Infant Mortality

My colleague's two-month-old son recently died.  No cause of death was identified.  Presumably, the boy had been healthy before he suddenly died.

While this would be quite shocking in North America, people here seem to be taking the event in stride.  At least no one has been accused of sorcery, yet...

Regards,
Karl

Sorcery and Justice in PNG

Recently, a women was burned alive in PNG after being accused of sorcery.  I found this story to be interesting in several respects:

1. PNG passed a Sorcery Act in 1971 (fascinating read).  The act is intended to prevent extortion by pretend sorcerers and protect innocent people from false accusations of sorcery.  
2. Murder is punishable by death, yet no one has been hanged in PNG since the Australian Government left.
3. The incident happened in broad daylight in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses and no "suspects" were apprehended
4. In the other high-profile sorcery related killings that were reported in July, no one knows what happened to the 29 people who were accused of killing and eating 7 people. 

Sadly, this story is not surprising.  Belief in sorcery is widespread, even among educated Papua New Guineans.  Rule of law is all but totally non-existant, even in the capital city.  When you mix widspread superstition and ineffective law enforcement, and you start expecting these events to happen.

Regards,
Karl

P.S.  I did find it surpising that the authors of the 1971 Sorcery Act felt compelled reconcile the fact that they were writing laws to govern something that they did not believe in.  See the following excerpt:

Even though this Act may speak as if powers of sorcery really exist (which is necessary if the law is to deal adequately with all the legal problems of sorcery and the traditional belief in the powers of sorcerers), nevertheless nothing in this Act recognizes the existence or effectiveness of powers of sorcery in any factual sense except only for the purpose of, and of proceedings under or by virtue of, this Act, or denies the existence or effectiveness of such powers.