Human trafficking is a recognisable and growing problem worldwide. The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) 2012 update on the global estimate of forced labour states that the number of victims has reached 20.9 million, with Africa representing 3.7 million of that number.⁽²⁾ Several factors contribute to this rising number of trafficking victims, including issues such as poverty, internal and external conflict, lack of access to education and even certain cultural beliefs.⁽³⁾ In recent history there has been a growing connection between human trafficking and certain beliefs related to the conceptions of witchcraft. Witchcraft as a social and cultural reality plays a unique role in African society. For many it shapes social structures and thought processes, which can result in both positive and negative outcomes. However, it is the distortion of these beliefs which play a role in promoting the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable children and adults through human trafficking, and they also act as a barrier to preventing and prosecuting trafficking.⁽⁴⁾

Due to their complexity, a comprehensive review of African witchcraft practices, human trafficking and the relationship between them is beyond the scope of this relatively brief discussion paper. However, with the aim of increasing awareness of the problems and contributing to an understanding of their prevalence, the paper does provide a general overview of the role of witchcraft in the modern African context, and the potential negative impact its practise can have on communities and individuals. The paper furthermore outlines how and why these beliefs may support human trafficking and then inhibit its prosecution.

Defining witchcraft in the African context

Definitions of witchcraft in the African context are frequently ambiguous. In Africa, the term ‘witchcraft’ is strongly influenced by European history. The term refers to various phenomena whose interpretation relies heavily on their context. However, the ethnocentric terminology has become integrated into African languages and, as a social and cultural construction, witchcraft typically refers to the occult, to the use of supernatural means to impact or harm a person. Witchcraft is a discourse that is constantly evolving, and while in the past the effects of witchcraft could be positive or negative, they presently have an essentially negative connotation among African populations, with the witch or sorcerer being seen to perform evil under its influence.⁽⁵⁾ The construct of witchcraft or magic is complex, and interpretation thereof through a Western lens of understanding can be limited. In general it is limited to an understanding that it is a set of discourses on morality, sociality and humanity, practised through such things as the use of exorcism, charms or incantations.⁽⁶⁾ However, witchcraft cannot be seen as a unitary and singular entity. It consists of a great variety of representations and practices, which further vary within a country and according to different socio-cultural groups.⁽⁷⁾

In some of the earliest contexts, witchcraft was considered to be part of a primitive and informal belief system.⁽⁸⁾ There was a long held idea that as the societies practising these beliefs evolved, the presence of witchcraft and superstition would eventually die out. This expectation was especially reinforced as globalisation further touched Africa, and introduced new information and ways of thinking that were thought would reduce any beliefs and fear attached to the ideas of witchcraft and magic.⁽⁹⁾ However, in the context of Africa, this has not been the case. Even with the introduction of monotheistic religions like Christianity, beliefs in witchcraft did not decline; the newly introduced religious systems were simply adapted to the prevailing social context.⁽¹⁰⁾

A Gallup poll taken in August 2010 supports the notion that belief in witchcraft is still rooted in parts of Africa. The poll found that more than half of respondents in sub-Saharan Africa indicated that they believed in some form of witchcraft.⁽¹¹⁾ The belief in witchcraft and magic is not limited to one subset of society; rich and poor and the educated and uneducated alike share these beliefs.⁽¹²⁾ In some parts of Africa, the belief also has implications beyond the individual, from law enforcement to aid donations to public health.⁽¹³⁾ As such these beliefs should not be dismissed as simple superstition. It is clear that for many there is power in these beliefs that can either have a positive or a negative effect, especially when they are used for personal gain.⁽¹⁴⁾

The negative impact of witchcraft

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent Trafficking in Persons adopted in 2000 defines trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons … for the purpose of exploitation.”⁽¹⁵⁾ Exploitation includes sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, servitude, the removal of organs and ritual murder. However, “new international standards define human trafficking according to the exploitation of the victim, not by their transit.”⁽¹⁶⁾ Thus, while a person may be trafficked overseas and across borders, a trafficked person may also be one that is exploited in his or her current location.

The problems associated with witchcraft do not stem from the belief itself, but from a “perversion of a belief system that is otherwise benign.”⁽¹⁷⁾ The potential negative role of belief in witchcraft often occurs when beliefs are misunderstood and twisted for personal gain. In such cases the results can be devastating and can contribute to people perpetrating terrible acts of violence against unwilling victims, and can lead to exploitation and/or death.

Examples of how beliefs may be distorted to justify heinous acts have become more prevalent in the media in the last five years. One such example is a series of murders and mutilations that took place in 2009 in Tanzania. Over 50 albinos were killed for their body parts (which are considered to have magical properties) to be used in magic rituals to promote healing or increase power.⁽¹⁸⁾ Another common example of this problem is demonstrated in the increasing number of witchcraft accusations levelled across sub-Saharan Africa. The accused are those thought to be under the possession or influence of a witch or evil spirit. They are then subjected to a variety of horrors and violent rituals in order to exorcise the evil. These rituals include, but are not limited to, starvation, beatings, rape, imprisonment, and abandonment (in the case of children) or trafficking.⁽¹⁹⁾ A specific example of this occurred in Eket, Nigeria, in 2009, where a nine year-old boy was accused of witchcraft by a local pastor.⁽²⁰⁾ In order to exorcise the evil, his family forced him to drink acid which destroyed his body causing a slow and painful death. In the Congo, extremist Christianity has been combined with elements of witchcraft, and the traditional belief of ‘kindoki’ was twisted.⁽²¹⁾ Where once it was simply a way of warding off evil, it is now a device to perpetuate the belief that some children are possessed by an evil power that needs to be exorcised.⁽²²⁾

‘Child witchcraft’ in Africa, however, is not an ancient ‘African tradition’, but a modern phenomenon only gaining prominence in the last 10 to 20 years,⁽²³⁾ demonstrating the distortion of traditional cultural beliefs. Pastors who promote the belief in child witches are accused of doing so purely for financial gain, as they are said to extract fees for ‘delivering’ the children from the evil.⁽²⁴⁾ The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has noted that “earnings from a deliverance ceremony, and also during a regular service when the collection plate goes around, are not insignificant. … For these pastor‐prophets, ‘detecting’ child witches brings not only money, but also a certain social status and popularity that draws new members and clients, and leads to yet more income.”⁽²⁵⁾ In other words, the ‘child witch’ hunt is a lucrative business.

The role of witchcraft in human trafficking

The negative impact of witchcraft belief and its role in society is increasingly being linked to the prevalence of human trafficking. One aspect of witchcraft, called juju, originating from cultural beliefs most often found in West Africa, is specifically connected to the problem of trafficking.⁽²⁶⁾ Juju is a ritual of ‘oath swearing’ that traffickers use as a powerful weapon of coercion.⁽²⁷⁾ In the case of many trafficking victims, juju oaths are used to enslave the victim to the spirit world and the trafficker, allowing traffickers to psychologically control victims and make sure that traffickers are obeyed.

An example of this practice is the case of young girls who, desperately seeking an escape from grinding poverty, are trafficked to Europe. With the false belief that a lucrative job awaits them, many of them incur massive debts to organised crime gangs who pay for their travel.⁽²⁸⁾ The juju oath-swearing ritual commits them to repaying their debt under threat of physical and/or mental harm.⁽²⁹⁾ Repayment usually involves forced servitude.

There is also evidence that an increasing number of children are being trafficked to the United Kingdom where their blood, which is forcefully taken, is being used in juju rituals.⁽³⁰⁾ Traffickers threaten the children with death or curses if they try and resist or fight back.⁽³¹⁾

The use of witchcraft not only ensnares victims, but it also makes it incredibly difficult to detain, prosecute and ultimately stop traffickers. Even though the ILO estimates that there are 3.7 million trafficking victims from Africa to date, in 2011, there were less than 300 prosecutions and convictions each for the crime in Africa, and only about 10,000 victims were even recognised.⁽³²⁾ The gripping fear of retaliation resulting from the oaths victims were forced to take and the abuse they endured during their capture, makes it almost impossible for victims to trust their rescuers and identify their captors. Victims often feel unable to testify against alleged traffickers, due to the fear that they will have broken an oath and invited misfortune into their lives.⁽³³⁾ Another part of the problem is the silence that surrounds the rituals. According to Detective Chief Superintendent, Richard Martin, head of London’s Metropolitan Police's Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command, “While juju is widely believed, it is rarely spoken about publicly. People think even talking about juju might lead to something bad happening to them.”⁽³⁴⁾ This silence makes it difficult to investigate crimes and prosecute perpetrators.

Witchcraft and trafficking: The case of Nigeria

Nigeria serves as an example of how human trafficking and belief in witchcraft have become interconnected. The country is one of the largest hubs for human trafficking on the African continent, serving as both a destination and a transit point for trafficking victims from elsewhere in Africa and from around the world.⁽³⁵⁾ Almost 100 million Nigerians live below the poverty line.⁽³⁶⁾ This dynamic contributes to the trafficking trade which is becoming more accepted there.⁽³⁷⁾

In Nigeria, some beliefs in witchcraft are particularly connected to the trafficking of children, especially street children, who form the largest proportion of people trafficked from Nigeria.⁽³⁸⁾ Street children are currently one of the most at-risk groups for trafficking in Nigeria as they are often accused of witchcraft. They also often live on the street because they have been abandoned by their families, having been accused of being witches.⁽³⁹⁾ The problem is particularly prevalent in the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom,⁽⁴⁰⁾ where local pastors and community leaders blame children for a variety of misfortunes, including accidents, divorce and disease, which often leads to their abandonment and sale to traffickers for a fee.⁽⁴¹⁾ Because these children are left without familial or social protection they are placed at higher risk for trafficking and exploitation. Incidents of trafficking involving both children and vulnerable adults are becoming a common occurrence in areas where poverty is rampant; people are looking for a way of escaping their harsh circumstances, or for an excuse to twist beliefs to exploit vulnerable populations for financial gain.

Juju also plays a role in human trafficking in Nigeria. According to the Nigerian National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), cultural beliefs have been twisted to ensnare hundreds of victims, noting that 90% of girls from Delta and Edo states sent into slavery in Europe had undertaken “secrecy oaths” with the idea that these rituals would help protect them on their journey.⁽⁴²⁾ As noted before, the strong belief in such oaths has inhibited the investigation and prosecution of the traffickers in these situations because the victims are convinced that they will face dire consequences if they speak out against their captors.⁽⁴³⁾

Conclusion

The construct of witchcraft is a difficult one to define and understand, and the beliefs connected to the cultural practices continue to evolve in African countries, further shaping and changing social structure and behaviours across all levels of society. Witchcraft’s ambiguous nature and constant evolution make the construct and the practices connected with it difficult to comprehend and research. However, the connection between witchcraft, as it is currently understood in Western discourse, and human trafficking, particularly in West Africa, is becoming increasingly evident.  It is important to reiterate that witchcraft and its practices are not necessarily negative, but when beliefs are distorted and abused they can perpetuate serious problems like trafficking.

Several organisations continue to monitor the connection between trafficking and witchcraft, and undertake quantitative studies aimed at uncovering ways of combating it.⁽⁴⁴⁾ Stepping Stones, Nigeria, for example, notes several general measures that communities and Governments can use to help prevent human trafficking related to witchcraft practices, including raising public awareness, promoting education, strengthening community partnerships and cooperation, establishing a strong legal and penal system against traffickers and focusing on social and economic development to combat child abandonment.⁽⁴⁵⁾ However, it is clear that more needs to be done. Awareness must continue to be raised to inform about the problem. It is also clear that more study needs to be done to explore the connection between human trafficking and witchcraft and devise ways to prevent further incidents from occurring.

Written by Shannon Rupp ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Shannon Rupp through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Africa Watch Unit ( africa.watch@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) ‘ILO 2012 global estimate of forced labour’, International Labour Organisation, 2012, http://www.ilo.org.
(3) Harrop, E.W., ‘A bewitching economy: Witchcraft and human trafficking,’ Think Africa Press, 17 September 2012, http://thinkafricapress.com.
(4) Sawadogo, W.R., 2012. The challenges of transnational human trafficking in West Africa. African Studies Quarterly, 13(1/2), pp. 95-116, http://www.africa.ufl.edu.
(5) Cimpric, A., ‘Children accused of witchcraft’, UNICEF, April 2010, http://www.unicef.org.
(6) Okeyja, U.B., ‘Witchcraft and magic in the African context’, 2010, http://www.inter-disciplinary.net.
(7) Cimpric, A., ‘Children accused of witchcraft,’ UNICEF, April 2010, http://www.unicef.org. For more detailed extrapolations of the term witchcraft see Cimpric, A., ‘Children accused of witchcraft’, UNICEF, April 2010, http://www.unicef.org, Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery,’ Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org,
(8) Cimpric, A., ‘Children accused of witchcraft’, UNICEF, April 2010, http://www.unicef.org.
(9) Okeyja, U.B., ‘Witchcraft and magic in the African context’, 2010, http://www.inter-disciplinary.net.
(10) ‘Child witchcraft allegations on the rise’, IRIN, 16 July 2010, http://www.irinnews.org.
(11) Radford, B., ‘Belief in witchcraft widespread in Africa,’ Live Science, 30 August 2010, http://www.livescience.com.
(12) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery,’ Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(13) Radford, B., ‘Belief in witchcraft widespread in Africa,’ Live Science, 30 August 2010, http://www.livescience.com.
(14) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery,’ Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(15) UN Protocol to to Prevent Trafficking in Persons, United Nations, 2000, http://www.uncjin.org.
(16) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery,’ Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(17) Ibid.
(18) Radford, B. ‘Belief in witchcraft leads to murders in Africa’, Live Science, 9 December 2009, http://www.livescience.com.
(19) Foxcroft, G., ‘Interview and documentary: Saving Africa's witch children’, Dispatches Channel 4, 12 November 2008, http://www.channel4.com.
(20) Houreld, K. ‘African children denounced as “witches” By Christian Pastors’, Huffington Post, 18 October 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
(21) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(22) Ibid.
(23) ‘Child witchcraft allegations on the rise’, IRIN, 16 July 2010, http://www.irinnews.org.
(24) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(25) Cimpric, A., ‘Children accused of witchcraft’, UNICEF, April 2010, http://www.unicef.org.
(26) ‘The Nigerian connection’, Al Jazeera, 11 June 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com.
(27) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(28) ‘The Nigerian connection’, Al Jazeera, 11 June 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com.
(29) Ibid.
(30) Rogers, C., ‘African children trafficked to UK for blood rituals’, BBC, 12 October 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk.
(31) Ibid.
(32) Harrop, E.W., ‘A bewitching economy: Witchcraft and human trafficking’, Think Africa Press, 17 September 2012, http://thinkafricapress.com.
(33) ‘Breaking the cycle of fear: Witchcraft, juju and safeguarding victims of human trafficking’, Afruca, 2010,
http://www.afruca.org.
(34)Rogers, C., ‘African children trafficked to UK for blood rituals’, BBC, 12 October 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk.
(35) ‘Breaking the cycle of fear: Witchcraft, juju and safeguarding victims of human trafficking’, Afruca, 2010,
http://www.afruca.org.
(36) Ibid.
(37) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(38) ‘Supporting victims of witchcraft abuse and street children in Nigeria’, Stepping Stones, 2007, http://www.humantrafficking.org.
(39) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(40) A 2006 study showed that of the 104 trafficking victims in Nigeria, 53 were from this state. See ‘Nigeria: State leads in child trafficking and prostitution’, CRIN, 8 October 2006, http://www.crin.org.
(41) ‘Supporting victims of witchcraft abuse and street children in Nigeria’, Stepping Stones, 2007, http://www.humantrafficking.org.
(42) Harrop, E.W., ‘Ties that bind: African witchcraft and contemporary slavery’, Liberty and Humanity, 17 September 2012, http://lastradainternational.org.
(43) Ibid.
(44) ‘Supporting victims of witchcraft abuse and street children in Nigeria’, Stepping Stones, 2007, http://www.humantrafficking.org.
(45) Ibid.