WUNRN
3
Jun 2008
Violence against women is contributing to the spread of HIV in Papua New
Guinea, Amnesty International
said in its recent annual report, the Australian Associated Press reports.
According to the report, gender-based violence, including "sexual
violence," in the country is "endemic in the home and in the
community." Such violence is "seen as a key reason behind the
HIV/AIDS epidemic, which, in turn, is fueling more abuses against women"
because AIDS-related deaths are "sometimes believed to be the result of sorcery,"
the report added. In addition, the report said that people in Papua New Guinea
have little faith in the country's police because they often do not investigate
crimes, make arrests or collect evidence (Australian Associated Press,
5/30).
Officials and researchers in July 2007 said that some women in Papua New Guinea
are being accused of practicing witchcraft to cause AIDS-related deaths among
young people in the country. An analysis released by the Centre for Independent Studies
in Australia said, "Sorcery, witchcraft and other supernatural forces are
widely blamed for causing HIV/AIDS" in Papua New Guinea. It added that
"[a]ccusations of sorcery have resulted in torture and murder" of
some women. Research fellow Miranda Tobias wrote in the analysis that there are
"reports of women being tortured for days in efforts to extract
confessions." Such forms of torture include being "beaten, stabbed,
cut with knives, sexually assaulted and burnt with hot irons," Tobias
wrote. According to the earlier analysis, it is "estimated that there have
been 500 such attacks in the past year" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/25/07).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email
delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free
service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.
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