Police in PNG play important role in fight against sorcery accusation related violence
Professor Miranda Forsyth spoke to Jordan Fennell on ABC Radio’s Pacific Beat about policing in Papua New Guinea.
Over the Christmas period there was a spike in violence against women accused of sorcery in Papua New Guinea. Police in PNG have been criticised for their inaction on sorcery accusation related violence, but research by the Australian National University shows some officers are going above and beyond to combat the problem.
In her research, Miranda spoke with many police officers who were working with local women’s organisations to respond to case.
“We’ve found a lot of judges of village court magistrates, and of police officers, who have been doing really quite incredible and very creative work in trying to both prevent and then to respond to accusations of sorcery.
“I’ve heard cases, examples of police officers who were sheltering, victims of SARV in their own houses, sometimes finding places for them to go using their own resources,” she said.