Sub Saharan Africa is a region deeply rooted in superstition beliefs and the cultural ideology of bewitching others; thus calamities such as flood, drought, outbreak of deadly diseases including polio, malaria, and disability related illness, would be perceived as curse from the spiritual world and given a supernatural meaning.

Despite the multicultural character of many African cultures its people seemed to share a distinctive commonality when it comes to the supernatural world; which has over the centuries developed into a phobia of witches and spirits - the underpinnings of a superstition belief system. The Art of bewitching has two dimension and often interpreted as malicious witchcraft and positive witchcraft, the former is used to inflict harm on someone or to inflict harm on one's livestock and property, In this order the latter involves the use of supernatural powers to cure someone suffering from witchcraft spells, ill health, mental disorders and to enhance good fortune. The Writer place emphasizes that in this study spiritual healers and traditional herbalist, are distinct and distinguishable from that of witch craft practice, as the latter entails fetish sacrifices and rituals. In this study the use of the terminology sorcerer, fetish priest and ritualist is a matter of preference

Thus the perception of bewitching others has become so complicated that people would solicit the assistance of fetish priests or sorceries to interpret certain predicament or misfortunes. The outcome of this has no doubt led to a fetish belief system at whose pedestal is the fetish priest, charged with the responsibility of upholding and interpreting this cultural ideology; their interpretation of events would be void of factual realities, truth would be distorted and logic would no longer be the realm of consequences, in some cases the real motive is to settle scores

The objective of this study is to concentrate on the phenomenon of child witches and consequences of fetish belief; give a definition, examine the various cultural norms and traditional concepts. My regional focus would be Benin; and Ghana since these countries present an overwhelming case study. The writer will also focus on state parties international obligations to protect, fulfill and promote human rights, and how to make human rights operational in these regions "

Child witches & ritual infanticide

Benin is nick name as the sorcery belt of West Africa, where the sorcery phenomenon touches every segment of community life; this have enabled ignorance to take hold of society, affecting behavioral practices of certain societies in northern parts of Benin leading people to believe in "baby witches" and ritual infanticide. In most cases the entire fate of many communities rest on fetish priests known as Barrrarou, they are regarded as representative of their occult deities, with special powers to communicate with their ancestors. The consequences are indeed devastating for they are the ones responsible for ritual infanticide of so called child witches.

In Benin newly born babies are drawn into the battle line between life and death and their future is blighted if one is accused of being a child witch. There are eight categories of baby witches and the severity of the degree of punishment varies from each category of witches. A newly born baby would be perceived as a witch if born in a breech position; according to a report compiled by IRIN on 18th July 2005 found that fears of witchcraft lead to widespread infanticide in the remote north of Benin:" that unless a baby is born head first and face upwards, many communities in northern Benin believe the child is a witch or sorcerer. And tradition demands that the infant must be killed, sometimes by dashing its brains out against a tree trunk "

However if a child is born with peculiar birth "deformities" such as:

• Extra fingers, and
• limbs, or
• Siamese twins,
• cerebral down syndrome and
• teething anomalies

These babies would be condemned to death and the manner of their horrific execution was poignantly captured in a survey conducted by Mr. Gerard Guedegbe, that in Ndali Township a community in north east Benin were the practice is alleged to be observed. They were informed by Father Bio Sanou a catholic priest; who confirmed to them that the practice of ritual infanticide still exists in the following provinces Baatonu; Borgou; Alibor and Atacora,. Father Bio took them to the house of a respected traditional leader called Bori Bissimou, who explained the reasoning and objectives of ritual infanticide, it is done he said to prevent certain harm or dangers which would befall their land through the birth of witch babies. They are condemned to death by their communities, because they have been born under certain conditions which are "unfavorable to the peace, happiness, prosperity or the well being of its family, community and environment. In this connection babies born with such "deformities" as outlined above would be ritually executed in one of these methods":

a) Suffocation, the poor child is placed in a closed pot filled with wet cloths

b) Smashing the baby's head against a tree truck or

c) Poisoning (after the execution the corpse is either buried or dried up" some vital organs would be removed by the ritualist for malicious witch craft concoction purposes).

According to Mohamed Alidou a member of the Association for the Protection of Unfortunate Children (APEM) told IRIN that "customs and ignorance about childbirth lead people to label some babies as cursed "abnormalities" who must be destroyed immediately either by throat-slitting, poisoning or drowning, or slowly through abandonment and starvation. "Whatever the method, the goal is always the same: the physical elimination of the child," Another community elder Ya Mouda, reiterated that in the village of Ségbana - 500km north of the commercial capital Cotonou "children born with teeth are considered as having come to this world to devour people, and especially if it is a girl; the belief is that she will kill her mother's family and her own mother." Thus babies who emerge feet first are believed to have come to this earth to dominate."

The right to life & security of the person art 6(1) ICCPR

Benin shall ensure that the right to liberty and security of child witches is equally important for the protection of their right to life. The importance of the right to life cannot be understated as outlined in Art 6 (1) every human being has the inherent right to life, and this right shall be protected by law no one shall be arbitrary deprived of his life. This right is reiterated in Art 6 (1) (2) Convention on the Right of the Child that "states parties...recognize that every child has the inherent right to life...shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child..." Furthermore Art 4 African Charter on Human and People's Rights asserts that every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person.

A core component of the right to life is Art 8, it placed obligation on state parties to protect this right,. Benin is required to respect this obligation by taking stiff measure in eradicating all forms of child scarification, ritual abandonment and all forms of cruelty and degrading treatment inflicted on child witches.

Benin has the obligation to protect, promote and fulfill the right to life of these child witches; it is a fundamental right and takes precedence over the right of sorceries and fetish priests. Art 18 (3) ICCPR place emphasis that the right to manifestation of one's religion is not an absolute right it is limited to protect the fundamental rights of others. It signifies that the right to exercise fetish worship ceases to exist when it perpetuates the right to life of these "child witches".

Ritual Dumping of Prematurely Born Witches

Even where a baby is not killed at birth, ritualistic would monitor and hound the growth of a baby with the cynical believe of purging society from child witches, therefore any departure from normal teething during the first year of a child would be construed as teething anomalies In another survey report by Mr. Gerard Guedege ,with Pa Makom, a respected cultural leader of Batounou village, revealed the fate of a baby whose mother died during childbirth, the child would be placed by fetish priests next to the mother's grave, the villagers would then quickly relocate to another place leaving the child to die from exposure. To the contrary if a child is born premature, priests would dump the child at a grazing field, under the cover of darkness. The same fate awaits a child who starts teething in the lower jaw instead of the usual front teeth

In medical terms if a child is suffering from Down syndrome hampering growth rate, the child would be taken away from their families and massacred by dashing their heads on tree trunks. In this vein Alexis Agbo reports that "...In the eyes of the Baatonou, Boko and Peul people, a child whose birth and early development deviates in any way from the accepted norm is cursed and must be destroyed. If the parents are compassionate, the baby is simply abandoned to die in the bush or be found and rescued by a charitable soul, for instance. "Farmers going to their fields or women on their way to the market regularly pick up abandoned babies and bring them to us,"

Segregation in childhood

Coming back to the fate of those rescued abandoned child witches, these children are referred to as Gandos; meaning impure or outcaste. As custom would have it male gando's are raised in total isolation and kept in a shed like room close to the grazing field where they are segregated from the rest of society. As Gando's they would be fed on cow milk and a special mealy diet for the next several years. In a nutshell Gando's rights are horridly violated, they are denied the right to family membership, The right to family life is imperative to both the well being and mental state of the child; Art 4 of the Declaration on social progress and Development asserts that the family is the basic unit of society and natural environment for the growth and well being of all its members. Both Art 23 (1) Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Art 16 International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, circumscribed the importance of family, but this assertion is stress in Art 9 Convention on the Right of the Child, which took it a step further by stating that state parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will

As gando's they are denied basic immunization vaccinations against measles, meningitis, yellow fever which is crucial for their survival during the first five years of their live, Gando's are discriminated and their right to basic health is violated. Notwithstanding if a Gando managed to survive these appalling conditions, at age seven he would then be allowed with restricted freedom to mingle with other Fulani herders including children of his generation. These gandos' without family membership, clan or tribal affiliations are susceptible to all forms of exploitative servitude and subjected to both physical and psychological abuse, They are expected to perform heavy amounts of domestic works in addition to that of a herder, it infringes Art 8 (2) & (3) International Covenant Civil &Political Rights that no one shall be held in servitude or required to perform forced or compulsory labor. The controversial issue facing us is when logic is no longer the norm, but delusion of irrational explanation is allowed to take hold of events, it is inevitable that disillusion would set in and the victims of such ignorance would be innocent children.

Benin Obligation under Art 25

A Gando is only permitted to come and live in his ancestral village when he attained adult hood but even there he would be perceived as an outcaste and society would not revealed the identity of his family. His status would be a notch higher than that of a slave and would be forced to take menial jobs to earn a living, These children are horridly traumatize the hardships faced by gandos from adolescent to manhood is appalling and their chances to a productive life may be threatened with grim economic prospect in the future. Archbishop Desmond Tutu formulates " we want a society where children are precious; a world where people can be more human, caring and gentle" Gandos are victims of systematic discrimination and are ill treated by both private and public actors with the knowledge that they would not be punished for their actions. In this vein APEM's child rights activist Mr. Alidou laments:" For years, non-profit organizations, religious leaders and community members have intervened to rescue babies, we have neighborhoods made up of survivors. "Many children were saved by a traditional village leader known as chief, Omar Ky-Sama...They are now living peacefully in Ségbana in a big neighborhood." Subsequently those children who escape ritual killings are still regarded as being cursed and perceived as outcaste. "There are emotional testimonies in northern communities in Ségbana where a 50-year-old man happens to escape one 'sentence,' only to face another,"

Gando's right to social and cultural development as stipulated in Art 15 (a) (b) is routinely violated, compounded with denial of other rights such as Art 5 ,however community perception of Gando;s right to security of person and liberty has hinders intellectual and social development of Gando's. It excludes them from social autonomy, aggravating economic imbalances including the right to inheritance. The prohibition to freedom of association violates the rights of the Gandos to seek information and impart knowledge, it also underpins their right to form or join association and In short their overall development is restricted leaving them socially isolated, they faced alienation in every aspect of life including the "right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law" : According to Carol Bellamy It also illustrates "how children bear the brunt of poverty and exploitation in these countries ",.

The fate of a Gando girl rescued by a Peulh differ from that of male gandos, she would live with her adopted family and treated in most cases as a member of that family. She is eligible to marry a member of the peul clan or a male member of her tribe. Ironically it is the male gando who is forbidden to marry from the community, he can only marry a gando

In conclusion thereof the reality is still grim, ritual infanticide still exists in Bata and the above named communities. The number of massacre children out weighs those that are saved (Gandos) by UNICEF, ELIB NGO; or Puelhs herders A statistic report emanating from the Regional Centre for Agriculture (Benin) states "...that statistics record of saved child witches gandos in "Bembereke and Sinende villages in northern Benin comprised 30% of the entire community."

Trokosi

Trokosi is an old religious belief practiced by the Ewe people of Ghana in which a girl who is eight years old. Is sent as a slave to live in a shrine and worked for a fetish priest, These girls are sent to the shrine because a grandmother or relative has either stolen or picked up some food items such as, cassava stick or pumpkin from a stall without paying for them. In order to ward off a particular harm, diseases or ill fortune the family should send a young girl between 9 and eleven years old to the shrine.

Before taken to the shrine the slave girl has to go through a humiliating initiation ceremony, "the new slave is stripped of any clothing except her underpants and then paraded through her village" The significant of this initiation is to influence societal rejection and to severe community ties. From that moment she belongs to the shrine because "fetish priests are perceived to be powerful due to popular cultural believe that the gods of their ancestors and spirits reside in them and their healing objects."

In the shrine she would work semi naked and barefooted as a slave on the priest farm, A Trokosi is denied medical treatment from health centers. At the prime of her teens she would have outlived her usefulness, the priest would send her away with the children she bore for him. They are outcaste and a curse is invoked with great solemnity for anyone who dare to received a trokosi to live in their midst the trokosi family would then send another young girl as a replacement to the shrine

It is worth mentioning that in 2004 the Ghanaian government 2004 passed an Act prohibiting trokosi, with a jail term of three years for such perpetrators. However I.N. Network Ghana laments the absence of effective measures that. it is almost impossible to enlist the help of regional police because of their fear of the curse invoked by priests' as a result of this you have hundreds of slave girls (trokosi) held in slavery, not including their 8,000 children who are fathered by the priests

One thing is absolutely clear Sub Saharan Africa can only safeguard its future through the state of development of her children. People tend to observe such cultural practices in response to push factors emanating from ignorance and pull factors from communities obsessed with superstitious beliefs. These sorceries and priests, encouraged by the fact that they are unlikely to be punished would continue to influence society with fetish beliefs, impeding both social and legal reform.