The witch hunt requires an international response

The protection of citizens is one of the primary obligations of the state. As a result, a modern state must fulfill or be obliged to fulfill this duty. Indeed, in our world order of western nation-states, the state is the central organ of social and political organization; the maintenance mechanism of public order. The state is supposed to ensure the safety of lives and property. Responsibility to Protect discussions focused primarily on four key areas. These are the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In 2005, the UN accepted responsibility and willingness to act in situations where states fail in their duty to protect their citizens. The UN is committed to tackling these problems and taking protective and preventive measures. However, there is a phenomenon that will require attention and transnational solutions: the witch hunt.

Unfortunately, no mention was made of witch cleansing and other atrocities committed in the name of witchcraft and occult fears. No reference has been made to the clear lack of political commitment to the protection of alleged witches and the prevention of violence related to beliefs, real or perceived, of witchcraft. In other words, the UN Member States have not seen fit to bring at the highest level crimes against alleged wizards worldwide. This global moral failure, this disappointing failure must be addressed urgently.

Indeed, there is overwhelming evidence of states' inability to protect their citizens as a result of accusations of witchcraft. The UN must intervene to fill this gap and remedy this failure to fulfill the duty of Member States. For example, like war criminals and perpetrators of ethnic cleansing, witch hunters take steps that undermine peace and security in various countries. They commit with complete impunity gross violations of human rights, horrendous and horrific crimes. The accusers attack suspected wizards in the middle of the night; they beat them or murdered them in cold blood. The exorcists of witchcraft chained, starved and beat the alleged wizards. Victims are men or women, children or the elderly, including persons with disabilities. The witch hunters destroy homes and property of alleged wizards and put the defendants to trial. The trial involves the consumption of toxic preparations that sometimes lead to death or serious damage to health.

For example, as I write this play, the fate of a seventy-year-old Nigerian woman, Aunt B, from the Edo State, in southern Nigeria, is in a scale. Aunt B is a widow from Idumoza, Irrua, in central Esan, in the state of Edo. She has been accused of being responsible for the death of a child. According to local sources, the woman has twice harmed children by hidden means. In the first case, a child said before his death that his aunt had given him food. People suspected that a magic substance in the food had resulted in the death of the child. The case was reported to the elders of the community. But the elders filed the case on the grounds that the matter had not been given to them to be examined during the child's lifetime.

Shortly after the death of this child, another child fell ill in the community and also claimed that the same aunt had given him food and that the case had been reported to the elders. This time, the elders decided that the woman should be made to drink a decoction to establish her guilt. Local sources said the magic potion contained toxic substances. Incidentally, those who wanted to administer the substance asked the accusers to pay 50,000 naira ($ 150), but the accusers could not pay the fees. Aunt B did not take the preparation and she is temporarily out of danger.

Aunt B continues to live in fear because she could be attacked or killed by her accusers at any time. Killing an alleged witch is seen as a form of community service, a means of revenge and neutralizing the source of harm and danger to the community. Aunt B village, Irrua, is located near the Ozalla community, where at least 20 defendants died after drinking in a similar circumstance in 2004. Those who perpetrated the crime have not been translated. in court because of powerful people, including an elder said to be behind the prosecution and the death of alleged wizards.

In Ghana and Burkina Faso, there are makeshift shelters where so-called witches take refuge. Hundreds of suspected wizards, mostly women, who have fled their homes and communities after being accused of occult harm, reside in these areas. In Ghana, these shelters, known as witch camps, predate colonialism. In fact, in recent years, the Ghanaian government has threatened to close these sanctuaries instead of attacking accusations of witchcraft that force people to flee their homes and communities. The alleged witches are treated as insufficient protection of the state in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Meanwhile, it is not only in Africa that states have failed to protect citizens accused of witchcraft. In the Indian subcontinent and in Oceania, so-called witches suffer the same fate. The alleged witches are the target of mbad violence and extrajudicial executions.

In India, four people suspected of witchcraft or black magic were reportedly murdered in Jharkhand village, Gumla district. Their badbadins stormed their homes in the early morning, dragged the alleged witches to the village square and lynched them. The alleged witches are subjected to similar horrendous abuses in Nepal and Papua New Guinea.

In many cases, these atrocious crimes occur near police stations or provincial or municipal offices. In fact, suspicions of witchcraft often begin among police officers and other state security agents. Thus, no arrests are made and in cases where some people are arrested, they are rarely prosecuted successfully. Witnesses fear to come forward to testify against witch murderers. People are generally afraid of wizard hunters. Indeed, witch hunters are often people who hold strong sociocultural and political positions and who have the means to victimize those who testify against them. In many countries, allegations of witchcraft escape the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens.

Thus, without an effective mechanism to combat witch hunters and the horrendous crimes badociated with witchcraft convictions, the transnational epidemic of persecution and murder by witches will continue. The United Nations must act now and quickly to protect the alleged wizards and prevent witch hunts and witch cleansing in communities around the world. The UN needs a mechanism to sanction Member States that are unable to fulfill their responsibility to protect alleged wizards from attacks, persecution, killings, judgments, banishment, banishment, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. This mechanism will allow the UN to reprimand member states that refuse to call or punish those who incite violence against alleged wizards, including traditional healers, pastors, mallams and other so-called religious experts. United Nations agencies must integrate harmful practices related to witchcraft beliefs into the various sectors in order to effectively address allegations concerning children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

In conclusion, the witch hunt may have ended in Europe centuries ago, but perverse crimes related to witchcraft beliefs have continued in many parts of the world. The allegations of witchcraft are a global challenge. It is a problem of religion, health care, environment, human rights (women, children) and development. The United Nations must take the lead in ending witch hunts in the 21st century and ensure that states fulfill their duty to protect alleged wizards around the world.