RAIPUR, India — An Indian “witch doctor” who beheaded an 11-year-old boy and offered the head as a sacrifice to a goddess to improve his fortunes has been sentenced to death, police said Tuesday. Read more here.
RUNDU – The dismembered corpse believed to belong to a 32-year-old missing villager was fished from the Kavango River yesterday. Read more here.
The following report, sets out the context in which poor older women live and highlights the discrimination that they experience. It then focuses on Articles 5 (Measures to combat social and cultural behaviour conducive to discrimination against women) and 11 (Social security and employment), providing recommendations for Government action for each of these articles. Full report here.
The following paper explores how the complex problems of immigration, poverty and exclusion can put children
at risk of witchcraft abuse and suggests recommendations to address the problem. See full report here.
The rapid assessment was commissioned to document the nature and magnitude of the practice in Uganda and to review existing responses by different actors to inform the process of developing a National Action Plan. The study also attempted to examine the relationship between child trafficking and the practice of child sacrifice and explored other related risk factors. Among several conclusions, this research argues that although sacrifice is a common phenomenon within African indigenous religions and cultural practices and constitutes an important part of worship, prayers and thanksgiving, there was consensus that child and/or human sacrifice is a new phenomenon which is not necessarily linked to indigenous/traditional religious worship and cultural practice. See full report here.
Article published by the Human Rights Brief on the practice of ritual killings and human sacrifice in Africa. See more here.
The recent lynching of a 20-year old woman, Leniata Kepari for sorcery has revealed the urgency and complexity of the situation. It underscores the imperative a pro-active approach. Even as the world is still trying to comprehend the reason for this savage act, the police in Papua New Guinea has reportedly saved two other women from being lynched. According to the report, the ‘two elderly women were tied to poles and people were preparing to set them alight over the death of an eight-year-old girl’. The girl’s relatives believed the women killed their child through sorcery and magic. A local witch doctor called a ‘glassman’ who claimed to have supernatural powers had identified the women as responsible for the child’s death. Please find the full article by Leo Igwe here.
This story is about Adam and about the many African children who fall prey to sacrifices and ritual abuse everyday. It is the story that tells you child ritual abuse flourishes right before our eyes and that authorities as far as Mozambique and Kenya, while desperate to contain its lethal effects, still lack the ability and know-how to contain its cancerous growth formations within the human populace. The trade is strong, the criminals are astute and the law has yet to pay heed to its extinction. For Adam, the story of his life was cut short brutally at a very young age, the very tender age when children are supposed to enjoy their childhood and when he should have been properly cared for by people he looked to for support and love. He is one of the few the media uses to tell the story, his story, and the reason why we should say no to child ritual abuse. Buy the book here.
GWERU – A group of self-styled traditional healers, commonly known as tsikamutandas, have invaded Chief Chiwundura’s area where they are allegedly exposing “witches” and “treating” the sick for a fee. Read more here.
SOLUKHUMBU: A patient here has attacked a shaman while the latter was healing the patient in Solukhumbu district on Tuesday evening. Read more here.
