Mrs Juliana Azuma-Mensah, Minister Of Women , must act on 'witches' issue
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30th October, 2010
Exhibition On 'Witches' Camps To Be Launched
A photo exhibition aimed at creating awareness among policy makers and the government on the living conditions of women in “witches” camps in the Northern Region, is to be launched in Accra on November 3.
Zenabu Sakibu Coordinator of Southern Sector Youth and Women’s Empowerment Network (SOSYWEN), a non-governmental organization, who disclosed this to the Times in an interview in Accra, said the exhibition will showcase the general environment, housing, health, food and nutrition as well as children who have been born to such environment.
“Witches camps are small settlements inhabited by women who are accused of being witches and have been chased out or in their original villages whose movements are restricted”, she explained.
She said there are over seven of such camps in the country and all situated in the Northern region with little to live on.
“What is quite worrying is the presence of innocent children camped with them without any form of education”, she added.
Ms Sakibu said a wider project to be known as witches’ camp integrated project would be implemented in collaboration with the Information Services Department and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to put up offices inYendi, Bimbilla and Gambaga to help address the issue and find ways to address them.
“This is not about feminism or gender. This is abuse of human rights and human dignity and that the government has to act to put a stop to any cultural practice that dehumanizes a people or tribe or gender. These people need to be helped not abused and banished from society”, she said.
Ms Sakubu urged the public to get involved and help fight those negative cultural practices.
Zenabu Sakibu Coordinator of Southern Sector Youth and Women’s Empowerment Network (SOSYWEN), a non-governmental organization, who disclosed this to the Times in an interview in Accra, said the exhibition will showcase the general environment, housing, health, food and nutrition as well as children who have been born to such environment.
“Witches camps are small settlements inhabited by women who are accused of being witches and have been chased out or in their original villages whose movements are restricted”, she explained.
She said there are over seven of such camps in the country and all situated in the Northern region with little to live on.
“What is quite worrying is the presence of innocent children camped with them without any form of education”, she added.
Ms Sakibu said a wider project to be known as witches’ camp integrated project would be implemented in collaboration with the Information Services Department and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to put up offices inYendi, Bimbilla and Gambaga to help address the issue and find ways to address them.
“This is not about feminism or gender. This is abuse of human rights and human dignity and that the government has to act to put a stop to any cultural practice that dehumanizes a people or tribe or gender. These people need to be helped not abused and banished from society”, she said.
Ms Sakubu urged the public to get involved and help fight those negative cultural practices.
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