Fieldwork from Lae city and Morobe – April 2018

Miranda Forsyth conducted fieldwork on sorcery accusations and related violence in Lae city from 9 to 17 April 2018. She conducted 14 interviews with key stakeholders, two with survivors, and one observation of SARV awareness just outside of Lae, and generated the following preliminary observations/ findings.

Frequency and trends of SARV

It is very difficult to get a handle on the actual number of cases, but SARV seems to be a significant issue in Lae and Morobe generally. This confirms the newspaper analysis which identified Morobe as a hotspot. There was a real spike in cases late last year and early this year but it has calmed down in the last month or so. No-one is sure why there are these spikes.

• Reported in the media and social media last year were the following incidents:
  • 3 women accused and taken into custody by police for 5 days before being released
  • October 2017: Woman (from Eastern Highlands) about to be burnt in tyres by Bumbu river rescued in the nick of time by police (no charges laid yet)
  • October 2017: Woman killed in sorcery related attack (no charges laid yet)
  • Oct/Nov woman from Enga accused of killing child through sorcery and locked up by police for own safety
  • May 2017 two men in Kabwum District (Morobe) killed in village

• I was also told about the following cases from this year:
  • A man was accused, assaulted and his properties burnt down in Situm just outside of Lae (no charges laid as yet)
  • Two old people were assaulted and threatened for over a week in a settlement in Lae (Bundi camp area) when their son died after an epileptic fit (no report to police as yet)
  • 13 year old boy accused and assaulted in Finchaffen

• CHARACTERISTICS OF ACCUSED:
  • Both men and women are being accused and suffering violence. Outside of Lae men seem to be more commonly accused.
  • One of the most badly affected communities is the Chimbu community living in Lae, and within that community it is apparently mostly women being accused and the “heart eating” narrative is present. It is also possible that many people living in Lae from other parts of PNG have come because of sorcery accusations.
  • Some community leaders are accused, I heard of one case of an auxiliary police officer and another of a village councilor
  • Mostly people over 30 being accused but I was also told of a case of a 13 year old boy accused and assaulted in Finchaffen.
  • Children also suffer as secondary victims, are left homeless when house burns down or are stigmatized because their parent is considered a sorcerer.

• GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF VIOLENCE:
  • A lot of the cases in Lae seem to involve victims being taken to the Bumbu river at some stage during the torture process
  • It is also reported as being a problem in Morobe more widely, but the opportunities for reporting and seeking help are much more limited. A lot of the murder in Morobe was said to be linked to sorcery accusations.

• TYPE OF VIOLENCE:
  • Murder, assault, torture, burning
  • Some cases involve property damage, particularly arson and destruction of gardens.

• FACTORS ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE:
  • The extreme violence is said by some to be associated with homebrew and drugs. Deaths from homebrew poisoning may also be triggers for accusation.
  • Glasmen are frequently noted as being involved in incidents and as a factor that leads accusations towards violence

Accusations and stigmatization but no physical violence are also common. These may also have traumatic and significant impacts on those accused; they experience fear, shame, often they are confined to their houses and they may be asked to leave their community. For example it was reported in the newspaper in January 2018 that two men were given seven days notice to move out of the As Mambu area in backroad Lae (apparently under the authority of the Village Court).

In the family sexual violence research in Lae being conducted separately under the leadership of Dr Michelle Rooney, the issue of accusations of sorcery has also been coming up as a source of tension and trigger of violence within families. This is significant because there were no questions about sorcery, as a theme it has emerged unprompted.

Police response:

– Recently the police intervention response in Lae city has been excellent in terms of responding to calls for assistance. This is linked to the introduction of the toll-free number by C/Supt Anthony Wagambie Jnr and a new sector response division last year. These initiatives received almost unanimous public support from people we interviewed, but have been noted to have placed increased pressure on the courts and prisons, which are struggling to cope with the higher numbers.

– Police response is highly limited in Morobe due to geographic limitations and resource constraints.

– The police do not seem to face the same sort of community resistance when seeking to intervene in cases of SARV in Lae and Morobe as in the Highlands provinces. Most reported that perpetrators flee when police arrive.

– Police have responded to the safety concerns of some accused through locking them up for their own safety. In one instance this was done for 5 days. Concerns were raised that this action may be interpreted as remanding them for investigation, and that putting them in a safe house would be a better option (which eventually occurred). The police noted that currently they are the first place people come to for protection and would like to be able to operate their own safe house for these and other types of victims (such as FBV victims).

– All the police I spoke with are aware of the repeal of the Sorcery Act, but many reported struggling with not having it when trying to respond to community concerns about sorcery. A common point was made that it used to be a helpful way of making people feel their concerns were being responded to and dissuading them from taking the law into their own hands. Others were of the view that the repeal is a good signal that people’s perspectives have to change.

– The police response overall shows attempts are being made to ensure a coordinated approach across different units. Sorcery accusation related cases reported in OBs are highlighted and discussed regularly in high level meetings. One of the main motivations appears to be police concerns that SARV can ignite ethnic violence and so efforts are made to calm communities down quickly after SARV.

– The uniformity of police messaging in regard to SARV was significantly higher than other places we have researched, but there were some exceptions. The message generally is that the Sorcery Act has been repealed, now those accusing others will be charged if they take the law into their own hands or make accusations without any proof. Some police are also referring people concerned about sorcery to two community policing officers who do mediation to try to resolve the concerns.

– The biggest challenge in terms of police response remains arrest, charge and prosecution of perpetrators. In general these cases still appear not to be progressing through the system. Mixed reasons were given for this, including difficulties of identification evidence (large mobs involved and community solidarity) and reluctance of witnesses due to fears for their safety, but cases were identified where witnesses were available but cases still not progressing.

– In one case a woman who had been accused by her husband brought the case to the police. The police officer explained to the husband how serious the accusation was and what consequences it could have for the wife. The husband confessed that he was looking for a way to marry a younger woman and apologized to the wife, explaining he had not realized how potentially harmful his actions (ie making the accusation) could be. The police officer believes he was genuine.

Public solicitor

The public solicitor is dealing with SARV cases through assisting with defamation actions and tort claims for damages to person and property. One advantage of this is that people feel this is a way to officially clear their names. They are also helping people to get IPOs to keep safe.

Courts

I only met with the District Court, which this year has committed one SARV case for trial in the national court and dismissed another on the basis of lack of identification evidence.

The court process seems to be very slow, up to 5 years. This makes keeping in contact with witnesses far more difficult and also raises serious issues of remand and bail. Many of the prison break-outs are attributed to frustration over long remand periods.

Responses by NGOs/ churches/ other

– FemiliPNG is providing case management services and has experienced an increase in demands for assistance in these cases. They also help with safe houses and liaise with Oxfam re repatriation, and provide start-up kits for establishing a new life for survivors and their families.

– Local level mediations of a wide variety of forms occur, organized by local komitis. Common outcomes are payment of compensation (either to or from accused) and asking the accused to leave the area.

– One ward has organized a prayer house initiative whereby those accused are prayed over and encouraged to repent and be forgiven. The motivation for this approach is that this will avert violence against the accused, but it is not clear whether it overcomes the problem of re-accusation. The informant said: “We believe that this sorcery issue is spiritual, so this type of response is good. It is sort of like rebuking evil spirits away from someone.

FSVAC

The FSVAC is functional and highly active in Lae. All the stakeholders reported valuing networking and case –management with others. Many of the stakeholders network through Facebook, including in relation to SARV.

Last December the FSVAC discussed the issue of SARV and resolved to follow the approach of emphasizing that the person accusing someone else should be warned not to break the law because there can be no proof of sorcery accepted before the courts. The focus was seen to shift from thinking of the sorcerer as the one who has broken the law, to the accuser as the one who has broken the law.

Suggestions/ recommendations moving forward

1. For developing awareness materials: think about introducing terms such as “false accusations”, people “making up stories,” “con-men,” and “ulterior motives” (as tingting). This is the terminology being used by some advocates in Lae. Give examples which illustrate this: eg man who wanted a new wife so accused his old wife; man who wanted land of widow in Lae so accused her.

2. Also in awareness, need to raise the danger of making an accusation and possible consequences of it: as one survivor said “Many people kill women with this word.” The message needs to be that if harm comes to someone’s property or person after being accused, the person making the accusation may also be criminally liable, and certainly for defamation.

3. One problem in charging offenders seems to be identification evidence, especially where large groups are involved. This could possibly be overcome by ensuring that when police are carrying out rescues they have one officer responsible for filming the scene on their phone, as often the police arrive at the scene whilst the perpetrators are in the very act. This is highly probative evidence.

4. There is a need to ensure the arrest, charge and prosecution of cases of SARV to end perceptions of impunity. Court decisions about SARV cases need to be well publicized.

5. A clear issue emerging from this and other research is the problem of how to restore the reputations and lives of people who have been accused of sorcery, regardless of whether they have experienced violence. As one survivor asked: “Is there any law to go away from this word, sorcery?” Again and again stories emerge of people who have been accused living confined to their houses in a state of fear. Many simply have no-where to go, and are shunned by their relatives. There seems little monitoring of what happens to those who are repatriated elsewhere over the long term, but anecdotal evidence is that people eventually find out why they have left their place of origin and so their insecurity continues.

One possible idea to trial to address this is to have a few VC mag trained in dealing with sorcery accusation cases holding a mediation with the aim of making people aware of how unsubstantiated the evidence is that the accusation is based upon, revealing any ulterior motives people may have for making the accusation, and providing alternative explanations for what has occurred. We have collected some case studies of VC magistrates who have successfully mediated cases in this way.

6. The District courts can play an important role in dealing with SARV through their criminal jurisdiction and also civil jurisdiction (defamation, protection orders etc). A training program developing the ability of Magistrates in this area and ensuring uniformity of response would be useful.