Ghana: Reintegrating the Nation's 'Witches'

Accra — Ghana's government is looking at ways to support people accused of witchcraft - mainly women and children banished by their communities to "witches' camps" in the north - and to reintegrate them in their home villages.

Currently around 1,000 women and 700 children are living in six camps in northern Ghana, where they have found refuge from threats and violence from people in their home communities after being labelled witches and blamed for causing misfortune to others. In most cases the residents were taken to the camps by family members. A small number of men are also banished to the camps as "wizards", according to Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Ghana's deputy minister for women and children's affairs.

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