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Get other kinds of help

Beyond the emergency call: case management, safety, and medical and legal support across PNG.

Case Management · SARV Specialist

Femili PNG

Specialises in SARV cases. Can help find safe accommodation, contact police, and support the accused through the process.

Lae 7091 4027 · POM 7916 9063 · Goroka 7217 9445

Safe Transport · NCD only

Meri Seif Line

Safe transport for women at risk in Port Moresby.

NCD 7222 1234

Medical · After violence

Family Support Centres

Trained to help survivors of violence. You do not need money. Ask for the social worker when you arrive.

POM General · Goroka Base · Angau (Lae) · Hela Provincial

Legal

Know the Law

Making a sanguma accusation is a crime. Police can act before violence happens. What the Criminal Code and the Glasman Act say.

The Law →

If something is happening right now

1. Report accusations to the police

Making a sanguma accusation is against the law in Papua New Guinea. You can report it to the police before any violence happens.

The accusation itself is a crime

Accusing someone of sorcery in a way that leads to harm is a criminal offence. You do not have to wait for violence to report it now.

Call 7150 8000

The helpline will advise you and connect you with Femili PNG or local support. You do not need all the facts, call and explain what you know.

Go to the police station

Ask for the Family and Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU). Give the name of the accused person. Police can act before violence happens.

2. Stand together against violence

When a crowd forms against an accused person, what happens next depends on what the people nearby do. One clear voice can change everything.

Speak up

Say something, calmly and clearly. "This person is sick and needs medical help." Don't wait for someone else to speak first.

Leaders: lead

Pastors, priests, elders, and teachers: preach against SARV, refuse to bless or legitimise an accusation, walk with people at risk.

Document what you see

Write down what happened: who said what, when, and who was there. This can help police and case managers act quickly.

The most important moment is the 24 to 48 hours after an accusation is first made. A community that steps in early (calling for calm, asking for a medical investigation, and staying with the accused) can almost always prevent violence.

3. Protect anyone who is in danger

If someone has been accused and is at risk, act quickly. The accused person needs a safe place and someone to stay with them.

Stay with the accused

Do not let them face the crowd alone. Being present often prevents the worst. Accompany them to the police or Femili PNG.

Take them somewhere safe

A safe house, a church, or a relative's home in another area. Call Femili PNG for advice on where to go.

Call Femili PNG

They specialise in SARV cases and can find safe accommodation and contact police. Lae 7091 4027 · POM 7916 9063 · Goroka 7217 9445.

4. Get help for anyone who has been hurt

If someone has been attacked, get them to a hospital or health centre as soon as possible. Medical care comes first.

Go to the Family Support Centre

At a major hospital: POM General, Goroka Base, Angau (Lae), Hela Provincial. Staff are trained to help survivors of violence.

Call 7150 8000

The helpline can connect you with case managers and help with transport, accommodation, and follow-up care.

Report to the police

Violence against an accused person is a crime, even if it happened some time ago. PNG courts have handed down long prison sentences.

If you want to stand with someone: what does a person need?

Phone numbers and police reports matter. But a person who has been accused or hurt also needs their community. Work through these questions, one at a time.

Are they safe?

Don't leave them alone. Physical presence is the most powerful protection there is. Stay with them. Walk with them. Sit with them.

Do they need medical care?

Get them to hospital, but go with them. Family Support Centres are staffed by people trained for this. You do not need money. Ask for the social worker.

Do they have food, water, or clothes?

A person who has fled may have left with nothing. Bring food, water, clothes. It is a message that cannot be misunderstood: your community has not abandoned you.

Do they have somewhere safe to sleep?

If they can't go home, open yours. Or a church, a pastor's home, a relative in another area. Femili PNG can arrange safe accommodation.

Do they need someone to listen?

Don't try to fix everything. Sit with them. Let them speak. Being believed, and not being left alone, is what survivors say mattered most.

Do they need someone to protect them?

They have rights and they can report. Go to the police with them. Femili PNG can provide a case manager to walk through the whole process alongside them.

This follows the "What does a person need?" framework from the Community Curriculum. Download the Community Curriculum →

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Help in your community

The most important work happens before any accusation is made. Sanguma stories can be challenged. Communities can learn the truth about illness and death. This is how SARV ends.

Understand the stories that lead to violence

Sanguma beliefs have been part of communities in PNG for a long time. When someone dies suddenly, people look for a reason. Sanguma is one answer communities reach for, but it is the wrong one, and it leads to violence.

Why do people believe in sanguma?

When someone dies unexpectedly, people want an explanation. It is easier to blame a person than to accept that illness just happens.

Who gets accused?

Most people accused are women, often old, isolated, or in a dispute. The accusation is often connected to a conflict over land, money, or family.

How do these stories spread?

Stories about sanguma travel fast. Fear spreads faster than facts. The programs help communities understand where these stories come from.

Children learn from what they hear

When adults explain illness clearly ("his heart stopped," "she had an infection"), children grow up with a different understanding.

Challenge these stories

When you hear a sanguma story, or when someone is accused, ask questions. Most accusations fall apart when you ask the right ones.

Ask: how do they know?

Make it the first question. Usually the answer is: a glasman told us, or everyone says so. Neither is proof of anything.

Glasmen are illegal and wrong

A glasman is paid to name a sorcerer, so they have every reason to name someone. Their word is not evidence. Using a glasman is a crime.

People die from illness, not sorcery

When someone dies, there is a medical reason. Getting a medical cause of death recorded, before gossip starts, is one of the most important things a family can do.

Ask: what is the real dispute?

Many accusations are connected to a land dispute, a family argument, or jealousy. Often the accusation is a way of settling a different score.

Challenging a sanguma story is not disrespectful. Ask the question. Demand the evidence. Insist on a medical explanation before any accusation goes further.

Use the resources, talk with your family and church

The Community Curriculum, Peter and Grace, and Wokman Bilong God are the structured tools for doing this work at scale, in communities, classrooms, and churches.

Get the materials

Download the programs and materials →

Start the conversation

Talk with your family and your congregation. Explain illness clearly. Raise the next generation with a different understanding.