Peer-reviewed article
Violence against Children Accused of Witchcraft in Nigeria and its Impact on Their Wellbeing :
Felicia Priest, Victor Chukwuma ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines witchcraft accusations against children in Nigeria and the severe violence these children experience as a result. Children accused of witchcraft are often abandoned, tortured, or killed by family members who believe these accusations. The research identifies cultural beliefs, religious teachings, media portrayals, and ignorance as key drivers of these accusations. The violence and accusations harm children across five areas: health, material wellbeing, education, safety, and relationships.
Key points
- Witchcraft accusations against children in Nigeria often come from close family members including parents, step-parents, siblings, and cousins
- Violence against accused children includes abandonment on streets, torture with hot objects, acid attacks, and killing
- Cultural beliefs, religious institution teachings on witchcraft, movie portrayals of children as witches, and ignorance are key factors driving accusations
- Witchcraft accusations and violence affect children across five domains: health, material wellbeing, education, risk, and relationships
- Recommendations include reinterpreting biblical passages used to justify witchcraft accusations, regulating movies depicting children as witches, and training adults who work with children
Limitations
The study uses only three accounts and documented cases, which limits generalisability to all witchcraft accusation situations in Nigeria. The research does not provide quantitative data on prevalence or long-term outcomes for affected children.
Abstract
Witchcraft accusations have been on the rise across various regions of Nigeria. Unfortunately, those often accused are not just the adults, but also children. Rather than being protected, provided for, and loved, these children are accused and dehumanised. Some of these children have been abandoned on the streets, tortured with hot objects, had acid poured on them, and even been killed. Shockingly, their accusers are often not strangers, but close family members including parents, step-parents, siblings, and cousins. This study analyses three accounts of witchcraft accusations against children, the horrendous violence it attracted to the accused, and its impact on their wellbeing in order to identify factors responsible for witchcraft accusations and violence against children. A qualitative research method was adopted through face-to-face interviews and empirical analysis of documented cases of witchcraft accusations in Nigeria. The findings reveal that cultural beliefs, the portrayal of children as witches in movies, a prevailing witchcraft mentality, the teachings of religious institutions on witchcraft, and ignorance are key factors responsible for witchcraft accusations and violence against children. Furthermore, the findings show that witchcraft accusations and violence against children affect them in five domains: their health, material wellbeing, education, risk, and relationships. The study recommends that the biblical passages that Nigerian pastors use to validate witchcraft accusations be interpreted within the context intended by the original writers, that movies depicting children as witches be banned or strictly regulated, and that those who interact with children in the five domains be trained and equipped to reduce the effects of accusation and violence on the children.