INDONESIA: Nine women labeled as witches are subjected to ill-treatment in West Papua

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the OYO Papua Foundation that nine women have been subjected to ill-treatment after being labeled as ‘Suranggi‘ (witches) by local religious leaders in Seya village, West Papua. They were segregated from their family members and forced to live rough in the jungle where there are no facilities for their protection. They are now suffering from malnutrition.

CASE DETAILS:

According to information received, on June 14, 2008 nine women were subjected to a sacred ceremony by local religious people who accused them of being witches in Seya village, sub- district of Mare, West Papua, Indonesia. During the ceremony, they were given poisoned water to drink which gave them stomach pains which was interpreted as proof that they were in fact witches.

After the traditional ritual, all of them were labeled as ‘sinful women’ or ‘devil women’, and were then brought out to an isolated location in the surroundings of Seya village. They were forcibly segregated from their husbands and children, and forced to reside in the jungle where they lacked basic facilities for day-to-day living. Many of the women have reportedly suffered from malnutrition and are in urgent need of help.

The cases that have been reported are as follows;

1: Salomina Tahoba, 56 years old
She has five children and her husband died in 2001. She lived together with her daughter-in-law. She was labeled as ‘ suranggi‘ by her daughter-in-law in September 2007. She now lives alone in a place called Kyuo which is about one kilometer from Seya village.

2: Paulina Bame, 55 years old
She is from Mosun village, east of Seya village. She was believed to be possessed by supernatural spirits. Her son took her to local religious groups for healing of her sins. But she ran away from Mosun to Seya.

3: Agustina Semunya
She married Herman Nauw from Seya village and later separated. After the separation, she moved to Mosun village with her daughters and her former husband remarried. Her husband alleged that Agustina was possessed by devils as the result of her close living with Weheliman, her sister-in-law. Wehelliman was believed to be a devil woman and killed in place near Seya in 1983.

4: Kristina Nauw
She is a wife of Willem Korain. She was believed to be ‘suranggi‘ infected by Seo Nauw because they lived together on a farm.

5: Kamatan Nauw, 60 years old
She became ‘surranggi’ from associating with the late Rosina Nauw who died in Seya in 2005. The people in the community believed that Rosina Nauw was queen of the devils in Seya. Kamatan was believed to be a major devil that could infect women in Seya, Mosun and Sun villages. She also had to undergo the traditional ritual to prove that she is a devil woman. She now lives alone in surrounding Seya.

6: Oktovina Nauw
She had a husband and five children. She was believed to be next-of-kin to the devil derived from Rosina Nauw and chairperson of the devils from Seya. She now lives alone in a place surrounding Seya village.

7: Aplonya Bame
She is from Mosun. She married twice and has children. She was also punished as the next generation of devils derived from Wehelmina Nauw. She was caught in her village, Mosun. She was given some water to drink and suffered resultant stomach pain justifying that she was one of the devil women who all came from the group of Rosina and Wehelimina Nauw. She now lives as a segregated woman in surrounding Seya village.

8 and 9: Katarina Baru and Maksima Taa
They are from Konja village, located in the Northeast of Seya. They were also believed to be devil women and forcibly separated from their village.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The people who refer to themselves as Mare People speak Mare and come from the Northern part of the South Sorong Regencies. The Mare sub-district has a population of around 700 people, speaking several dialects of the Mare language. Many of them retain traditional beliefs, including the belief in witches, devil women and black magic. Usually, when misfortune strikes in the guise of disease or death, women are usually targeted as responsible for this. They are in effect labeled witches by local religious leaders through their traditional rituals. Older women with few family members are the ones who are most frequently accused of being witches.

When a woman is believed to be a witch she is alleged to have plotted against someone whose soul she is going to steal and whose entrails she is going to eat at night. Witches are seen as Satan’s most dangerous associates, and are often condemned in sermons by local religious leaders. It is reported that opening the abdomens and examining the internal organs of the accused is a method used to confirm the status of witch.  Another example is making the alleged witch drink water infused with alcohol or poison and then invoking the woman’s insobriety or vomiting as a proof that she is in fact a witch. Accused women endure severe physical and mental violence.

Having established, through one of these methods, that the woman in question is a witch, she is then punished to relieve the rest of society from these much feared ‘suanggis’. It is reported that deportation from the community, cuttings and homicide had been used as punishments.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Mare people reside in the villages of Seya, Suswa, Seni, Sire and Kuber which are located in the lush green range of the Karst hills of the Northern part of the South Sorong Regency. It is a remote area in West Papua province. They have remained unyielding in keeping to their traditions. Once a disease breaks out in the community and because they lack knowledge of the action of bacteria and viruses, the practice of ‘witch hunting’ is used to eradicate it.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the authorities listed below demanding immediate provision of basic needs to those women in the area who have suffered from the lack of food and the amenities of life. Please also urge the government to take necessary steps so that these women are no longer victimized.

Please be informed that the AHRC has additionally written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, and the Right to Health calling for intervention in this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER