he said.

"It is a very complex issue involving all of the following - in varying degrees - fear, resentment, jealousy, marijuana, greed, culture, clash of cultures, diabolical evil, and more."

He added the complexity made it difficult, but not impossible to combat.

Source

• asopa.typepad.com
• Image: asopa.typepad.com

The footage, reportedly taken in a village of the Enga province, shows four women who have been stripped, tied up, burned and beaten. Several men prod the women threateningly with machetes while hurling questions at them.

According to a local Lutheran missionary, Anton Lutz, the video was first shared by local high school students on their mobile phones before it appeared on social media.

The Guardian reports that several similar acts in recent years have also been filmed or photographed and shared.

"It's not police photos or anything of the crime being shared," said a source who is involved in rescues of victims. "It's actual participants who are there and actually bragging about what they're doing. It's kind of like a Abu Ghraib video or something."

He said he was aware of many people sharing the video on their smartphones, including high school students, and said it wasn't out of horror but rather approval for the actions being taken against the four accused women.

The torturers later claimed the women returned the man's heart after they were tortured, apparently proving their guilt, according to the social media reports.

It is believed at least one woman died after the ordeal, but this has not been confirmed.

The Catholic Bishop of Mendi Bishop Donald Lippert is hosting a forum against such violence this week.

He says the key to stopping sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea is to hold people accountable.

High-ranking members of the Catholic church from around the region are expected to attend as well as Australian National University's Miranda Forsyth, sociologist Philip Gibbs and the US ambassador to PNG and the Solomons, Walter North.

Lippert says police and business community representatives will also attend.

He says the focus will be on introducing deterrents to sorcery-related violence.

"It's really difficult to stop someone from believing something so if people want to believe in sorcery for the rest of their lives, it's up to them, but they have to know if they act on those beliefs in a way that harms innocent people then they have to be held accountable."

Last December the Catholic Bishop of Wabag, Arnold Orowae, launched a campaign against the persecution of so-called witches, threatening any Catholics who get involved in sorcery-related attacks with excommunication.

In an interview, Orowae expressed his disgust with people who call themselves Christians and yet spread dissension linking innocent persons to sorcery.

He also said that the Catholic Church would fight against these witch hunters together with the police.

"The unethical and unlawful killing of women alleged to be witches must and will be stopped in 2015," the bishop said.

The Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea published an open letter in the two major Papuan dailies, condemning the persecution of pseudo-witches.

Source

• breitbart.com
• dailymail.co.uk
• theguardian.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: nsnbc.me

Gibbs, who has spent more than four decades in Papua New Guinea, has met surviving victims of accusation and torture, as well as those who have committed witch-related torture and killings.

The Church's message against witch hunting is delivered with particular emphasis in the Highlands region, where much of the nation's witch-related violence takes place.

In those communities, many of which are remote, the Catholic bishops have posted anti-witch hunting statements on noticeboards and addressed the issue during Sunday services.

One Catholic bishop, Arnold Orowae, is threatening excommunication for any Catholic who perpetrates a witch hunt.

Although Gibbs said he doesn't know how many perpetrators have been excommunicated formally, he points out that, "in a way, the people involved excommunicate themselves".

Although most Papua New Guineans identify as Christian, their Christianity often is mixed with indigenous beliefs, which include magic: both "white magic", such as medicinal faith healing, and "black magic", such as hexes and sorcery.

These are so ingrained in Papua New Guinean culture that as recently as 1971 the government passed the Sorcery Act, which instituted prison for witches and, even more problematically, made suspicions of witchcraft a legitimate legal defence for attacking someone.

The Sorcery Act was repealed in 2013.

But old habits die hard, particularly when they involve the supernatural, and even more so in a place like Papua New Guinea, where many inhabitants are unacquainted with scientific explanations for illness and natural disaster.

During the "witch craze" of Europe, which lasted about three centuries, it is estimated that at least 50,000 people (and possibly many times more) were executed.
Source

• asopa.typepad.com
• Image: i1.wp.com

The woman - known as "Misila" - was one of four women saved by missionaries in January after a measles epidemic killed several people.

The women were accused of being witches by a "witch-finder" who was paid by villagers to identify the believed source of the measles outbreak.

Anton Lutz, a Lutheran missionary, said the woman was axed to death last week.

"What we're hearing is that on Monday about 10 men came and axed her while she was with her family," he told ABC News.

New laws in Papua New Guinea mean now that any 'black magic killing' is treated as murder and punishable by death.

However despite the reforms, the belief in witchraft continues to spread and there have been increasing reports of violence against women in many remote parts of the country.

"It's a very specific ancestral belief that this group has about all sickness and death being the result of these spirit beings that live inside of mostly women and their children," Lutz said.

Police said the villagers later agreed to perform a stone-turning ceremony in which they turned over stones to indicate that they would no longer make accusations of witchcraft.

Source

• abc.net.au
• independet.ie
• telegraph.co.uk
• Image: AFP/Photo/Simon Maina

The four were accused of witchcraft and allegedly tortured in the village of Kaiwe, following recent deaths in the community.

Human rights defenders, church groups and police were preparing to stage a rescue should a spiritualist, known as a "glass man", be brought in and "confirm" the accusations.

The Guardian Australia reported that three of the four have been rescued by relatives but one woman was still being held hostage by the village while it tries to locate a "glass man".

Sister Maggie Turwai, of the Mount Hagen based Catholic family life group, had been working on the case for days with human rights groups and local police.

Sr Turwai said her organisation had been trying to negotiate entry into the village, but said the situation was tense and people would not allow them to come in.

"The Church is working together to closely monitor the situation and if the glass man comes in and confirms sorcery has taken place, before anything happens we will go in and rescue them. The police are already alerted."

Supernatural beliefs remain strong in the very traditional highland regions of PNG, and sorcery accusations against local men and women often follow unexpected deaths in communities.

Sr Turwai said customary belief is strong in the community.

"Slowly, slowly the Church is trying to teach them not to believe in sorcery but because it's a cultural thing the mindset of people is hard to change."

A PNG law which provided a defence to violence if it was done to "stop witchcraft" was only repealed in 2013.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Image: RT.com

A recent intervention preventing the murder of four women accused of sorcery is being hailed as a victory in the push to eradicate witchcraft-related attacks in Papua New Guinea, but those fighting the battle say the violence is still increasing.

Eves says the Catholic church in Chimbu province has quite a good response, "When somebody dies they are quickly on the scene, and start talking about alternatives."

Father Philip Gibbs is based in Mount Hagen in PNG's Western Highlands province, which shares a border with Chimbu.

He has taken a "particular interest" in working to combat sorcery-related violence, both in rescuing people and raising awareness among communities.

Often when he arrives at a town or village after hearing a person has been accused of sorcery, he faces strong resistance.

"I went to one place recently and … I wanted to speak to a woman who'd been tortured and they said 'no.'"

"There had been all sorts of intertribal tensions and they thought my presence would exacerbate those tensions."

"Where my coming might make that worse I have to really decide what's best to do.

"If someone's going to die out of it you have to intervene, but sometimes you can't."

There has been some "patchy" progress made in combatting sorcery related violence, Gibbs believes, but it predates government efforts.

Anecdotally, there seem to be fewer accusations in neighbouring Chimbu province after the Catholic church initiated a plan, he said.

"On the other hand I've seen a growth into areas where it wasn't there before. I think there is a net increase at the moment."

Source

• The Guardian
• Image: The Guardian

"I encourage all our citizens not to get into this bad habit of accusing innocent and defenceless people of sorcery, resulting in torturing and killing," said Bishop Arnold Orowae.

"This is a moral evil that should not be practiced," he added.

Orowae is the Bishop of Wabag, the capital of Enga province in Papua New Guinea's highlands.

He said the accused are often women who are vulnerable and defenceless.

"People run around aimlessly taking pleasure in accusing, torturing, and even killing them."

"In this age and time we cannot continue to act and behave like barbaric people who have no respect for life and who kill to protect their territories."

In the past decade in Papua New Guinea, hundreds of men, women and children have been accused of witchcraft or sorcery, and publicly tortured and murdered by vigilante mobs.

Source

• The Catholic World Report
• The Diplomat
• Image: Reuter/David Gray

She says a recent case of witchcraft related hangings in Vanuatu had raised fears that the phenomenon had extended to other Melanesian nations.

The general secretary of the Council, Shem Temar, told Radio Australia International that pastors are supposed to promote Christian values which includes respect for human life.

He said more information was needed before he could comment on the actions of any individual pastor who may have had a part in the hanging of two men suspected of sorcery in Akaham.

Vanuatu Christian Council (VCC) is a non-governmental organisation. It is made up of seven member churches: Presbyterian, Catholic, Church of Christ, Apostolic, Anglican, Assemblies of God, and the Seventh Day Adventist.

Leniata Legacy is an NGO that was set up in memory of Kepari Leniata who was murdered by a mob in PNG.

Source

• Radio Australia International
• Radio Australia International
• Radio Australia International
• Image: pngloop.s3.amazonaws.com

Those arrested include church pastors and customary chiefs.

According to the Daily Post, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, John Taleo, has described the killings as brutal and unlawful murders.

The killings were reportedly carried out in the presence of the public, including children.

Reports from the police based on Lakatoro in Central Malekula said that police have already arrested over 40 people in Akaham following the weekend's murder.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Radio New Zealand International
• indigenouswatch.wordpress.com
• Image: pngloop.s3.amazonaws.com

An Auckland academic says the real issue with violence against women in Papua New Guinea is not sorcery, but gender inequality.

Evangelina Papoutsaki says unequal gender relations which are the result of the post-colonial times and Christianity, are being used to justify violence against women.

Father Franco Zocca said earlier this year that only scientific enlightenment and a massive education effort could help overcome sorcery beliefs in the region.

But Papoutsaki does not believe the Catholic Church is helping women in the country by focussing on sorcery.

"It's nonsense that the Catholic Church declares war on witchcraft and sorcery. They should fight for equal treatment for women and gender equality," she says.

"They shouldn't attack the end result. The issue is not witchcraft, they are approaching it from the wrong perspective."

"Christianity comes in with a different belief system and sits on top of another society with different spiritual practices and they both try to struggle to exist together," she says.

"Nowadays," she says, "women need to be ashamed about their body. They need to cover it."

"All of a sudden women became objects of shame."

Associate Professor Evangelina Papoutsaki, an academic at Unitec, has worked and lived in Papua New Guinea as a journalism educator.

She has been doing research in Papua New Guinea for 10 years.

Source

• Pacific Scoop
• Image: screenshot theguardian.com

The sorcery offence workshop is part of the on-going review of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code.

The aim of the consultation was to have church leaders have their say about the issue as the commission was in a process of reviewing the matter.

One of the workshop's participants Fr Henry Paroi said that sorcery is part of the culture and the country must find ways to address it other than ignoring it.

"Sorcery is very much part of our culture, passed on from generation to generation, through our ancestors," Fr. Paroi said.

"We just cannot ignore it; the thing is to find ways to deal with it where it won't happen overnight. It takes time".

About 80 participants who are mainly, Priest, Pastors and church leaders and elders from various denominations were expected to attend the workshop.

Source

• Solomon Star
• Solomon Star
• Image: Pacificinstiute.anu.edu.au

This leads to persecution and killing of innocent people conveniently identified with the weakest and defenceless in society. Instead, "If someone gets sick, don't even talk about sanguma. The only power sanguma has comes from people talking about it and fearing it", write the five bishops of whom two, Arnold Orowae of Wabag and Anton Bal of Kundiawa (coordinator of the group), are men from the Highlands.

PNG plunged into a crisis a few months ago when a young mother was burned alive in Mt. Hagen following allegations of having caused the sickness and death of a small boy. Government enhanced tougher legislation, but law enforcement agencies will not be able to cope unless the cultural and spiritual change the bishops intend to spearhead takes place.

Read Bishop's Statement

• Image: FBCDN Photos

He was speaking at the Sorcery and witchcraft-related killings in Melanesia: Culture, law and human rights perspectives Conference at The Australian National University in Canberra, last week.

The conference was attended by a number of people seen to be critical to solving the problem of sorcery killings in PNG.

Sorcery in PNG has been in the spotlight for a number of recent gruesome incidents involving women being tortured and killed after being accused of witchcraft.

One of the main topics discussed at the conference is the influence of churches in PNG, and how they can bring about change.

Gibbs said when someone dies, some people will immediately blame black magic and hunt down the alleged sorcerer, and then proceed to torture and kill them.

He says a culture of blame and revenge is pervasive in PNG, and people need to be better educated.

"To try to help people come to a more scientific understanding of how things happen and why things happen. For instance, if somebody has an accident here usually the question asked will be 'well, who's behind it?' They're always looking for a personalised form of evil that's behind it."

Fr Philip Gibbs, SVD, is from New Zealand. He is a Divine Word Missionary and was ordained in 1978. Fr. Philip is an anthropologist and directs the Melanesian Institute in Goroka, Papua New Guinea.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: Amnesty Australia