Urgent Call for Governments to prevent children being branded as ‘witches’

Print Version: Urgent Call for Governments to prevent children being branded as ‘witches’

Following the recent Channel 4 ‘Dispatches’ investigation into the plight of so-called child ‘witches’, a coalition of UK based charities have called upon the UK and Nigerian governments to urgently enact legislation making it illegal for children to be branded as ‘witches’.

Attention to this practice and abuse of such children was first highlighted in the UK by the case of Victoria Climbié, who herself was branded as a witch. Her death in 2000 led to a widespread review of child protection measures in the UK. However, according to the Metropolitan Police there have been almost 60 cases of child abuse related to witchcraft or possession reported to the Scotland Yard in the past two years alone. Mor Dioum, Director of the Victoria Climbié Foundation, said: “It is clear that a growing number of children in the UK are vulnerable to this form of abuse and the government clearly needs to be doing more to protect such innocent children”.

The plight of child witches in African countries such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo is even more disturbing. A recent estimate of children branded as witches in just two of Nigeria’s 36 states put the figure as high 10 -15,000. The UK registered charity, Stepping Stones Nigeria is the only international agency working in the Niger Delta region on this issue. Its Programme Director, Gary Foxcroft, stressed that the phenomenon of the belief in child witches is relatively new to Nigeria. It is therefore imperative for the Nigerian Federal government to act immediately to protect these innocent children by making it illegal for pastors or parents to label children as ‘witches’. According to Gary, “the physical, emotional and psychological damage inflicted upon the child when branded as a witch means that it has to be outlawed. Many of these children are abandoned by their parents and end up on the street where they become very vulnerable to human traffickers.

Stepping Stones Nigeria has recently uncovered hundreds of such cases where children are being trafficked across Nigeria and beyond”.

This escalating situation has led the Consortium for Street Children to call for immediate urgent action. Louise Meincke, Advocacy Manager at the Consortium for Street Children, said: “We are extremely concerned about the phenomenon of child witches, and how rapidly it is spreading. Many families are falling prey to rogue pastors who wrongly brand children as witches and carry out bogus exorcism rites mainly for economic self gain and personal recognition. Many of these children have no choice but to take to the streets for survival and once there they become even more vulnerable to abuse. The Government in the Democratic Republic of Congo recently enacted legislation making it illegal to brand children as witches, and we believe it is vital that other Governments follow suit where this is a problem”.