Forum to address witchcraft killings

 A WORKSHOP to address witchcraft and sorcery-related violence held recently in Goroka has suggested ways to address the problem.

Sorcerers and survivors of sorcery and witchcraft were among stakeholders who discussed how to develop a national multi-sectoral response to the high rate of sorcery and witchcraft-related accusations and killings.

The workshop was organised by the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council.

Participants focused on mapping the cultural landscape and how sorcery was embedded in cultural beliefs and practices.

They discussed the legal landscape, especially laws which could deal with sorcery and witchcraft-related killings plus local intervention on the violence spectrum in society.

Government officials looked at how the law and justice sector and health agencies dealt with perpetrators, victims of sorcery and witchcraft.

A council spokesman said the workshop wanted to address sorcery and witchcraft-violence which were embedded in traditional belief and indigenous to parts of Papua New Guinea.

But he said the violence seen today was a modern phenomenon.