The secretary of the Papua New Guinea Constitutional Law Reform Commission said so-called sorcery attacks are really about violence.
Sorcery-related violence is still a problem in Papua New Guinea Photo: 123RF
Dr Eric Kwa has spoken out following the recent surge in such attacks, including one in which a six year girl in Enga Province was tortured.
He said these attacks have nothing to do with sorcery but are expressions of violence against innocent victims chosen because of their lack of support within the communities.
"We are giving too much prominence to sorcery and we are distracted from the issue of violence. We must deal with the issue of violence," he said.
"Sorcery is just another excuse and the fact of the matter is our people are becoming more violent. Our people are becoming the law until themselves and we need to fix the processes."
Dr Eric Kwa said the rule of law will come back and the rule of law would be strengthened and then these things would disappear.
He said he backed the death penalty provision in the 2013 Sorcery Law because if someone took a life violently, they should lose their life.
But he also said if people had employment and the opportunity to fully engage in modern PNG society these attacks wouldn't happen.
