Hands of a sorcery related violence survivor. Photo: Scott Waide
Warning: This article discusses violence against women.
A survivor of sorcery and witchcraft accusation-related violence (SARV) in a district in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province was reportedly rejected by her own family after she was saved by a social justice advocacy group.
The woman, a mother of four from Londol in Ambum, was tortured and burned alive, according to the Post-Courier report.
The news outlet reported that she was saved by Caritas Enga, an organisation that works with communities to create awareness about SARV, and was hospitalised for several months.
"However, the woman was rejected by her own family when she was taken by the Caritas team to her family," the report said.
"According to Caritas Enga, community leaders are working hard to get the relatives to change their minds while the victim is in the care of the local parish priest at Londol."
Caritas Enga, the report said, has been carrying out advocacy training and peacebuilding initiatives to change attitudes in the community, adding that the group has conducted over 40 such trainings in Enga Province.
Sorcery violence is a major problem in Papua New Guinea, and although there have been calls for tougher laws to prevent such violence, the government has struggled to find a solution.
While the exact number of cases is difficult to pin down, Australian National University academic Miranda Forsyth suspects "there are hundreds of these cases every year".
"We know that it is impacting different communities in different ways. And it is travelling into provinces that had never used to be in before," she told Pacific Waves in March 2024.
In August 2024, activist Evelyn Kunda, who provides support to SARV survivors, told Pacific Waves that the authorities were failing them.
"We really need justic, or law must be strong, and then must go to the village, or we must have to set by-laws in the communities," she said at the time.
-Post-Courier/RNZ Pacific
