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Democratic of Republic of Congo: The Invention of Child Witches


Child Rights Information Network


March 2, 2006

A new report has been launched by Save the Children to highlight the issue of children accused of witchcraft in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Invention of Child Witches: Social Cleansing, Religious Commerce and the Difficulties of Being a Parent in an Urban Culture discusses the role of the family, revivalist churches and the state in such accusations and makes recommendations for tackling the problem.

Children are stigmatised for many reasons and the family dynamic and attitude of the parents or guardians play a decisive role in this. The severe financial pressure faced by parents and the sudden deaths that can occur (often AIDS or malaria-related) cause crisis in the family structure. The combination of external threats faced by families pushes parents or guardians to negatively magnify a child’s individual characteristics (such as disability, bad behaviour, changes due to puberty) to the point where they see them as being signs of witchcraft.

The final blow is delivered by the revivalist churches, which confirm or ‘discover’ signs of witchcraft. Indeed, many religious and magical movements, whether Catholic, Pentecostal, African or fetishist, fuel hatred and violence against children. Most of the churches operate on a profit-making basis and nearly all of those practicing exorcism will put on a real performance for the purposes of financial gain.

Recommendations:
  • to strengthen the awareness raising work that has already begun with religious leaders
  • to increase State regulation of the way in which churches operate and create mechanisms for monitoring churches that may be mistreating and abusing children and adults accused of witchcraft.
  • to strengthen work with parents through discussion and awareness raising groups.
  • to increase knowledge of violence against children as a first step towards an action plan to prevent violence. This programme must, however, form part of the national strategy for social protection.

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