End Human Rights Abuses Against Alleged Witches

Dear Cherished donors!

It is yet another interesting period of the year where we bring you update on our work on ending violence against persons accused of witchcraft that has been made possible through your generous donations.

During this quarter, Songtaba visited the Kukuo alleged witches camp located in the Nanumba South district of the northern region to interact with the women at the camp and also profile women for the next batch of reintegration under our ongoing reintegration programme.

It is important to report that there is a significant reduction in the number of women who are accused and banished to the Kukuo camp compared to previous years where women were frequently accused and sent to the camp accounting for high numbers in the camps. Before the reintegration programme, number of accused women at the Kukuo camp was over 80 and current numbers of accused women at the camp stands at 40. through many sensitisation platform including radio and television, the general public have been sensitise on the dangers associated with the violation of women's rights and how this practice has negative affected the development of the region due to the over reliance on superstition

A total of 5 women have been profiled to be reintegrated back to their home communities where discussions have started with key stakeholders to ensure the process is done smoothly without any difficulties. In the coming days, all necessary rituals shall be performed to prepare the women for reintegration.

 Songtaba shall monitor closely on each of these women and report on their progress during and after their reintegration.

Dear Reader,

It is another exciting moment at Songtaba as we bring to you updates on our work on ending violence against persons accused of witchcraft. 

Every year between 25th November to 10th December, human rights organisations and individuals across the globe engage in serious advocacy to champion the end to all forms of violence including gender based violence. This year Songtaba as a women and child rights organisation joined the rest of the world to mark the 16 days of activism highlighting the wide spread of witchcraft accusation in the northern part of Ghana.

As part of the activities to mark this year's 16 days of activism, Songtaba organised visits to the alleged witches camps with the media to interveiw some of the women telling their stories for publication. The intention was to showcase these stories as compelling evidence for key stakeholder including government to speed up process to disband these camps.

beyond this community level actions, Songtaba also organised a national level key stakeholder dialogue to discuss the roadmap to ending this age long phenomenon. The national dialogue had both state institutions  and civil society orgnaisations participating and making significant contributions to put an end to this phenomenon. 

on a recently case were a 90 years old women was accused of being a witch and eventually lynched, Songtaba was the first organisation through a press conference to call for the arrest of the perpetrators of this crime. Some arrest was indeed made and subsequently grabted bail but arranged to court. Songtaba is still monitoing the case to ensure that the famility of this old women gets justice and also to serve as a lesson to prevent other future occurrences.

 The journey has been a very difficult one but it is important to indicate that some positive progress has been made. There appear to be a rudction in the frenquent occurence of the accusations and the also there has been a significant number of the women that have been re-integrated.