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Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used malevolent magic against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings. It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by cunning folk or folk healers. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. In some regions, many of those accused of witchcraft were folk healers or midwives. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment.
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern period or about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging. One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.
Abigail Williams was an 11- or 12-year-old girl who, along with nine-year-old Betty Parris, was among the first of the children to falsely accuse their neighbors of witchcraft in 1692; these accusations eventually led to the Salem witch trials.
Children have been accused of witchcraft, both historically and in contemporary times, in societies that harbour beliefs about the existence of witches and black magic. These accusations have led to punishment, imprisonment, torture, and execution of children.
Helen Ukpabio is the founder and head of African Evangelical franchise Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries based in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. She is widely accused of causing large-scale harassment and violence against children accused of witchcraft.
Safe Child Africa is a UK registered charity based in Manchester, England that works with and through Nigerian partners to protect and uphold child rights in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It was founded by Gary Foxcroft in 2005.
Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa have received increasing international attention in the first decade of the 21st century.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, "the practice of ritual killing and human sacrifice continues to take place ... in contravention of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other human rights instruments." In the 21st century, such practices have been reported in Nigeria, Uganda, Swaziland, Liberia, Tanzania, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, as well as Mozambique, and Mali.
Leo Igwe is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe's human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft.
Witch camps are settlements where women in Ghana who have been accused of being witches can flee for safety. Women in such camps have been accused of witchcraft for various reasons, including mental illness. Some camps are thought to have been created in the early 20th century. The Ghanaian government has enacted measures to eliminate such camps.
Richard Hoskins is an author and criminologist, with expertise in African ritual crime.
Kindoki is thought by its believers to be a kind of witchcraft or possession by evil spirits. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and among Congolese immigrants in Europe, this belief is responsible for acts of child abandonment and ritual abuse of adults and children who were thought to have fallen victim to kindoki.
AFRUCA is an UK charity, established in 2001 by Modupe Debbie Ariyo OBE, as a platform for advocating for the rights and welfare of African Children. AFRUCA was set up in response to the deaths of African children in the UK such as Damilola Taylor, Jude Akapa, and Victoria Climbie who suffered abuse. AFRUCA works both across the UK from two bases in London and Manchester, and internationally in partnership with agencies across Europe and in Africa. AFRUCA also heavily relies on the 1989 United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child to form the basis of their work. The organisation's stance is that culture and religion should not be a reason to abuse children.
Witch-hunts are practiced today throughout the world. While prevalent world-wide, hot-spots of current witch-hunting are India, Papua New Guinea, Amazonia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. While an unknown problem in vast parts of the Western populations of the world, body-counts of modern witch-hunts by far exceed those of early-modern witch-hunting.
Gambaga Witch camp is a segregated community within Gambaga township in the Northern Region of Ghana established in the 18th century to accommodate alleged witches and wizards who are banished from their communities.
The Connecticut Witch Trials, also sometimes referred to as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663. They were the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies, predating the Salem Witch Trials by nearly thirty years. John M. Taylor lists a total of 37 cases, 11 of which resulted in executions. The execution of Alse Young of Windsor in the spring of 1647 was the beginning of the witch panic in the area, which would not come to an end until 1670 with the release of Katherine Harrison.
End Of The Wicked is a controversial 1999 Nigerian horror film directed by Teco Benson and written by Helen Ukpabio. The film was blamed for a rise in witchcraft accusations against children in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Ama Hemmah (1947–2010) was a Ghanaian woman who was burned to death on suspicion of being a witch.
Witchcraft is deeply rooted in many African countries and communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has been specifically relevant in Ghana's culture, beliefs, and lifestyle and continues to shape lives daily. It has promoted tradition, fear, violence, and spiritual beliefs. The perceptions on witchcraft change from region to region within Ghana as they do in other countries in Africa, with the commonality that it is not something to take lightly, and the word spreading fast if there are rumours surrounding civilians practicing it. The actions taken by local citizens and the government towards witchcraft and violence related to it has also varied within regions in Ghana. Traditional African religions have depicted the universe as a multitude of spirits that are able to be used for either good or evil through religion.
References
- ↑ Faith Karimi (2009-05-18). "BBC: Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says". Cnn.com. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
- ↑ Foxcroft, Gary (2008). "Saving Africa's Witch Children, a documentary".
- ↑ "Saving Africa's Witch Children". Channel 4. 2008-11-12. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
