The Papua New Guinea government has pledged its commitment to stamping out sorcery-related violence at the opening of a conference on the issue in Eastern Highlands province.
The three-day work shop, hosted by the University of Goroka in the provincial capital, is tasked with developing a national response to an increasing number of brutal crimes associated with witchcraft and sorcery.
Annell Husband reports from Goroka.
"Ferocious drumming opened the conference which has drawn fewer than expected participants. The prime minister, Peter O'Neill, was to have delivered the today's key note but in his place, the Chairperson of the Family and Sexual violence action committee, Dr Lawrence Kalinoe, underlined the seriousness with which the government views the brutality associated with sorcery along with its commitment to stopping it. He says the idea that sorcery is part of PNG culture is a nonsense that must not be perpetuated and acknowledged government's repealing of the 1971 Sorcery Act as a good first step towards achieving that. But when asked how those making accusations of sorcery might be prosecuted before taking violent action, Dr Kalinoe freely admitted that PNG is now in the situation of being unable to take legal action against such people. He says he will look to the outcomes of the conference for a solution to that conundrum."
