Arise, skeptics in Papua New Guinea

LEO IGIWE

This is a wake up call to skeptically minded people in Papua New Guinea. This is a call to action- a call to become active and involved in transforming the society; a call to become visible, to discard the garb of passivity and anonymity and don the robe of social engagement. From the recent news and reports, there is a tendency to think that the country of PNG is a nation of stone agers, of barbaric people who are trapped in the past, of unrepentant witch believers and blind adherents to blind magic and sorcery. Of course the scale of murders and abuses in the country is appalling and horrifying. It is indicative of the prevalence of the  belief in the occult. But sorcery related abuse is not unknown in human history or in other parts of the world.

Like other societies in the world, PNG is diverse, comprising people who entertain different opinions and views. Surely all PNGuineans do not profess the same belief in the same way.

PNG may actually be dominantly christian or witch believing, but there are hierachies of belief and unbelief. There are those who doubt, question or disbelief. Though they may not doubt or question aloud; though they may not be organised or visible in the country’s demography. The doubters and disbelievers in PNG exist and constitute part of the population.  I am strongly persuaded that there are people in Papua New Guinea who do not believe in sorcery or in the alleged powers of the occult and the supernatural. There are people in Papua New Guinea who are ashamed of the wave of sorcery  related murders, and the underlying mindset. There are PNGuineans who think that such misconceptions and killings should not be associated with the PNG of the 21st century. There are rationally minded people in the country. There are critical thinkers, philosophers, scientifically tempered persons who regard sorcery as superstition, as lacking any basis in reason, science and common sense. Surely these enlightenment minded individuals are few. They may be an invisible minority but they are right there in PNG. So there are people in Papua New Guinea who are skeptics or who are skeptical about sorcery related claims. There are people in PNG who are suspicious or doubtful of allegations of witchcraft or of malevolent magic.

So, will the skeptics in PNG now stand up? This is because now is the time to be counted. Now is the time to make their voices heard. This is the time to apply skeptics’ rational compassion to dispelling the looming dark age in the country. This is the time to put the skeptical resource at the country’s disposal as it grapples with the problem of puripuri.

Ending sorcery related murder in PNG requires not only the prosecution and punishment of perpetrators or the protection of the rights of women, but also a change of mindset- reorienting the mentality of the people. This is because sorcery is 'a problem of the mind'. Sorcery is based on a mentality that imputes magical agency on any instance of evil or misfortune. And magical agency evokes panic, anger and revenge sentiments. Proactive skepticism is needed to help the people of PNG realize their mistaken ideas, notions, associations and imputations. It will help bring an end to witch hunt and other superstition related abuses in the country.

Arise, skeptics in Papua New Guinea.

 Leo Igwe, as a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, has bravely worked for human rights in West Africa. He is presently enrolled in a three year research programme on “Witchcraft accusations in Africa” at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany

Manus challenge goes to PNG Supreme Court

 Source: AAP

A legal challenge against the Australian-run detention centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island has been delayed, with the case sent to a higher court.

A legal challenge against the Australian-run detention centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island will go to the Supreme Court, after lawyers dropped lower circuit court proceedings.
The lawyer acting for PNG opposition leader Belden Namah told AAP on Wednesday he was blocked from meeting with detainees in defiance of a court order handed down last week.
"We seem to be getting bogged down in procedural matters so we will head to the Supreme Court," Mr Henao said.
"We will be filing that reference this week, in the next couple of days, and this matter will be back in court.
"We were denied access (to the centre) and we will be filing contempt proceedings against the officers of the government concerned."
Justice David Canning last week rejected Mr Henao's request for an interim injunction on any more asylum seekers being brought to Lombrum Naval base on Manus.
But he granted Mr Henao and his firm permission to visit the site and interview detainees.
Mr Henao has said he was ordered by his client to interview detainees to see if they wanted to join the legal challenge.
PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill on Tuesday denied there was any order given to stop Mr Henao's team from visiting the temporary tent facility, which is home to 274 asylum seekers, including 34 children.
"There is no direction from my office or anybody else about the lawyer trying to visit the premises in Manus," he told reporters on Tuesday.
The legal arguments for and against the facility, set up under a memorandum of understanding between PNG and Australia, depend on the interpretation of two different sections of the constitution.
Mr Namah's lawyers argue the site is illegal under PNG's constitution, while government lawyers say the migration laws give Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato the power to set up a processing facility.
AAP and PNG'S The Post Courier were denied access to the facility last November by security firm G4S and PNG immigration, who told reporters they were following orders from Canberra.
Australian officials had earlier directed all requests to access the site to PNG authorities.

Papua New Guinea 'witch' murder is a reminder of our gruesome past

The killing of Kepari Leniata recalls a history in Europe and North America of scapegoating women for witchcraft

By RICHARD SUGG
Guardian UK

Last week, police charged two people from Mount Hagen, in the western highlands of Papua New Guinea, with the murder of Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old woman and mother. Accused of bewitching a six-year old boy who had recently died in hospital, Leniata was stripped, tortured with a hot iron rod, doused in petrol, and burned on a pile of rubbish and car tyres.

Bystanders watch as 20-year-old Kepari Leniata, accused of witchcraft, is burned alive in Papua New Guinea after being tortured. Photograph: AP

Anyone with a reasonable knowledge of history will quickly think of the legalised witch killings of Europe and North America as comparisons. These offer a sobering broader perspective. In Germany, Switzerland, Britain and New England, perhaps 50,000 alleged witches were tortured and killed by the most educated and powerful men in society. By definition, most of their supposed crimes were sheer impossibilities. But the forgotten history of witch attacks is perhaps more surprising still.
In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1736 outlawed any further prosecutions for witchcraft. Yet in the sleepy Hertfordshire village of Long Marston in 1751, the law did not protect 69-year-old Ruth Osborne. Accused of bewitching cattle, she was watched by a large crowd at the village pond that April, where a man named Thomas Colley ducked and drowned her. Though Colley would hang, many stayed away from the execution in sympathy – but the witch attacks were far from over.
With a present-day population of around 800 and a late-Saxon church, Great Paxton in Huntingdonshire now looks charmingly picturesque. Its past is rather darker. One Sunday in April 1808 the church's minister, Isaac Nicholson, could be heard attempting to talk his parishioners out of their belief that Ann Izzard had bewitched several locals, including three girls who had fallen sick. As Stephen A Mitchell notes, Nicholson was right to fear he had scarcely dented the prevailing superstitions. One night that May a mob dragged Ann, naked, from her bed into the yard outside her house. They scratched her arms with pins and beat her face, stomach and chest with a stick.
When Leniata was burned in Papua New Guinea, a surprising number of onlookers, including police, failed to save her. Though Izzard survived, her vicar had been powerless to help. That night, when she managed to dress and drag herself to the local constable, he too refused to protect her.
If this is a rather startling view of Jane Austen's England, matters were no better in Scotland. Near the church of Kirkpatrick Fleming in Dumfriesshire, a mill and a cottage faced one another beside Bettermont bridge, over the River Kirtle. One night, around 1820, the local minister, Mr Monilaws, was urgently called to Bettermont. In the cottage he found an old woman – the skin of her forehead had been cut and was hanging down over her eyes. The culprit was the miller, convinced that his uncanny neighbour had bewitched his pigs, recently drowned in the river.
His attack was not necessarily angry: he believed that he was "disinfecting" the supposed witch. The same thing was performed in Annan, Scotland, in 1826; and in Dorset around 1915 a woman had 22 wounds stitched by the local doctor for this reason. The old woman at Bettermont had more rudimentary attention; she was sewed up the vicar and his son. As far as we know, the miller was never prosecuted.
It was by a very slight chance that this story survived at all – and many others, if unprosecuted, must now have vanished. Yet similar accounts are all too plentiful. Over in Texas in 1860, a gang rode up to Antonia Alanis, and "lassooed her and dragged her on the ground" before taking her across the border to Camargo in Mexico. Here she was beaten and severely tortured for two weeks. Finally, convinced that her witchcraft still prevailed, her attackers tied her up and had "corn shucks lighted under her feet". She died soon afterwards of her burns. The culprit was a wealthy man named Ramirez, and the cause, yet again, was his sick, supposedly bewitched son Ambroso.
These are just a handful of those who suffered for superstition long after the law had sought to end attacks on "witches". Around 1880 an old Indian woman was stoned to death in Pine Nut Valley, Nevada, as a witch, and in about 1885 two men in southwest England were jailed for killing a woman thought to have bewitched their cattle. Nor were such attacks purely rural affairs. On Sunday 24 June, 1827, a crowd of over 300 people rushed down Marlborough Street in Dublin, literally throwing around a woman amid cries of: "A witch! A witch! Burn the witch!." The victim was narrowly rescued by one brave young man and dragged into a nearby police station.
Come the 20th century, there were witch murders or attacks in Arizona in 1952, Switzerland in 1959, and Bavaria in 1963. At times witch attacks may have involved personal grudges, and at times victims may have been singled out because they looked different (the Dublin woman was said to be "dwarfish and deformed"). But time and again the chief factor, amid the sick children, cattle, or failing crops was still more basic – a problem which needed someone to blame it on. If there is one wider moral of all these tragic events, it is this: those who seek scapegoats – whether witches, outsiders or immigrants – usually hit the wrong target.

Richard Sugg

Subsidy to freight copra

Source: The National, Wednesday, February 20, 2013

By MALUM NALU

THE Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK) will subsidise the cost of copra freight to help rural copra producers get their produce to the market in light of current low prices.
KIK corporate affairs manager Alan Aku told The National the government allocated K7 million for copra freight subsidy assistance this year but this money had not yet been received.
"The government has given us K7 million for freight subsidy," he said.
"We’re waiting for the money to be disbursed so we can help the most-isolated places.
"We made a submission for freight subsidy because of the (copra) prices going down.
"We’ve identified five provinces, targeting the most-remote areas.
"For example, in East New Britain, we’re looking at Pomio.
"In New Ireland, we’re looking at West Coast or Namatanai.
"In West New Britain, we’re looking at Bali-Vitu or Kandrian-Gloucester.
"In Madang, we are looking at Rai Coast or Karkar.
"In Milne Bay, we are looking at the outer islands."
Milne Bay provincial government already has a subsidy initiative to assist local producers when copra prices fall.
A subsidy of 70t per kg is paid to producers to prop up what they received.
Governor Titus Philemon has allocated K100,000, while the other MPs have been asked to allocate K250,000 each from their district support grants.
Alotau MP and Planning and Monitoring Minister Charles Abel has allocated K500, 000 to fund the subsidy for his district.
Aku said such support enriched Milne Bay growers in that they received better prices compared to those in other provinces.
"They (Milne Bay) have done well," he said.
"While other provinces have been sitting on K500 to K600 per tonnes, Milne Bay was sitting on K1,000."

Severe violence against PNG women must stop, says United Nations

Women News Network Breaking

(WNN/UN/RW) United Nations, Geneva, SWITZERLAND, EUROPE: The United Nations (UN) system in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is gravely concerned by the torture and killing of Ms. Kepari Laniata, a 20-year-old young woman who was accused of using sorcery to kill a six-year old boy in Mount Hagen on 6 February 2013, and other cases of sorcery-related violence reported by the national media in recent days. 

A rural woman elder looks straight into the camera with the lines of time and hardship on her face. Most women in rural PNG – Papua New Guinea live their lives following the rules of a largely male dominated society that can cause them to face daily dangers that include severe violence and inequality. Human rights and advocacy for all women in PNG is desperately needed for women arbitrarily accused of practicing sorcery, says the United Nations. Image: PJ Ringer

The case of the late Ms. Laniata is unfortunately one of many and illustrates the need for urgent attention and action to address this serious human rights violation. Many such cases go unreported and grave injustice is done to the citizens of PNG.
The UN system in PNG is deeply disturbed with the rising number of cases of violence inflicted upon persons accused of sorcery across the country, the impunity shown to perpetrators of such acts, and the lack of support available for victims and their families. Great concern is also expressed for the large number of women, men and children who are accused of practicing sorcery and subsequently attacked, tortured and killed or banished from their communities.
During her 2012 visit to PNG, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, described the gravity of the situation as a “pervasive phenomenon” and stated that sorcery is often used as a pretext to mask abuse of women and children. The UN is shocked to learn that within a week of the murder of Ms. Laniata, yet another media report appeared on the brutal gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Mount Hagen. In this case, two women were initially accused of using sorcery to cause the death of the young girl and were subsequently tortured until the post-mortem of the child determined the cause of the death was not sorcery related. These cases also highlight the blatant, brutal and inexcusable acts of physical and sexual violence inflicted upon women and children across the country; a culture of violence which is both undeniable and rampant.
“We urge the Government to take urgent action to end these harmful phenomena and to conduct fair and thorough investigations to arrest and prosecute perpetrators through the Criminal Code, and in accordance with its international obligations and the human rights principles enshrined in the National Constitution,” says the UN Country Team in Papua New Guinea as they ask for a repeal of the Sorcery Act in PNG.
“We also call on the Government to work in partnership with civil society to provide protection as well as medical and psychosocial support services to persons accused of sorcery and their families who often suffer serious injuries and trauma following these attacks,” continued the UN in Papua New Guinea.
PNG is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). During the first periodic reporting on the CEDAW Convention in 2010, the Government made commitments to address sorcery-related violence against women as a priority and within two years report on the status of the problem. Unfortunately, this has not happened and a large number of citizens remain at risk of violence and possible death through sorcery-related accusation.
The UN in PNG is also urging the Government to implement the recommendations made by the UN CEDAW Committee.
“Support must also be given to human rights defenders and service providers who are courageously assisting victims of these attacks, and the prosecution of all cases through the national criminal justice system must be promoted,” says the UN in PNG.
Currently the UN system in Papua New Guinea works with law enforcement agencies in PNG to address violence against women and children and to strengthen system gaps and help with data gathering.

Women killed as ‘witches,’ in Papua New Guinea, in 2013

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

International Herald Tribune

“They’re going to cook the sanguma,” or witchcraft, “mama!”
This terrifying cry by Papua New Guinean children opens “It’s 2013, and They’re Burning ‘Witches,’ ” a long and eloquent report in the Global Mail, an Australia-based online news site.

It was published last week before news shot around the world on Tuesday that the police in Papua New Guinea, in another case, had charged two people with torturing and killing a 20-year-old mother, Kepari Leniata, whom they accused of being a witch. Ms. Leniata was “stripped, tortured with a hot iron rod, doused in gasoline and set alight on a pile of car tires and trash” earlier this month in front of a crowd of hundreds of people, including young children, The Associated Press reported.
Why?

Uncredited/Post Courier, via Associated Press Bystanders, including children, watching as a woman accused of witchcraft is burned alive in Papua New Guinea, earlier this month.

“Leniata had been accused of sorcery by relatives of a 6-year-old boy who had died in a hospital,” The A.P. reported.
The year 2013 or not, such violence against women is not uncommon in Papua New Guinea, where “witches” (in reality just women, often older ones) may be blamed when things go wrong, a reflection of the powerful belief in sorcery in Papua New Guinea, a Pacific nation just north of Australia. Women are often identified as  witches and attacked  when a man, or child, dies unexpectedly.
But there may be other reasons. As the Australian international television station Australia Network reported, in a resource-rich country undergoing a boom, accusing a woman of being a witch is an easy way to take her land.
Dame Carol Kidu, a Papua New Guinean politician, told the station: “There are other things involved nowadays, like greed, acquisition of people’s properties and land, and all sorts of things might be all be tied up in all of this, using killing the sorcerers as a reason to acquire land. So it needs to be investigated and we need to work out how we can deal with it. It is a very complex issue.”
The United Nations also found that accusations of sorcery can be used to kill women for a range of motives. “The U.N. human rights agency says they’ve seen an increase in these types of killings as well as torture and rape,” United Nations radio reported recently. “They say the accusations are often used to deprive women of land and property,”
What lies behind the ferocity? Traditional beliefs, alcohol and drug use among men, and uneven development in a country that is in the middle of a mining boom where, as the Global Mail said, “the wealth bypasses the vast majority.”
It said: “Enduring tradition widely resists the notion that natural causes, disease, accident or recklessness might be responsible for a death. Rather, bad magic is the certain culprit.”
The dead person if often a man; the culprit is a woman. Or a “witch.”
“When people die, especially men, people start asking ‘Who’s behind it?’ not ‘What’s behind it?’ ” Philip Gibbs, a longtime resident, anthropologist, sorcery specialist and Roman Catholic priest,  told the Global Mail.
But in its report, the news site was careful to point out that while many Papua New Guineans believe in sorcery to some degree, that does not mean that they support the lynchings.
“City and country folk alike overwhelmingly ‘recoil in fear and disgust’ at lynch mobs pursuing payback,” it said.
The article mentions Sister Gaudentia Meier, a Swiss nun who tried to save Angela, a woman accused of witchcraft. The article includes powerful photos of accused “witches.”
Hearing the children shout that a witch was about to be cooked, Sister Gaudentia rushed after them. “Two days earlier, she had tried to rescue Angela (not her real name), an accused witch, when she was first seized by a gang of merciless inquisitors looking for someone to blame for the recent deaths of two young men.”
Angela was luckier than Ms. Leniata.
She had no male relatives to protect her (a common profile for accused “witches”) and was horribly tortured, but lived, the article says. A “sorcery survivor,” today she is in hiding with her small son.
“Those victims who lived to tell the tale owe their lives either to individual police members or to a strong church leader who intervened for them,” Father Gibbs told the Global Mail.
“In effect it means that, if sufficiently motivated to act, the power of the police and civil authorities, or the power of the church, can be enough to defend a person who is otherwise powerless,” he said.

Copra output to continue growing

Source: The National, Tuesday,  February 19, 2013 

 

By MALUM NALU

COPRA production, which has become a way of life in the coastal provinces of Papua New Guinea, will continue to grow despite current low prices, according to the Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK).
KIK acting industry affairs manager Alan Aku said this in light of copra prices and production hitting an all-time low last year.
He told The National that PNG last year produced 31,000 tonnes of copra compared with 46,000 in 2011, with export earnings – figures for which were still being finalised – being the lowest ever mainly because of the economic crisis in Europe.
 “The drop in production is not much,” Aku said.
“Irrespective of the price going down (to its lowest levels ever), people are still producing.
“Production is not too bad.
“Our production figures for last year have shown that although the prices have gone down, farmers have continued to produce copra, and we are still exporting.
“Some of those who have export licences have opted not to export because the prices are low, and are both buying and stocking them up, or they are selling to local processing mills like Copra Products Ltd in East New Britain or Pristine in Madang.
“These are the two mills we have operating in the country
The current major producers of copra in the country are Bougainville, East New Britain, West New Britain, Madang, New Ireland and Milne Bay.
KIK’s predecessor, the Copra Marketing Board, had depots in all coastal provinces and had a monopoly over copra buying until its demise.
“Copra Marketing Board was the monopoly copra buyer in the country,” Aku said.
“It set up depots in all coastal provinces and was buying, that’s when the provinces were interested in producing copra.
“But then, government wanted to liberate the market, so they took away the marketing power of Copra Marketing Board and made it available to the private sector.
“They made KIK to become the regulatory body alone.
“That’s when the market was opened up to private entities who wanted to go into buying and selling, it’s all private sector now.
“It happened in 2001; in 2002 KIK came into operation.
“That’s why Gulf has stopped producing copra, Central has stopped producing copra, Morobe has stopped producing copra, East Sepik has scaled down, Manus has gone down, Oro (Northern) has gone down.
“These provinces have stopped producing copra basically because there’s no market.
“Currently, copra production is centred on six provinces – Bougainville, New Ireland, East New Britain, West New Britain, Madang, and Milne Bay.”

Copra output to continue growing

Source: The National, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 

 

By MALUM NALU

COPRA production, which has become a way of life in the coastal provinces of Papua New Guinea, will continue to grow despite current low prices, according to the Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK).
KIK acting industry affairs manager Alan Aku said this in light of copra prices and production hitting an all-time low last year.
He told The National that PNG last year produced 31,000 tonnes of copra compared with 46,000 in 2011, with export earnings – figures for which were still being finalised – being the lowest ever mainly because of the economic crisis in Europe.
“The drop in production is not much,” Aku said.
“Irrespective of the price going down (to its lowest levels ever), people are still producing.
“Production is not too bad.
“Our production figures for last year have shown that although the prices have gone down, farmers have continued to produce copra, and we are still exporting.
“Some of those who have export licences have opted not to export because the prices are low, and are both buying and stocking them up, or they are selling to local processing mills like Copra Products Ltd in East New Britain or Pristine in Madang.
“These are the two mills we have operating in the country
The current major producers of copra in the country are Bougainville, East New Britain, West New Britain, Madang, New Ireland and Milne Bay.
KIK’s predecessor, the Copra Marketing Board, had depots in all coastal provinces and had a monopoly over copra buying until its demise.
“Copra Marketing Board was the monopoly copra buyer in the country,” Aku said.
“It set up depots in all coastal provinces and was buying, that’s when the provinces were interested in producing copra.
“But then, government wanted to liberate the market, so they took away the marketing power of Copra Marketing Board and made it available to the private sector.
“They made KIK to become the regulatory body alone.
“That’s when the market was opened up to private entities who wanted to go into buying and selling, it’s all private sector now.
“It happened in 2001; in 2002 KIK came into operation.
“That’s why Gulf has stopped producing copra, Central has stopped producing copra, Morobe has stopped producing copra, East Sepik has scaled down, Manus has gone down, Oro (Northern) has gone down.
“These provinces have stopped producing copra basically because there’s no market.
“Currently, copra production is centred on six provinces – Bougainville, New Ireland, East New Britain, West New Britain, Madang, and Milne Bay.”

Domestic use keeps coconut growing

Source: The National, Monday, February 18, 2013 

 

By MALUM NALU

DOMESTIC consumption of coconuts, widely used as a food ingredient in Papua New Guinea, is a multi-million kina business that is keeping the coconut industry alive, according to the Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK).
This, according to KIK acting industry affairs manager Alan Aku, was the saving grace for the coconut industry as copra prices and production hit an all-time low in 2012.
He told The National last Friday that contrary to popular belief, the industry was not “dying”.
“We estimate that about 300 million nuts are consumed in this country (per year),” Aku said.
“That’s very conservative.
“Looking at 50t per nut, you’re looking at a K150 million industry.
“Looking at this domestic industry (coconut), people don’t realise how much coconut is consumed in this country.
“That’s increasing largely because the consumption in the Highlands has increased.
“Coconuts are moving up by the thousands into the Highlands in containers
“Although we may ask ‘how much is this contributing to the economy’, it’s a domestic trade in itself.
“It’s a big, big industry.
“We (at KIK) plan to institute a market survey this year to establish how much coconut is brought up to the Highlands as a food commodity.”
Aku said the industry had so much untapped potential in other products such as virgin coconut oil (VCO), coconut coir fibre and coconut lumber, among many others.
“Some people say it’s a dying industry but there’s a lot of potential in it,” he said.
“We still believe the coconut industry is a sleeping giant.
“We really need government support to revive the industry.
“We are also looking at quality controls on the coconut products.”

Angau hospital stops services as nurse raped

Source: The National, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 

 

By PISAI GUMAR

ANGRY staff and management have stopped services at the Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae as the rape of a staff nurse brought to a head constant ill-treatment of staff and equipment.
The staff have given the management, police and the community, where the rapists allegedly reside, 48 hours to apprehend the four youths responsible for raping one of their colleagues.
Hospital administration lambasted the cruelty of some in the community, describing their behaviour as “animalistic”.
“Enough is enough!” hospital board chairman Benson Nablu declared.
“The hospital gates will be closed until the suspects surrender to police.”
Hospital chief executive Dr Polapoi Chalau said: “I am sick and tired of such inhuman attitude and strongly condemn their cruel attitude.”
As a result of Saturday night’s rape, the hospital had locked out some patients and closed gates to the hospital.
The hospital’s management, doctors, union executives, nurses and Lae School of Nursing teachers, students and staff are demanding justice and closed off services too yesterday.
About 500 people in all stopped work and protested at the Gware Memorial wing, highlighting the constant cruel and inhuman treatment of health workers.
They wanted the hospital management, police and the East Taraka community to bring the suspects to face the full force of law within 48 hours.
The incident took place at East Taraka at about 4am last Saturday.
Hospital union president Steven Nawik said the suspects must surrender or be apprehended and detained within 48 hours as staff had demanded.
“The admitted patients and outpatients now pay the price – being turned away from treatment due to the culprits’ cruel behaviour,” Nawik said.
Three hospital entrances were locked yesterday and were closely monitored by security guards. There were more outpatients outside and they had to resort to private clinics for treatment.
Car thefts, breaking and entering, theft and burgling of valuable items from doctors and nurses and stoning of hospital vehicles during nightshift drop-offs and pick-ups have been constantly experienced by staff.
They were simply fed up and wanted the community to take responsibility.
Warnings by the authorities to respect state property, facility and servants had fallen on deaf ears.
Nablu and Chalau appeared before the staff and workers yesterday.
“I am angry with those culprits – stupid and idiots – who have no respect for the tireless and dedicated health workers. They continue to harass them,” Nablu said.
“She (rape victim) is psychologically traumatised and physically affected; her family and relatives are devastated.
“The public in Lae continues to disrespect state properties and services such as hospital, water and electricity (supplies) that are here as services for human.
“I am sick and tired of such inhuman attitude and strongly condemn the cruel attitudes.
“The East Taraka community is responsible, they must assist police to bring the suspects to justice while families of the suspects should be evicted.
“The health workers and Lae communities are fed up of such cruel, animalistic attitudes and the behaviour of perpetrators that commit such crime on innocent humans.
“Let us rise up and tell the government enough is enough,” Nablu said.

Two charged in 'witch' murder in Papua New Guinea: report

AFP - Two people have been charged with the murder of a young mother in Papua New Guinea who was accused of being a witch and set upon by a mob that burned her alive, reports said Tuesday.

Kepari Leniata, 20, was stripped naked, doused with petrol and set alight atop a pile of rubbish on a main street on February 6 in the town of Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands.

A woman accused of sorcery is burned alive on a pile of rubbish in Mount Hagen city, Papua New Guinea, February 6, 2013. Two people, a 28-year-old woman and 33-year-old man, have been charged with the murder of the young mother, reports say.

Local media said a 28-year-old woman and 33-year-old man were charged with wilful murder after police rounded up 40 people for questioning.
The pair are reportedly relatives of a six-year-old boy whose death set off allegations of sorcery against Leniata.
"We are not finished," provincial police commander Martin Lakari told The National newspaper.
"If any evidence or reports come in later saying other people involved are still at large, we will also arrest them."
In a separate incident, a man was charged with the torture of two elderly women following the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in the same town last week, Associated Australian Press reported.
The two women, alleged to have killed the girl through sorcery, were about to be set on fire when police intervened on February 11.
The witchcraft burning drew condemnation from the United Nations, the United States and Australia, while PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill branded it "barbaric".
Police have appealed to the public not to take the law into their own hands in the Pacific nation where there is a widespread belief in sorcery and many people do not accept natural causes as an explanation for misfortune and death.

Critically thinking about sorcery and magic in Papua New Guinea

By LEO IGIWE

* Leo Igwe, as a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, has bravely worked for human rights in West Africa. He is presently enrolled in a three year research programme on “Witchcraft accusations in Africa” at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany.

 

Leo Igiwe

Critical thinking is one of the powers and abilities which we humans have, can exercise and apply in our daily lives. It enables us to identify gaps in our thinking, ideas and outlook. Critical mindedness is humankind’s most potent weapon against erroneous credulous notions and superstitions. It helps us to explore new frontiers of knowledge, explode myths, debunk claims, dispel mistaken ideas and beliefs that darken and destroy our society. Critical consciousness drives our curiousity and ability to generate new ideas, renew our society and enhance human enlightenment. Most importantly, critical thinking saves- and can save- lives. Many lives are lost or wasted due to dogma, blind faith and unreason. History is replete with instances of wars waged and killings perpetrated due to irrational beliefs. In fact, right now many people around the world suffer and die or are subjected to so much suffering due to fanatical creeds and mistaken notions of the world.

As Socrates once said, an unexamined life is not worth living. Critical thinking can propel us to examine and re-examine our lives. It shields us from the terror and trauma of worthless existence. We need to spread the Socratic wisdom around the world.

Recently, Papua New Guinea has been in the news. The report of the brutal killing of a 20-year-old woman Kepari Leniata, has outraged the world. But it was not the first time such killing had taken place in the country. There have been reports in the past of horrifying abuses, torture and murder of alleged witches in PNG. So the belief in witchcraft is strong in the country. Witch belief is taken seriously. Witch hunting persists across the nation. Clearly efforts to tackle the problem over the years have not been so effective. They have yielded the desired results. As a matter of urgency, we need to critically examine the belief in witchcraft and the notions associated with it. We need to identify the gaps in witch thinking, and highlights the absurdities therein. We need to publicise the gaps, the illogicalities and absurdities of witch mentality so as to weaken the grip of witch belief on the minds of the people. Witch burning is informed by certain beliefs about witches. And those beliefs are grounded on certain notions of the world. We need to identify these notions, and the grounds on which witch belief rests, and then shine the critical light on them. We need to shake the foundation of witch-based epistemology and cosmology.

We need to promote the critical evaluation of issues and encourage people to cultivate and apply the value in all areas of human endeavour. We need to spread the message of reason and make the logic of critical thought a permanent feature of the society.

First of all it is important to stress that the belief in sorcery is not peculiar to the people of PNG. Witch belief is found in most cultures of the world. It is not only in PNG that people burn witches. Witch burning is still taking place in many parts of Africa and Asia. For centuries witches were burnt at stake in Europe and in America. Drawing lessons from societies is important in putting the case of sorcery related murder in PNG in proper perspective.

The belief in sorcery is founded on the idea that some people have supernatural powers and that these supernatural powers can be used to perpetrate evil- cause death, diseases, accidents etc. Witches are believed to be those who can kill or harm others through magic. Hence in many communities, many people attribute their misfortune- death or disease- to the malevolent magic of sorcerers.

People embark on witch hunting to identify, smell out and eliminate these ‘enemies within’.

And now let’s critically look at this. Is there any evidence that some people have supernatural powers? What does supernatural power actually mean? How do we differentiate supernatural from natural powers? Is there any prove to demonstrate that people actually exercise their alleged supernatural powers for good or evil?

If actually there are people with supernatural powers to do anything, why do we need to set up institutions to educate our children, secure our streets, carter for the needy? Why do we need to set up factories and employ factory workers? Why do we have humanitarian organisations? Why do we have infrastructure? Many people believe that witches have the powers to flying around in the night? Then why do we have aircrafts? Won’t it be cheaper or easier to travel across the country and the world using spiritual means than by boarding planes, ships and trains?

It is true that people can inflict harm on others. People can kill or harm others using knives, matchetes, guns, stick or by lynching them. But where is the evidence that people can harm others using the supernatural means of sorcery? If we cannot explain how a particular harm is done or who did it, does that mean it is witchcraft, or that the harm is inflicted through supernatural means? And if some people can really inflict harm- death or disease on- others through sorcery why do people still employ gun, bullets and bombs to kill others? If witchcraft truly exists, there will be no physical arms; there will be no need for arms. There will be no market for arms.

Witches, not the police or soldiers will be employed by the state to protect and defend it.

In most cases, people invoke the belief in witchcraft to explain instances of death or illness. But death and diseases have natural explanations and do not need supernatural agencies to take place. The imputation of spiritual agency on human experiences is no longer necessary. Supernatural explanation of misfortunes like deaths or accidents is flawed, absurd or nonsensical.

For instance, Kepari Leniata was accused of killing a 6-year-old boy through sorcery. The boy reportedly died in a hospital. If one may ask, what does killing someone through sorcery mean? What is the evidence that anybody can be killed through this means? If a human being can be killed through sorcery, can an animal or an insect be killed through sorcery too? If yes, how many insects or animals did Kepari kill using her alleged magical powers? If no, why not? And again why is it that it is often women who are accused of sorcery related crimes and it is often men who constitute the witch hunting gang or the lynch mob?

To end the wave of sorcery related accusations, abuses and killing in Papua New Guinea, people need to rethink and re-examine their belief in sorcery, magic and supernatural powers. People should have the courage to probe and inquiry into sorcery related claims. Sorcery is a belief- mere belief, a make belief. Sorcery is a belief which people entertain due to fear and ignorance. It is a scapegoating mechanism used in occasions and under circumstances where people are looking for somebody to blame for their woes and ills. So we need to get people to begin to question and demand evidence for sorcery from those who make such accusations including those who claim there are supernatural powers or that they have supernatural powers. The burden of proof lies with the claimant, so it is with witchcraft or sorcery.

PNG struggling with sorcery killings

Liam Fox reported this story on Sunday, February 17, 2013 07:21:00

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ELIZABETH JACKSON: Papua New Guinea hardly ever features in the newspapers, broadcasts and websites of the world's big media organisations.
When it does it usually means that something terrible has happened, and that was the case earlier this month.
The story of a young woman who was burnt alive after being accused of being a witch sent shockwaves of horror and disgust around the globe.
In the past, Papua New Guineans have reacted angrily to such stories, saying they perpetuate the poor reputation of their country.
Here's our PNG correspondent Liam Fox.

LIAM FOX: It's pretty rare that different newspapers have exactly the same front-page headline.
But on the Thursday before last, both of PNG's daily papers screamed "Burned Alive".
The photographs accompanying the headlines were slightly different but showed the same scene. A crowed watched as tyres burn on a pile of rubbish beside the main street in Mt Hagen, the biggest town in PNG's rugged highlands region.
Burning rubbish is a common sight but what the photographs did not show was that underneath the tyres was the body of a 20-year-old woman. She'd been tied up, stripped naked, doused with petrol and set alight.
The local reports said the woman, identified as Kapari Leniata, was murdered after being accused of using sorcery, or black magic, to kill a young boy.
The boy died in hospital a few days earlier and, as is common in PNG when the cause of death is not easily apparent, his relatives suspected sorcery.
So they engaged a witch doctor, or glassman, as their called, to identify those responsible.
The witch doctor fingered Ms Leniata and two other elderly women, who were promptly rounded up and tortured with hot metal rods.
Locals told the newspapers the elderly women confessed that it was Ms Leniata who had taken the child's heart.
That was good enough for the boy's relatives who tied her up and burnt her alive.
Only two foreign media organisations have a presence in PNG, and once the ABC and the Australian Associated Press reported the incident, the story exploded. It went everywhere. Nearly every major news outlet on the planet ran it.
In the past, Papua New Guineans have reacted angrily to such stories. Every time a foreign journalist writes about sorcery killings or cannibals, people complain they're being stereotyped as savages living in a violent, lawless land.
But there was little complaining this time. Many locals were just as shocked, just as disgusted as people who were reading the story in Sydney or London.
On Papua New Guinea's biggest Facebook discussion group, Sharp Talk, one person wrote, "Oh my God. And we claim to be a Christian country. What happened to the Christian faith?" Another commented on the crowd that watched the woman burn: "I find this deeply troubling. How can people watch while this is going on? Where is the rule of law?"
In its editorial, the Post-Courier newspaper asked "whether we should be proud of ourselves as a nation".
This was a particularly disturbing example, but sorcery killings are common in PNG, especially in rural and remote areas.
The victims are mostly elderly women. They're easy targets for people looking to blame someone for a death or a misfortune they cannot easily explain.
Belief in sorcery, or sanguma as it's known, is pervasive. Even well-educated, self-declared Christians will tell you in hushed tones that black magic is real.
The brutal murder of the young woman has got the country thinking about the causes of sorcery killings and how to stop them.
Among the suggestions are economic development, legislative changes, and better-equipped police. All of which will take time.
And apart from recent messages of condemnation, it's still not clear that PNG's political leaders are prepared to meaningfully tackle the issue.
In the meantime, sorcery killings will continue and more women will die.

Destination Papua New Guinea

Sustainability News

Old rugby training kits wouldn’t be the top of everyone’s wish list, but for the Stanley Gene Foundation, it doesn’t get much better.
Peter Tyson, a process operator at Sellafield Ltd and avid Whitehaven Rugby League fan, learned of Stanley Gene’s plight to tackle deprivation in his native Papua New Guinea.

Peter with some of the donated rugby kits

Stanley the former Hull KR player and captain of the Papua New Guinea’s national team said: “For years I was sending things back  to Papua New Guinea and decided to set up a charity to do it properly.
“The help that we receive is invaluable to the foundation; I would like to thank the people of West Cumbria for donating, it really does make a difference.
 “The purpose of the foundation is to reach the unreachable communities in Papua New Guinea, in some schools there are no chairs so the kids have to learn on the floor and for people in the mountains, some of the kids don’t have any clothes.”
Peter said: “It’s been over whelming seeing how generous people are, I posted on Facebook and the Whitehaven Rugby League website, asking for unwanted clothes and training kits and what started out as a few bags of clothes has spiralled into teams donating their old training kits, rugby balls and all sorts of other things.
“We are also holding a ‘bring-a-gift’ event at the Whitehaven and Leigh match this week.
“I would like to thank Egremont Rugby Union, Glasson, Wath Brow, Kells and Whitehaven Rugby League clubs, and everyone who has shown support.”

New Australia High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea

Foreign Minister Bob Carr this week announced Ms Deborah Stokes as Australia's next High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.

Ms Stokes is expected to take up her appointment in March 2013, replacing Mr Ian Kemish AM.
Ms Stokes is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was most recently head of the Department's International Organisations and Legal Division. She has previously served as Australia's Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, and as Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.
Ms Stokes earlier held positions at the Australian Embassy in Yangon and with the United Nations Development Programme in New York. She has also held senior positions in AusAID.
Ms Stokes holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Adelaide and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
Australia has a long-term commitment to Papua New Guinea's development. Australia is Papua New Guinea's largest aid donor, providing $491.7 million in development assistance in 2012/13.
Two-way trade between the countries is worth more than $7bn a year, with Australian investment in Papua New Guinea exceeding $16bn.
Australia and Papua New Guinea work closely on regional and international priorities through the Pacific Islands Forum, APEC and the United Nations.
Australia and PNG also host regular Ministerial Fora, the most recent of which was on December 6, 2012. Talks included progress on negotiations for an Economic Cooperation Treaty, establishment of a PNG Sovereign Wealth Fund, and cooperation on police, defence, immigration and economic development.

PNG plans military build-up, but why?

by Donald Gumbis - 15 February 2013 

Donald Gumbis is a Lecturer in political science at the University of Goroka and an intern at the Lowy Institute.

Papua New Guinea's Defence Minister Dr Fabian Pok has announced that PNG plans to build up its military capacity from around 2000 personnel to 10,000.
While it is hardly unusual for fast-growing resource-rich countries to increase military spending as their national ambitions expand, Papua New Guinea has yet to address very significant development challenges in basic health and education. Increased spending on the military in such circumstances must therefore be questioned.

Photo courtesy of the Defence Department.

Why does Papua New Guinea need a larger military capacity? One factor in the Government's consideration could be the land border with Indonesia. The border skirmishes between the traditional people of PNG's Sandaun Province and Indonesian military spotlight the PNG Government's inattention to border issues. These issues pose a test for the Treaty of Mutual Respect, Friendship and Cooperation PNG has with Indonesia.
In a Radio Australia interview, former PNGDF Commander General Jerry Singirok noted key issues of concern with the announcement. He said there was no PNGDF White Paper to guide this proposed expansion, the PNG Government has never prioritised defence spending and there would be a substantial cost involved in rebuilding a downsized force.
The ongoing retrenchment exercise of close to 2000 personnel, which began in 1999, is a difficult issue that the Defence Department is still not adequately addressing. Further to that, there are challenges for the PNGDF to raise its performance level and the security of its weaponry. The recent mutiny case, insubordination and misconduct of soldiers all undermine the ministerial statement.
Policy announcements have tended to be more frequent than policy implementation in Papua New Guinea. But if this announcement reflects a serious intention by the PNG Government, it warrants more discussion.

Bednet indifference threatens PNG progress on malaria

IRIN

MASUMAVE, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Papua New Guinea (PNG) could face an upsurge in malaria cases due to overly relaxed attitudes to the use of bednets, health experts warn.
“Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don’t,” Susan Kake, 45, said outside her hut in Masumave, a village of 2,000 largely subsistence farmers in PNG’s remote Eastern Highlands Province. “If I’m going to get it, I’m going to get it.”

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN

Susan rarely uses the net behind her

The country has made progress in stemming the disease’s spread in the past few years, but such fatalism is worrying.
According to PNG’s National Health Information System, 500-700 people die annually from malaria - the country’s second most common cause of hospital admissions, says the Department of Health.
In 2004 the government intensified its malaria control efforts with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, launching a five-year campaign in 2009 to provide two insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) per household nationwide free of charge.
Alongside insecticide spraying and anti-malarial medicines, ITNs are one of the most effective interventions to control malaria in the absence of a vaccine, says the World Health Organization (WHO), as they act as physical barriers to mosquitoes, and help reduce their numbers.
“Most areas of the country have received nets at least once,” said Tim Freeman, project manager for Rotarians Against Malaria, a local NGO which has been overseeing bednet distributions since 2010 - in an effort already paying dividends.
A survey conducted in 17 of PNG’s 20 provinces between November 2010 and August 2011 showed that just 6.8 percent of respondents were infected with malaria parasites, compared around 18 percent in a survey two years earlier.
Freeman said 2.7 million nets had been delivered to households over the past three years, and 450,000 to vulnerable groups (mainly pregnant women, schools and prisons).

Gap

But unless the nets are properly used, their distribution is meaningless, experts say.
“Bednet distribution is one thing. Ownership is another. There seems to be a gap between ownership and utilization,” Walter Kazadi Mulombo, a scientist studying malaria and other vector-borne diseases for WHO in Port Moresby, told IRIN. “Time and time again we’ve seen this globally. Any relaxation of control measures can result in a resurgence.”

Photo: Wikipedia

Malaria remains an intractable problem in PNG, says the government

According to a 2012 nationwide survey by the PNG Institute of Medical Research (IMR) , which has been evaluating the campaign, over 80 percent of surveyed households had at least one insecticide treated mosquito net at home, mostly obtained through village-based distribution campaigns, yet fewer than 50 percent of those surveyed reported sleeping under an ITN the night before the survey.
At the same time, many nets were still found in their original packaging, with fewer than 40 percent of respondents sleeping under a mosquito net the night before the survey.
“We found multiple reasons why people did not use their nets, but it was indifference rather than lack of understanding that was a highlight,” said Justin Pulford, head of IMR’s Population Health and Demographic Unit.
Some found the nets too difficult to hang, while others complained it made their sleeping space smaller or too hot.
Net usage was highest among infants and children, but decreased with age, the study found.

Global Fund support

While indifference is one concern, another is the fact that current Global Fund support for the campaign (the National Malaria Control Programme) is due to end in late 2014.
“Historically, what we have seen if intensive malaria control efforts are not followed up or maintained, then malaria rebounds; often with a dramatic increase,” said Pulford.
“We’re certainly in a period when we are experiencing a reduction and we expect that to continue. But we’re all a bit nervous about what will happen at the end of 2014.”
Most bednets last three years, meaning those who have already received a net will need to have them replaced. Treated bednets perform best for the first two years of usage (though how, and how often, they are washed, affects this, studies show).
“The bednet, with a shelf life of 3-4 years, may need a replacement. For that we’ll need money,” WHO’s Mulombo said.
According to WHO, an estimated US$5.1 billion is needed globally every year between 2011 and 2020 to achieve universal access to malaria interventions. At present, only $2.3 billion is available.