Sorcery accusation related violence is seen as a growing problem in PNG and has attracted domestic and international calls for an effective government response. It is implicated in a range of negative developmental outcomes, including economic disempowerment, poor health, insecurity, persecution, and violence including torture and murder. What’s more, these negative outcomes impact disproportionately upon women and most acutely affect women who lack male protection and are consequently more vulnerable to sorcery accusations.

In response to calls for action to deal with the problem of sorcery accusation related violence, both the PNG government and a broad range of civil society, faith based and international organisations have started to put into place legislative reforms, projects and programs, but there has been an over reliance from the government on the preventative and deterrent effects of the state criminal justice system.

To combat this, the Department of Justice, together with a range of partner organisations, have developed a Sorcery National Action Plan (“SNAP”) which sets out a comprehensive and holistic response to the problem. The SNAP provides for the development of training packages for a wide range of service providers and local community governance structures, but at present there is not sufficient research to identify what types of training is needed and what is likely to be effective.

This research project will support PNG partners to address sorcery accusation related violence by developing and communicating a body of evidence regarding which interventions break the link between sorcery and violence and how they can best be supported. The project will be heavily action-research focussed as it monitors and critiques the implementation of SNAP and its associated interventions.