Supported by funding from Humanists International, this project aims to provide a systematic response to the “epidemic” of “witch hunts”. According to a recent report by the Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW), these incidents are not isolated anomalies, but daily occurrences driven by fear, superstition, and greed. The organization is currently leading a continental movement to dismantle the beliefs that sanction the brutalization of women, children, the elderly, and the disabled.
The human cost of these accusations is staggering. In Ekiti State, 70-year-old Wura saw her life and business destroyed after her own granddaughter accused her of “initiating her into a coven.” In Ebonyi and Imo States, widows have been subjected to “trial by ordeal,” forced to drink water used to wash the corpses of their deceased husbands. A practice that is both medically dangerous and psychologically scarring.
Violence even extends to the home. In Bayelsa State, three siblings were recently assaulted by their father, a serving police officer, under the pretext of witchcraft.
“These are not rare events; they happen every day in villages and towns where these practices are treated as normal, sanctioned by tradition or religious beliefs,” says Dooyum Dominic Ingye, Program Manager of AfAW.
One of the most significant hurdles in ending these abuses is the complicity or indifference of local institutions. In the case of the Bayelsa siblings, AfAW and the Ministry of Women Affairs rescued the children, only for the police to return them to the abusive family.
AfAW identifies this as a systemic “epidemic” that requires more than just local intervention. The organization argues that if global health crises can be contained through collective action, so too can the culture of “witch hunts”.
The organization maintains that Africa can be free of ritual violence within ten years if the international community and local governments prioritize the issue.
Dooyum Dominic Ingye, Program Manager of Advocacy for Alleged Witches, added:
“Our vision is ambitious, but it is achievable. Every survivor supported, every community educated, and every abuser held accountable brings us closer to a future free of fear and violence.”
AfAW is currently calling for increased support from private donors and civil society to expand their advocacy and provide permanent shelter for those displaced by baseless accusations. The goal is a future where no individual is lynched, tortured, or banished based on a superstition.
If you would like to support the AfAW project and help end ritual violence in Africa, please contact Humanists International to learn how you can contribute: Contact: https://humanists.international/about/contact-us/
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