Films of sorcery stories work - Bougainville human rights defender

4:41 pm on 15 August 2018

A human rights defender working in Papua New Guinea says a new approach to curbing accusations of sorcery appears to work.

Agnes Titus

Agnes Titus Photo: Vimeo

Accusation of sorcery have become excuses in many areas to justify violent attacks on people, often resulting in deaths.

Agnes Titus is involved with a Queensland University of Technology programme through which filmed accounts of experiences when allegations of sorcery are made are shown in communities, to try and change attitudes.

Ms Titus, who works at the Nazareth Centre for Rehabilitation in Bougainville, is the subject of one of the digital stories.

She said the aim is to have people respect others' rights, not take the law into their own hands, and to talk about the issue.

"When we screen these stories they can identify with them. Mostly I have found the women, through the many experiences they have gone through, during the conflict and up until now, they have a lot of stories to share.

"But] many men were not aware of human rights yet - especially the younger ones."

Watch the digital story of Agnes Titus

The digital story scheme, developed with researchers from QUT is called Yumi Sanap Strong, or "Let's stand strong together"

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