"Witches' camps," set up to provide havens for people accused of being witches, are now raising concerns that their conditions violate residents' human rights.

In a report from March, this year, the Northern Regional Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) estimated that 1,090 people live in three camps in the region - Ngani, Kukuo and Gambaga. The vast majority of them are women.

The conditions in the camps are difficult.

"At the Ngani camp," the report reads, "suspected witches were housed in very deplorable traditional huts which were either built by the inmates themselves or by their relatives. They provided their own food while some were supported by their relatives Though free medical treatment from the government hospital was offered to suspected witches, they complained bitterly of poor attention and treatment."

At the Kukuo camp, CHRAJ found that some of the accused witches "were denied the right to company and association."

Finally, sanitation at the camps is a problem. "All three camps lacked befitting places of convenience and so inmates went into the bush for defecation," the report states. And, while those living at Ngani and Kukuo camps have easily accessible clean water, those at Gambaga draw water from a dam outside of the camp.

These camps are not a new phenomenon. They first drew public attention in September 1997, when the Weekly Spectator reported that about 200 women were being held at the Gambaga camp.

But such camps have existed since, at least, the early 1960s, reports the Presbyterian Church of Ghana's "Gambaga Outcast (G.O.) Home Project," which works to help the women at the Gambaga camp return to their communities.

The number of people living in the camps appears to be growing. During an investigation in September 1997, CHRAJ reported a total of 773 people living in the Gambaga, Ngani, and Kukuo camps, about 300 less than it reported this year. In 1997, the Commission visited a fourth camp, Kpatinga, and found 42 women living there. While this camp still exists, CHRAJ has not conducted research there recently.

Lilian Ayete-Nyampong, a senior research officer with CHRAJ, says that many of the accused witches live at the camps voluntarily. "They are happier in the camps because they are safe from the treatment they received in their communities," she says.

Even though accused witches may prefer living in the camps, Ayete-Nyampong still sees work to be done. "From a human rights perspective, some rights are being denied," she says.

Ayete-Nyampong admits that the issue of witches is "sensitive" in Ghana. But, when it comes to human rights, she sees the issue as simple. "We don't say if [accusing people of being witches] is wrong or right. What we are interested in is how [accused witches] are treated."