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New Hope for Survivors as they Celebrate Historic UN Resolution Condemning Harmful Practices Related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks

July 27, 2021
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New Hope for Survivors as they Celebrate Historic UN Resolution Condemning Harmful Practices Related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks

Following 6 years of intensive advocacy by a coalition of survivors, NGOs, academics and lawyers, the UN Human Rights Council has passed a ground-breaking resolution, which “emphatically condemns harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks that result in human rights violations.

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 27th July 2021

WHRIN Releases Latest UN Report

Witchcraft Accusations and Persecution; Muti Murders and Human Sacrifice:Harmful Beliefs and Practices Behind a Global Crisis in Human Rights

This report was specifically compiled for the United Nations Expert Workshop on Witchcraft and Human Rights, in Geneva on 21st and 22nd September 2017.

The report outlines a study of all recorded online cases of human rights abuses linked to beliefs in witchcraft, muti and human sacrifice in 2016. It aims to provide some background understanding into the work carried out by the United Nations on these issues to date; outline the current scale of the abuses of human rights that are taking place across the world due such harmful beliefs and practices; identify emerging trends and, finally, act as a call to action for all UN, Government and civil society agencies working on these issues to redouble their efforts to develop solutions to prevent further abuses from taking place.

The full report can be downloaded HERE

Witchcraft and Displacement

There is a longstanding and well-documented relationship between human displacement and witchcraft allegations. The Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES) has undertaken a very rapid assessment of the current state of knowledge about refugee protection and witchcraft allegations.

See full report here.

2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – South Africa, February 25, 2009

South Africa is a multiparty parliamentary democracy in which constitutional power is shared between the president and the parliament. The country has a population of approximately 48.5 million. The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens. However, the government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and local media reported the following serious human rights problems: police use of excessive force against suspects and detainees, which resulted in deaths and injuries; vigilante and mob violence; abuse of prisoners, including beatings and rape, and severe overcrowding of prisons; lengthy delays in trials and prolonged pretrial detention; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; pervasive violence against women and children and societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities; trafficking in persons; violence resulting from racial and ethnic tensions and conflicts with foreigners; and child labor, including forced child labor and child prostitution.

See full report here

CORI Thematic Report Nigeria: Gender and Age, December 2012

The reports detailedly presents the issues of women, victims and persons at risk or trafficking, children, and LGBTI individuals in Nigeria, including the current conditions and promising practices. See full report here

Mission to Sierra Leone: comments by the State on the report of the Special Rapporteur, 17 February 2014

History has shown that with education and improved health and low mortality, the belief in witchcraft disappears in Sierra Leone. As regards female genital cutting, the Government has worked very closely with the UN family agencies to ensure that a memorandum of understanding was signed with the ‘Soweis”-the female traditional leaders who perform FGC-in order to maintain the legal age of eighteen below which it is currently illegal to perform such harmful practices. The Government will continue to support massive sensitization and awareness-raising on the ills of this issue.

See full report here

Angola – Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, 24 March 2010

The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007, held its seventh session from 8 February to 19 February 2010. The review of Angola was held at the 10th meeting, on 12 February 2010. The delegation of Angola was headed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations, Georges Chikoty. At its 14th meeting, held on 16 February 2010, the Working Group adopted the report on Angola.

A list of questions prepared in advance by Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Argentina, Belgium and the Netherlands was transmitted to Angola through the troika. Those questions are available on the extranet of the universal periodic review.

See full report here

Central African Republic: Compilation prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Human Rights Council. Session 17. 2013

The report is a compilation of the information contained in the reports of
treaty bodies and special procedures, including observations and comments by the State
concerned, and of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), and in other relevant official United Nations documents. Read full report here.

See full report here

List of issues to be taken up in the absence of the initial report of Mozambique: Human Rights Committee 102nd session Geneva, 11-29 July 2011

Constitutional and legal framework within which the Covenant is implemented
1. What is the status of the Covenant under domestic law? Can provisions of the Covenant be directly invoked before domestic courts in Mozambique? If so, please provide
details on all cases in which this was done and the results thereof.
2. Please provide information on the availability of remedies for individuals claiming a violation of the rights contained in the Constitution and the Covenant. Please also provide information as to whether persons have applied to the Constitutional Court for redress, as provided for in article 58 of the Constitution.
3. At what stage is the process of establishing a national human rights commission pursuant to the bill approved by the Mozambique Parliament in May 2009? To what extent have the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles), adopted by the General Assembly through its resolution 48/134, been taken into account and complied with in this process? Please indicate whether an ombudsman has been elected in accordance with the Constitution.

……

See full report here

Malawi – Researched and compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland, 9 December 2013

Information on witchcraft including treatment of those who are perceived to be witches. Are children of perceived witches targeted? How do the police treat such cases?

See full report here