PART 2 2010 Update: Saving Africa's Witch Children (Falsely Accused)

Part 1 2010 Update: Saving Africa's Witch Children (Falsely Accused)

Detained Nigerian girl found trying to strangle herself

Immigration officials detained 10-year-old for second time against advice of experts

A 10-year-old Nigerian girl placed in immigration detention for a second time – despite warnings from experts that she might try to kill herself if she was incarcerated again – has been found trying to strangle herself.

Adeoti Ogunsola was spotted by guards at Tinsley House immigration removal centre (IRC) near Gatwick airport early on Sunday in the kitchen of the family quarters. The family's asylum claim has been refused and they are facing removal to Nigeria on Thursday.

Adeoti told the guards she would rather die in England than in Nigeria, where she believes her life will be at risk if she is returned. Her mother, Clementina Ogunsola, 35, whom she was sharing a room with, was asleep at the time. Mother and daughter were taken to hospital and later returned to Tinsley House.

"Adeoti is in a very bad state," said Clementina. "It's terrible to see her like this. She's crying a lot and has completely broken down."

The case comes at a time when there is mounting opposition to the government's policy of detaining child asylum seekers.

The Ogunsolas were detained in Yarl's Wood IRC in June and were later released. A report from a psychotherapist warned that Adeoti was suffering from complex post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of being detained and warned that if she was detained again her condition was so severe that she might attempt to kill herself.

Clementina was detained again in August but refused to reveal the whereabouts of Adeoti to prevent her being redetained. It later emerged that she was in the care of an aunt and for a while social services and the UK Border Agency (UKBA) allowed this arrangement to stand.

However, early last Thursday UKBA officials raided the aunt's home and dragged out a screaming Adeoti. Social services were present but Adeoti's aunt was not allowed to accompany her. A distressed Adeoti was reunited with her mother in Tinsley House and tried to kill herself three days later.

In a letter to the family's solicitors, UKBA officials said the circumstances were exceptional. The letter is dated 17 October and was sent hours before Adeoti made the suicide attempt. It quotes Dr Geraint Thomas, who acknowledged Adeoti's distress.

"Whilst aware of the potential for suicidal feelings that she may act upon we are maintaining close observations of her and believe we are able to safely maintain her within this environment," Thomas states in the UKBA letter.

Adeoti is a pupil at St Mary's Catholic primary school in Gillingham, Kent. The headteacher, Bernadette Long, is supporting the family's fight to remain in the UK.

She said Adeoti was "clearly traumatised" by her detention in June. "She was inconsolable about the thought of deportation in September 2008 when she first heard of it," said Long. "Since then Adeoti has had unsettled periods due to the worry and uncertainty. This has gone on for a whole year now and is an unnecessary act of mental cruelty which is affecting her emotional and mental wellbeing."

There have been many campaigns to end the detention of children in the UK, which currently occurs at a rate of 2,000 a year. Labour MP Chris Mullin is sponsoring an early day motion urging the government to adopt more humane arrangements for monitoring children whom UKBA wishes to remove from the country.

David Wood, strategic director of UKBA's criminality and detention group, said: "Treating children with care and compassion is a priority for the UK Border Agency.

"Whenever we take decisions involving children, their welfare comes first. That's why we have transformed our children's policy, ensuring in law a commitment to protect youngsters and keep them safe from harm. Their welfare is regularly monitored and medical staff are on site and their detention is reviewed.

"When the independent courts find a family has no need for protection we expect them to return home. If they refuse to leave voluntarily we have no choice but to enforce their removal, and this can include detaining children, but only as a very last resort."

Frank Arnold, clinical director of the Medical Justice Network, said: "The evidence is that this girl was redetained by UKBA against expert advice and retraumatised, causing severe harm. Our independent doctors have seen more than 20 children whose purely administrative detention has damaged them beyond any reasonable justification. The abusive jailing of innocent children should cease."

Clementina and Adeoti fear that if they return to Nigeria their lives will be at risk from a cult which allegedly killed two of Clementina's brothers. They are also concerned that Adeoti will be at risk of female genital mutilation from family members, which Clementina was forced to undergo.

The family's lawyers are seeking a stay of the removal.

guardian.co.uk

Child Rights Abuse - Product of Inefficient Leadership

Godwin Akor — Recently, the United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) organized a sensitization workshop for journalists in Benue, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo and Abia states, which are under the organization's zonal office in Enugu

Main focus of the workshop was the Child Rights Act, which has been passed into law in nine of the ten states. The only state that is yet to adopt or adapt the Act is Enugu.

Enugu State's delay in passing the law worried participants at the workshop but the issue that was more worrisome was the neglect of children in the zone in spite of the signing of the Act into law in some states.

Whether children are on holiday or not, they are subjected to dehumanizing conditions through hawking. Some parents claim that their children hawk one item or another so as to get money for their school fees not knowing that the Child Rights Act (Law) prohibits such.

Even as some parents claim ignorance on the law, some state governments have not helped matters as the Child Rights Law has been kept in the cooler.

It is an offence under the law for parents to deny their children education but some children are kept at home and used as helpers instead of being given opportunity to exploit their environment for future relevance.

How many children lose their lives when they desperately cross the road to sell items to motorists and passengers on the highway?. How many children are subjected to torture when they fail to meet the expectation of their parents at the end of the day?.

There are cases of where some children are denied food because they fail to realise the expected amount of money from sales of goods hawked.

In many states particularly in the north, girls are denied education on the basis of sex. Parents, who do this claim that women have been naturally assigned the responsibility of taking care of homes. Where is it written that women must be treated as second class citizens?.

Nigeria ratified the United Nations Child Rights Convention in 1991 and later passed it into law as the Child Rights Act. Since then, 22 states have adopted or adapted the Act but the implementation has continued to be a problem.

In Benue State for instance, government officials woke up from slumber when children mobilised by Mrs. Yemisi Dooshima Suswam requested that their rights should be protected at the occasion of this year's African Day of the Child.

The children were promised that a sensitisation campaign would be carried out so that the people, including parents, would know about the Child Rights Act as passed by the House and signed into law by the governor.

This gave the children a ray of hope but since then, nothing has been done in that direction? This problem is not peculiar to Benue. In Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, children are being dubbed witches and sent out of homes..

If not for the sake of UNICEF, the affected children would be open to a lot of hazards. Since witchcraft is difficult to be tested scientifically, the best that can be done to children suspected to be involved is reformation.

In the states where children are hardly immunized against killer diseases, do the parents know that it is the rights of the children to be immunized? Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that children have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and clean environment.

Is it not true that many parents especially those in the villages tell their children to go to the bush to defecate when they are pressed?. How many children die yearly because of various diseases? United Nations records show that in Nigeria, more than one million children die yearly through such hazards.

Article 27 of the Child Rights Convention says children have right to a standard of living that is good to meet their physical and mental needs while article 28 provides that children have right to education just as primary education should be free.

In the HIV/AIDS ravaged states, no policy has been set out to take care of the children, who have lost their parents. What we see is that such children are put in orphanage homes and trained in the primary schools. Of what burden would it be to the government to train orphans up to university level?.

In some cases, government officials say there is no money but a lot of them keep cars that are not used for weeks. They also build houses without anybody living in them for years. These days, we see juveniles driving cars in the name of rich parents. Due to over-pampering, such children engage in cult activities because they call themselves "big boys".

Nigeria realises a lot of money from oil but there is poor management characterised by corruption. Some Nigerians became worried when Mrs Hilarry Clinton, United States Secretary of State berated the agencies set up to fight corruption but we are yet to see how the cases handled by Nuhu Ribadu were concluded.

During the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) applied selective justice. If one says democracy in Nigeria is synonymous with corruption, the politicians would become uncomfortable but they display affluence at the expense of children's education.

Where did Obafemi Awolowo get money to introduce free education in Western Nigeria during his premiership?. When the Senate President, David Mark, was the Military Governor of Niger State, he made it compulsory for girls to go to school and resist the temptation of marrying early. Have the people of Niger State including the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) not continued to hold Mark in high esteem because of that singular achievement?.

How many children are roaming the streets because of Boko Haram and the Niger Delta problem?. Nigeria is so poor in keeping records. Birth registration is alien to many states, just as infant mortality has no record. If the states fail to evolve definite policies for the protection and care of children, why is the federal government not doing anything better?.

The universal basic education programme collapsed like a park of cards. Payment of teachers salaries is optional in Nigeria. Some states toy with the issue as if teachers are beggars. When ever there is strike in Nigeria, children suffer to the extent that their primary education foundation becomes so weak.

Kidnappers target children of the well to do so as to be given ransom. Child trafficking is a common feature in Nigeria because some parents believe that they have to trade with them.

So many young girls have become commercial sex workers because of the same reason. When someone dies in Nigeria, people cry so much because of the feeling that his children would suffer. Why should that be? Nigerians have the feeling that they have to take care of their children when they like not knowing that the law has not made their care optional.

Many people waste their money on alcohol on a daily basis and say "proudly" at beer parlours that their children have stopped schooling because of lack of school fees.

There are instances where some states are supposed to pay a counterpart fund of six million naira and access a UNICEF educational development fund of over N400 million but the matter is being trivialized.

Why has primary education collapsed, is it not because of lack of contribution from many states. Some state governments feel that when money is sourced through counterpart arrangement, it becomes difficult to pinch such money, so, they discourage such contribution.

On the matter of lack of care for Nigerian children, all the stakeholders are guilty. The government, parents, individuals and the society are all guilty because of the problem of the shifting of blames.

The United Nations (UN) has established so many agencies which it is funding with money from donor agencies. Many people are of the illusion that the UN mints money. The truth is that many countries and organizations that have less corrupt tendencies set aside some money for the assistance being given to less developed countries like Nigeria.

During the military era, there was less crime though the high echelon of the military enriched themselves so much that today, some of them can fund political parties. Today, it is due process and the rule of law. Why is it that some states find it difficult to pass the Child Rights Act?. Why is it that some states find it difficult to implement the law after its passage.

There are supposed to be community courts established for the trial of children who fail to fulfill their own part of the bargain. There are supposed to be implementation committees responsible for making the law to work. In how many states have these bodies been set up?. Benue state said it would sensitize the people and commence the implementation of the law. When would the sensitization programme start?

Today, children are being mixed with adults in detention. This makes the children to become hardened as they are subjected to an orientation that makes them to be more criminally minded. There are supposed to be remand homes but where are they?. Benue state had one in Gboko but it is in a sorry state. Many states do not know what is called a remand home which is supposed to be like a school of reformatory.

The challenge of giving the children a pride of place in Nigeria is enormous. All hands must be on deck to make this possible. If the society hinges its reason of not caring for the children on poverty, the vicious circle would never be broken. This is the time, the government and indeed, the citizens must rise to the occasion of giving hope to our children

allAfrica.com

Churches denounce African children as "witches"

This Aug. 18, 2009 photo shows children accused of witchcraft carrying water at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria. The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him - Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Nwanaokwo Edet was one of an increasing number of children in Africa accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Some of the churches involved are renegade local branches of international franchises. Their parishioners take literally the Biblical exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

"It is an outrage what they are allowing to take place in the name of Christianity," said Gary Foxcroft, head of nonprofit Stepping Stones Nigeria.

For their part, the families are often extremely poor, and sometimes even relieved to have one less mouth to feed. Poverty, conflict and poor education lay the foundation for accusations, which are then triggered by the death of a relative, the loss of a job or the denunciation of a pastor on the make, said Martin Dawes, a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund.

"When communities come under pressure, they look for scapegoats," he said. "It plays into traditional beliefs that someone is responsible for a negative change ... and children are defenseless."

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The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children accused of witchcraft were killed and another three were set on fire.

Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United Nations Children's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa.

Church signs sprout around every twist of the road snaking through the jungle between Uyo, the capital of the southern Akwa Ibom state where Nwanaokwo lay, and Eket, home to many more rejected "witch children." Churches outnumber schools, clinics and banks put together. Many promise to solve parishioner's material worries as well as spiritual ones - eight out of ten Nigerians struggle by on less than $2 a day.

"Poverty must catch fire," insists the Born 2 Rule Crusade on one of Uyo's main streets.

"Where little shots become big shots in a short time," promises the Winner's Chapel down the road.

"Pray your way to riches," advises Embassy of Christ a few blocks away.

It's hard for churches to carve out a congregation with so much competition. So some pastors establish their credentials by accusing children of witchcraft.

Nwanaokwo said he knew the pastor who accused him only as Pastor King. Mount Zion Lighthouse in Nigeria at first confirmed that a Pastor King worked for them, then denied that they knew any such person.

Bishop A.D. Ayakndue, the head of the church in Nigeria, said pastors were encouraged to pray about witchcraft, but not to abuse children.

"We pray over that problem (of witchcraft) very powerfully," he said. "But we can never hurt a child."

The Nigerian church is a branch of a Californian church by the same name. But the California church says it lost touch with its Nigerian offshoots several years ago.

"I had no idea," said church elder Carrie King by phone from Tracy, Calif. "I knew people believed in witchcraft over there but we believe in the power of prayer, not physically harming people."

The Mount Zion Lighthouse - also named by three other families as the accuser of their children - is part of the powerful Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. The Fellowship's president, Ayo Oritsejafor, said the Fellowship was the fastest-growing religious group in Nigeria, with more than 30 million members.

"We have grown so much in the past few years we cannot keep an eye on everybody," he explained.

But Foxcroft, the head of Stepping Stones, said if the organization was able to collect membership fees, it could also police its members better. He had already written to the organization twice to alert it to the abuse, he said. He suggested the fellowship ask members to sign forms denouncing abuse or hold meetings to educate pastors about the new child rights law in the state of Akwa Ibom, which makes it illegal to denounce children as witches. Similar laws and education were needed in other states, he said.

Sam Itauma of the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network said it is the most vulnerable children - the orphaned, sick, disabled or poor - who are most often denounced. In Nwanaokwo's case, his poor father and dead mother made him an easy target.

"Even churches who didn't use to 'find' child witches are being forced into it by the competition," said Itauma. "They are seen as spiritually powerful because they can detect witchcraft and the parents may even pay them money for an exorcism."

That's what Margaret Eyekang did when her 8-year-old daughter Abigail was accused by a "prophet" from the Apostolic Church, because the girl liked to sleep outside on hot nights - interpreted as meaning she might be flying off to join a coven. A series of exorcisms cost Eyekang eight months' wages, or US$270. The payments bankrupted her.

Neighbors also attacked her daughter.

"They beat her with sticks and asked me why I was bringing them a witch child," she said. A relative offered Eyekang floor space but Abigail was not welcome and had to sleep in the streets.

Members of two other families said pastors from the Apostolic Church had accused their children of witchcraft, but asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.

The Nigeria Apostolic Church refused repeated requests made by phone, e-mail and in person for comment.

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At first glance, there's nothing unusual about the laughing, grubby kids playing hopscotch or reading from a tattered Dick and Jane book by the graffiti-scrawled cinderblock house. But this is where children like Abigail end up after being labeled witches by churches and abandoned or tortured by their families.

There's a scar above Jane's shy smile: her mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her and repeated exorcisms costing a total of $60 didn't cure her of witchcraft. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. Twelve-year-old Rachel dreamed of being a banker but instead was chained up by her pastor, starved and beaten with sticks repeatedly; her uncle paid him $60 for the exorcism.

Israel's cousin tried to bury him alive, Nwaekwa's father drove a nail through her head, and sweet-tempered Jerry - all knees, elbows and toothy grin - was beaten by his pastor, starved, made to eat cement and then set on fire by his father as his pastor's wife cheered it on.

The children at the home run by Itauma's organization have been mutilated as casually as the praying mantises they play with. Home officials asked for the children's last names not to be used to protect them from retaliation.

The home was founded in 2003 with seven children; it now has 120 to 200 at any given time as children are reconciled with their families and new victims arrive.

Helen Ukpabio is one of the few evangelists publicly linked to the denunciation of child witches. She heads the enormous Liberty Gospel church in Calabar, where Nwanaokwo used to live. Ukpabio makes and distributes popular books and DVDs on witchcraft; in one film, a group of child witches pull out a man's eyeballs. In another book, she advises that 60 percent of the inability to bear children is caused by witchcraft.

In an interview with the AP, Ukpabio is accompanied by her lawyer, church officials and personal film crew.

"Witchcraft is real," Ukpabio insisted, before denouncing the physical abuse of children. Ukpabio says she performs non-abusive exorcisms for free and was not aware of or responsible for any misinterpretation of her materials.

"I don't know about that," she declared.

However, she then acknowledged that she had seen a pastor from the Apostolic Church break a girl's jaw during an exorcism. Ukpabio said she prayed over her that night and cast out the demon. She did not respond to questions on whether she took the girl to hospital or complained about the injury to church authorities.

After activists publicly identified Liberty Gospel as denouncing "child witches," armed police arrived at Itauma's home accompanied by a church lawyer. Three children were injured in the fracas. Itauma asked that other churches identified by children not be named to protect their victims.

"We cannot afford to make enemies of all the churches around here," he said. "But we know the vast majority of them are involved in the abuse even if their headquarters aren't aware."

Just mentioning the name of a church is enough to frighten a group of bubbly children at the home.

"Please stop the pastors who hurt us," said Jerry quietly, touching the scars on his face. "I believe in God and God knows I am not a witch."

seattlepi

uyo conference/Update Email from Leo Igwe

Dear Friends

Greetings to you all
I hope you are preparing to attend the national conference of the Nigerian Humanist Movement on Witch hunt Christian Fundamentalism and Child Abuse to be held October 21-22 at University of Uyo Community Center. I assure you it will worth your while. I just returned from Uyo where I went to firm up arrangements and will be back there in the next few days. Let me give an idea of what we have in stock for you

SECURITY
I have applied for police protection and the university security outfit has been briefed. So your security is guaranteed.!

Arrival
We are expecting all our guests to arrive on October 20. There are good hotels and guest houses at reasonable prices at EWET HOUSING ESTATE. The rates are between 3000 naira to 10.000 naria as the case may be If you want us to help you with accomodation please contact us immediately at 07033823977

Again please note that motobikes, popularly known as Okada is the most common means of transport in Uyo but motobikes are not allowed as from 6.00pm everyday. So we advise our guests to arrive Uyo before 6.00 pm. However there are a few taxis that ply the roads but they charge exhorbitant fares particularly at night

PROGRAMME
The PROGRAMME is gradually taking shape. We have yet to confirm some speakers. But this what it looks like for now.

On October 19/20 we are flyering. The Child Rights Brigade will help us in doing this
And if you want to join us, then you need to arrive Uyo latest October 18.

On October 21 from 9.00 to 11.00 am, the event kicks off with an anti witchcraft March from Ikot Ekpene Road to the venue of the conference.It will be followed by the Opening Ceremony to be keynoted by Dr N Etuk of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. We have invited the Governor and the First Lady of the State.

The conference proceedings are in four phases

Phase 1 is the Opening and the government session. Some governemental/intergovernemental agencies have been invited to discuss what they are doing to tackle the problem of witchhunt and child abuse

Phase 11 will be for non governmental organisations/activists to discuss their work

Phase 111 will be for academics to present their papers

And Phase IV will be devoted to humanist business including the world humanist day lecture

We are planning two post conference visits to the office NAPTIP(National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffick in Persons) and CRARN on October 23

As you can see we have a rich package for you.

And all of us at the Nigerian Humanist Movement are looking forward to hosting you in Uyo

See you there
Leo

Girls report father to police for negligence

Blessing and Chioma Okeke at the office of the spokesperson of the Police Spokesperson, Frank Mba. Photo: PATIENCE OGBO

Two girls, Blessing Adaeze Okeke, 16; and Chioma Okeke, 14; have reported their father to the police over his refusal to cater for their needs.

The elder Ms. Okeke had on the September 28 reported her father, whom she identified as Mr. Okeke, to the police at Igando, a Lagos suburb, saying that their father’s refusal to take care of her, her sister and three other siblings had turned them to street urchins.

“My mum died in April 2003, leaving a one week old baby. In 2005, my father got married to another woman. In 2007, my father chased me and my younger sister out of his house (in Igando) saying that we are witches and that we caused our step-sister to have convulsion. I called our neighbours to beg him to allow us stay in the house but he refused,” Ms. Okeke said.

She told NEXT, on Tuesday, that she started living in a church at Ajengunle with her younger sister who became a stammerer after their father sent them packing.

“We started living in the Christ Victory Sabbath Church at Ajengunle. We stayed there for four months and one of the church members helped me to get a job as a house help to one family at Maza Maza.

"I needed to write WAEC and there was no money, I went back to meet my dad but he refused to sponsor me despite the fact that he has the money. My sister became very angry and said my dad is just wicked because he is a landlord and also an importer of spare parts. That was when we went to report our dad to the police.”

Cordelia Nwaegwu, the girls’ aunt said her brother has refused the plea, from his entire family, to take care of his children.

“I am the sister to these girls’ father and when their mother died, I noticed that the children were suffering. I brought them to my house but my brother called the police to arrest me that I was a kidnapper that I took his children without his permission.

"The police even made me to write an undertaking that anytime my brother’s children came to me, I will not accept them,” she said.

Mrs. Nwaegwu said she took the girls home when she heard that they were sleeping in the church, and on the street.

“I could not bear it. I took them to my house for a while. I begged my brother that even if he will not accommodate the girls he should provide money for their school fees and their upkeep so that they will not end up as prostitutes but he refused saying that the children are witches,” Mrs. Nwaegwu said.

Ms. Okeke said an NGO called Project Alert, which campaigns against violence against women and girls has come to their aid.

“The NGO is trying their best but we want the police to make our father to cater for our needs and if he is not willing to do so, they should jail him,” she said.

The executive director of Project Alert, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma in a telephone interview, confirmed the girls’ story and stated that the girls where kept at the NGO’s shelter for a few days before they were taken, by the police, to the Juvenile and Welfare Centre, Alakara, Mushin, Lagos.

“Cases of abuse of women and young girls by their parents is very common and this is one of such. How can he accuse his own children of being witches?” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma asked.

The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba said Mr. Okeke who hails from Imo State has been invited by the police severally.

“I have invited him to my office and he has not shown up. I have placed calls to his phones and we have not seen him,” said Mr. Mba.

“He must be made to pay for the upkeep of his children, they are his biological children and he has nowhere to push them [to],” Mrs. Effah-Chukwuma said.

Oluwakemi Oduntan, a partner at Jade & Stone Solicitors who spoke to NEXT on the issue said if the Child Welfare and Child Rights laws are properly implemented, cases of abuse and abdication of duties by parents will reduce.

She further stated that the lack of a comprehensive social welfare system in the country fosters the problem. Next