Around the world witches are known by different names – mchawi in Swahili, sanguma in Pidgin, boksi in Nepalese – but they have one thing in common; women and children accused of sorcery are hunted, mutilated, exiled, and murdered. UN researchers and human rights agencies estimate the number to be in the thousands annually.
Last week, 63-year-old Purni Orang was dragged from her home in Assam, India, stripped naked, and beheaded, because villagers thought her a witch and blamed her for a local illness. As if that’s not horrifying enough, some 2,000 people have been murdered nationwide after accusations of witchcraft between 2000 and 2012, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau in India.
These modern-day witchcraft-related attacks are not unique to India, they occur in at least 41 countries around the globe including Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and multiple European nations.
"This is becoming an international problem – it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe," Jeff Crisp of the UN's refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organized by human rights officials. Full story...
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Last week, 63-year-old Purni Orang was dragged from her home in Assam, India, stripped naked, and beheaded, because villagers thought her a witch and blamed her for a local illness. As if that’s not horrifying enough, some 2,000 people have been murdered nationwide after accusations of witchcraft between 2000 and 2012, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau in India.
These modern-day witchcraft-related attacks are not unique to India, they occur in at least 41 countries around the globe including Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and multiple European nations.
"This is becoming an international problem – it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe," Jeff Crisp of the UN's refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organized by human rights officials. Full story...
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- Woman accused of witchcraft axed to death in Papua New Guinea...
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- Seven witchcraft suspects burned to death in Tanzania...
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