Stakeholders at a roundtable hosted by the British High Commission in Accra have committed to supporting victims of witchcraft allegations.
A joint statement issued by Songtaba, Ghana Somubi Dwumadie and the British High Commission, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said key stakeholders committed to collaborating to end witchcraft allegations, address the deplorable conditions in the alleged witches’ camps and safely re-integrate the alleged witches into their communities of choice.
It said a new evidence-based research report from Songtaba had identified a strong gender element to witchcraft allegations, with the vast majority (93.5 per cent) of the accused being women, and most of the accused being older and widowed.
The statement noted that the researchers further found that over half of the women in the camps are experiencing depression and 97 per cent had a low quality of life.
It said representatives from the Alleged Witches Network spoke at the roundtable to explain how they had no food, no fuel, challenges accessing safe drinking water, no funds to educate their children or grandchildren, and very poor accommodations.
It said many had experienced significant abuse following the witchcraft allegations against them.
It noted that nearly three-quarters of the women wanted to be re-integrated into their communities but were afraid of fresh allegations being made.
Speaking in response to the report, Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, the Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, who is also Minister Designate, reiterated the Ministry’s continued commitment to end all forms of negative cultural practices and to protect marginalised people in society against human rights abuses, and to continue to enact measures to alleviate the deplorable conditions faced by the women in the camps.
Madam Lamnatu Adam, the Executive Director of Songtaba, said that “everyone here sees the issue of witchcraft allegations as a human rights violation.”
“There is now that commitment from key stakeholders to do something about it”.
Madam Adam summarised the key next steps as needed to extend mental health and wellbeing support to the women now, as well as pushing for the closure of the camps and supporting women to safely reintegrate into their communities of choice as soon as possible.
She supported the Bill to criminalise witchcraft allegations could also go a long way to ending the practice.
Songtaba Songtaba is a women and children rights Advocacy organisation committed to the realisation of the aspirations and rights of women and children.
Mr Joseph Whittal, Commissioner of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), shared key findings from a recent report on the alleged witches’ lack of access to justice and called on the government to take on board the evidence presented and to move beyond reporting and rhetoric, towards action.
Dr Ama Boadu, the Deputy Director for Mental Health, Ghana Health Service, and Prof Akwasi Osei, Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority, committed to supporting immediate efforts to address the mental health needs of the women in the camps.
The statement said Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu and Mr Francis Sosu, MP for Madina, both spoke passionately on the subject, with the former labelling the presence of the camps in Ghana as “a national disgrace”.
It noted that Mr Sosu explained his motivation for working to present a Private Members Bill to criminalise witchcraft allegations and invited interested parties to contribute to pre-consultations on the bill.
It said civil society representatives from Action Aid, STARGhana Foundation, BasicNeedsGhana and Sanneh Institute further committed to supporting Songtaba in their efforts.
