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Imagine being cast out of your society, subjected to violence or killed, simply because you continue to participate in the traditional rituals and activities, your community have practiced for generations. It might sound extraordinary,

but as we've seen down the centuries, this is what happens when age-old activities

are suddenly rebranded as witchcraft and it's something that's happening now

in the tropical paradise of Papua New Guinea. In this episode I speak with

Papua native Dr Fiano Hakula, a world-renowned activist tackling

gender-based violence.

She worked for the Papuan government handling issues such as family and sexual violence, law reform, and she was the recipient of the Royal Anthropological societies, Sat to Sommer Ward.

We discuss her efforts to tackle gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea,

how the intrusion of colonialism and fundamentalist Christianity created a maelstrom and the long isolated traditional communities of her homeland.

And I hear her thoughts on the future of her country.

Fianna Kapun Guinea only has a population of about 11 million people, but there are over 800

different languages used by communities around the island.

And so it's the most linguistically diverse place on earth.

And clearly with each language you're going to have a distinct society but in as far as you can possibly try to

generalize Papua before colonialism how would you describe the traditional role that women held in these societies?

...