Massacre of more than 200 people following witchcraft accusations
Over the days of December 6th through 11th, 2024, more than 200 people were brutally killed by a gang in the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood of Cité Soleil, Haiti. According to reports, after a child of gang leader Micanor “Mikanò” Altès became ill and eventually died, the leader consulted a Vodou bókò (a priest for hire), who advised him that older people in the area had bewitched the child. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated that 127 of the murder victims were seniors. Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) has said they were killed “using machetes and knives.”
The mass murder did not stop the child from passing from whatever truly ailed them, yet that may not stop the bloodshed. Some articles have stated that the gang leader has killed people over witchcraft claims in the past, as well. And the RNDDH reported that the area is under siege by members of the Viv Ansamn gang alliance, who continue to seek out elderly individuals and vodou practitioners.
Witch hunts a worldwide problem
The international community, including the United Nations and the African Union, have recognized the global crisis of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks (that’s a fancy way of saying witch hunts and related attacks). In the past several decades, tens of thousands of individuals have been accused of witchcraft across dozens of nations. These accusations involve charges of using harmful witchcraft (maleficium) to hurt, kill, or damage. In retaliation for this alleged maleficium, accusers abuse and sometimes kill those they have accused of witchcraft. Abuse can be physical, including torture, sexual, including rape, or psychological, including inflicting trauma. In some cases, victims are publicly humiliated by being paraded naked or are forced to consume urine and human feces. Following many attacks, victims are forcefully banished from their towns or else led to move away out of fear of subsequent attacks. People today are dying from witchcraft accusation-related violence at a greater rate than what was seen in the European and American witch trials.
Identification of witchcraft suspects by traditional healers, religious leaders, and others
In many cases around the world, witchcraft has been alleged by religious leaders, healers, diviners, and spiritual entrepreneurs. Often, a person who has experienced loss or misfortune pays for the cause of their misfortune to be identified. In other situations, religious or spiritual leaders publicly denounce people as witches in order to draw crowds to their congregations.
Belief in witchcraft is common globally
Believing in evil witchcraft is not abnormal. In fact, across the world, 40% of people believe in witchcraft, as defined as belief “in the evil eye, or that certain people can cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen to someone.” This is the malefic form of witchcraft which was targeted by the witch trials and continues to be targeted in witch hunts and, in some nations, trials, today. In some nations, 90% of people report holding this belief that they can be harmed by curses, spells, or the evil eye. Sweden has the lowest rate of belief, at 8.86%, and the rate is 16.47% in the United States. Witchcraft is a majority belief in 35 of the 95 countries included in the survey by Boris Gershman which established the 40% figure mentioned before. Belief levels this high are present in nations in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. And in 75 of the 95 surveyed nations, at least one quarter of the population believes in this form of witchcraft.
Work is being done to end the crisis of witchcraft accusations
In 2017, the first conference on witchcraft and human rights was held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, many significant steps have been taken in the effort to end witch hunts.
In 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 47/8: Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.
In 2023, the United Nations issued the final report on the situation of the violations and abuses of human rights rooted in harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks, as well as stigmatization.
In 2024, the Second International Conference on Witchcraft and Human Rights, sponsored by the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks (INAWARA), convened at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England.
UN Human Rights Council Resolution 47/8 Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft
and ritual attacks
UN Human Rights Council Resolution 47/8 (HRC 47/8) contains a set of guidelines for member states to follow in order to eliminate harmful practices within their borders and internationally. This is a global crisis that will require work by many member states to resolve.
Pan-African Parliament Guidelines on the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks
Following the adoption of HRC 47/8, the Pan-African Parliament, the African Union’s legislature, approved a set of guidelines for member states to take towards eliminating harmful practices and other human rights violations. These guidelines promote a holistic approach to combatting harmful practices. Topics include allocating funding and staff to ending these practices, establishing oversight, collaborating, and collecting data. The holistic approach also involves creating an enabling legal environment to combat harmful practices, as well as using non-legal and community-based interventions.
Papua New Guinea Sorcery Accusation-Related Violence National Action Plan
In Papua New Guinea, sorcery accusation-related violence has long occurred at crisis levels. Aiming to eliminate this practice, the government adopted a Sorcery accusation-related violence National Action Plan (SNAP). Like the Pan-African Parliament Guidelines, the PNG SNAP calls for a holistic approach to solving the problem. Legal action alone will not stop witch hunts. All of government and society need to be involved in creating and implementing solutions.
End Witch Hunts calls upon everyone to act to eliminate harmful practices
End Witch Hunts condemns witch hunting in all its forms, including literal accusations of witchcraft, which often are accompanied by violence and other forms of abuse. We call upon people everywhere to demand that their governments take all necessary steps to eliminate harmful practices. The effort will take all of us. And find out if there is an organization near you that you can work with to take action.
Stop attacking innocent people based on witchcraft accusations
Instead of violence, use reason to determine the true cause of the harm. When misfortune or disaster strikes, don’t rush to blame your mother, grandmother, child, other relative, neighbor, or anyone else. Think critically about events and what natural processes cause them.