WITCHCRAFT MAGIC WIRELESS* : MASTER GLOBAL ESSAY

 

RESEARCHERS at the Australian National University documented 1,039 accusations involving 1,553 victims across four provinces of Papua New Guinea from 2016-20. Cases have also been documented in Africa and Asia.

PORT MORESBY - PAPUA NEW GUINEA :  Tortured and burned for 'sorcery' acts. Tragedies are often blamed on witchcraft and magic.

The men came wielding bush knives. They wanted to avenge a baby girl who had died the night before. They said she had been killed by a sorcerer's black magic, and accused a woman who had encountered the baby that morning.

They dragged her out of her house, on the outskirts of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. They broke her hands, tied them to a pole, and burned her back and her belly with hot metal bars. She survived only because her son alerted the police.

Her skin was still scarred and one hand bumpy with an ill-fixed bone. She asked to be identified by only her first name over safety concerns.

Cases like Koral's are disturbingly common in Papua New Guinea. Though it is hard to know for sure, researchers say that anecdotal evidence suggests that such episodes are on the rise in at least parts of the country.

They seem to reflect continued widespread belief that evil spirits exist, and when tragedy strikes, black magic is the cause.

Observers say that changes in society are making the violence worse. Papua New Guinea is rich in resources, and foreign investment has increased in the country. At the same time, economic opportunities remain limited for many, creating a tinderbox of frustration, tension and anger.

People have filmed women hanging from wooden poles, as attackers burned their breasts and things with glowing metal bars. '' The violence is becoming more extreme,'' said Miranda Forsyth, a professor at the Australian National University who has focused on sorcery accusations.

'' It's a symptoms of things being, very, very wrong.''

In one photograph, shared by Australian researchers, women sit naked and blindfolded on a sheet of metal with a fire burning below, in what resembles a contemporary stake.

In a sign of the scale of the problem, its horrors were related to Pope Francis, who visited Papua New Guinea in September. Sister Lorena, a Swiss nun told Francis that she had saved over 200 people from the sorcery-related accusations.

One of them, the nun said, had been '' tortured and burned so badly that we did not know if we could save her life.''

With economic uncertainty and poor access to education and health care has contributed to making the violence more brutal.

The World Students Society expresses sorrow and sadness and thanks Emma Bubola.