The disgraceful problem of child witch hunts in Nigeria was addressed for the first time this week by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In a May 26 meeting with a large delegation of senior government representatives from Nigeria, the CRC raised a number of child rights issues, including birth registration, children in conflict with the law, adolescent health, adoption, child trafficking, street children, child marriage as well as witchcraft allegations against children.
Leo Igwe, IHEU’s representative in West Africa, whose work in Nigeria includes campaigning against witch hunts, welcomed the UN’s focus on this issue. “It is too easy for government to ignore these problems when they are hidden from view,” said Igwe. “We hope that by shining the international spotlight on these issues the UN will prompt serious government action in support of the work we are doing at the grassroots.”
The meeting at the UN was held to review the combined third and fourth periodic report of Nigeria on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Nigerian delegation was headed by Mrs Iyom Josephine Anenih, Minister for Women’s Affairs and Social Development, and also included representatives from the Ministries of Health, Education, Justice and Foreign Affairs, as well as delegates from NAPTIP, the Prison Service and the Police, and the Nigeria Children’s Parliament.
Source:http://www.humanistlife.org.uk
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