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    • United Nations passes historic resolution calling for end to witchcraft atrocities

    Ten-year-old Mwigulu Matonange's left arm was cut off above the elbow and six-year-old Baraka Cosmas Rusambo lost his right hand in witchcraft-related attacks both in Western Tanzania. (Under the Same Sun / Lancaster University) Ten-year-old Mwigulu Matonange's left arm was cut off above the elbow and six-year-old Baraka Cosmas Rusambo lost his right hand in witchcraft-related attacks both in Western Tanzania. (Under the Same Sun / Lancaster University)
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    TORONTO -

    An historic United Nations resolution calling for the end of witchcraft atrocities worldwide has been passed after years of advocacy by a team of academics.

    The resolution calls for the elimination of harmful practices related to witchcraft beliefs, including beatings, banishment, cutting of body parts, and amputation of limbs, torture and murder. It also affirms that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security.

    Every year, there are thousands of cases of people accused of witchcraft globally who are mutilated or killed for witchcraft-related rituals, from Lancaster University in the U.K. who were part of the team that ensured the issue was heard at the UN.

    Women, children, seniors, and people with disabilities, including albinism, are particularly at risk.

    In the last decade, the academics said there have been more than 700 attacks on people with albinism 鈥 a genetic disorder that impairs the body鈥檚 ability to create the pigment melanin and results in very light skin, hair, and eyes.

    (OHCHR), some believe that people with albinism are 鈥渕agical beings or ghosts,鈥 so they will mutilate or even kill them in order to use their body parts for witchcraft rituals.  

    In certain African countries, trade in body parts of people with albinism is 鈥渂ig business,鈥 according to the researchers, who said the 鈥済oing rate鈥 for a full set of body parts is 75,000 pounds (C$130,200).

    鈥淭he violence is largely met by social silence and indifference, and is seldom followed by investigations or the prosecution of perpetrators,鈥 the OHCHR explains on its website. 鈥淲hile some investigation and prosecution seem to take place, sentencing appears to be rare. Victims face significant difficulties in bringing their cases to justice, fearing retaliatory attacks or further stigmatization.鈥

    Professor Charlotte Baker of Lancaster University, who has published widely on albinism in Africa, together with UN Independent Expert on Albinism Ikponwosa Ero, international human rights barrister Kirsty Brimelow and Lancaster University honorary graduate and human rights advocate Gary Foxcroft, have worked as part of a wider team to bring about the UN resolution.

    Their efforts were rewarded in late August when the resolution was passed without a vote after it was tabled at the UN Human Rights Council by Kenya, with the support of the Africa group, composed of 54 member states from the African continent.

    It鈥檚 the first time the issues of witchcraft and human rights have been brought together in a systematic and in-depth manner at the UN and international level, according to Lancaster University.

    鈥淭he UN Special Resolution is an important step in helping to stop the, often horrific, human rights abuses that take place due to beliefs in witchcraft around the world,鈥 Foxcraft said in a press release on Wednesday.

    鈥淲e needed as many governments as possible to support this Resolution and believe that our work inspired the action needed to do so.鈥

    Ero acknowledged that the resolution wasn鈥檛 a 鈥渕agic bullet,鈥 and that more work is needed to be done to address the problem.

    鈥淏ut this one is a key turning point for all of us working to ensure human rights protection in this complex sphere of spiritual beliefs and practices. The resolution will also spur the work to combat the horrendous violence which characterize these types of harmful practices and which, for too long, have destroyed and taken too many lives.鈥

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