During the six year long journey of the peace process, the year 2012 has become a darker one from a human rights perspective. Compared to previous years, more incidents of violence against women were recorded in INSEC documentation this year, with a total of 52 women victimized in the name of practising witchcraft. To read more click here
Violence against women is a serious problem which often recieves less attention. Nepali women are no exception to this with 60-70% threatened by violence. The Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) have presented their overall description and details of incidents of rape, sexual violence and accusations of the practice of witchcraft practices in their 2012 report. To read full report click here
HelpAge International and its partners have considerable experience of tackling
and reducing accusations of witchcraft and related violence against older women
and men though community based interventions. We do not, however, have the
same level of experience or expertise in the use of legislation in this area.
To address this gap, we requested, through the organisation Advocates for
International Development, pro bono guidance from lawyers on the use of
legislation to address accusations of witchcraft and related violence. Three law
firms offered to review relevant legislation in a total of nine countries: Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, India, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa and
Tanzania. We also asked the law firms to provide general guiding principles to
help inform our position on the use of the legislation in this area.
This report presents the main findings of the review and our position in relation to
the issues raised. It also presents a summary of key issues from the review in
each of the nine countries. See the full report here
