Recent government efforts to tackle child abuse associated to witchcraft and possession do not go far enough 
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On Christmas day, 2010, <a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2012/03/22/the-shocking-murder-of-kristy-bamu/">Kristy Bamu</a> was tortured to death by his sister Magalie Bamu, and her partner Eric Bilkubi. Kristy was deprived of food and water for three days and three nights. He was struck with a heavy bar and hammer, knocking out his teeth. Ceramic floor tiles and bottles were smashed on his head and a pair of pliers used to twist his ear. According to Kristy’s sister and her partner, Kristy was a “witch”. The prolonged attack of “unspeakable savagery and brutality” was part of a deliverance ceremony (or exorcism), necessary to free the child of alleged possession. 
Over recent years, accusations of witchcraft and possession have become part of a growing pattern of child abuse in the UK. The first high profile case of child abuse linked to accusations of witchcraft or possession was that of eight year old Victoria Climbié in 2000. Her tragic death helped spurn the “Every Child Matters” initiative and the introduction of the Children Act 2004. Just one year later, in 2005, a case referred to as the “Child B” case was widely reported. Child B, also eight years old, was subjected to a horrifying catalogue of torture and was eventually discovered by a street warden sitting outside an East London flat, shivering and covered in cuts and bruises. There have also been other, less publicised cases, including a pastor in Bradford who abused his two sons because he believed they were possessed. 
In August 2012, in response to Kristy Bamu’s murder, the government launched an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19248144">action plan</a> to tackle child abuse linked to witchcraft or possession. The key aims of the action plan are to raise awareness and set out “urgent practical steps to identify and protect children at risk”. 
However, the government’s most recent efforts arguably do not go far enough. The action plan fails to address the fact that cases of child abuse linked to witchcraft and possession have their origin in the branding of vulnerable children as witches or possessed by evil spirits. 
In an African context, witch branding is tantamount to violence. The actions which follow can encompass neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Children are beaten with heavy implements, kicked, punched and starved in the form of fasting. They are also isolated from others, denied medical care and withdrawn from school, thus making the children easy targets for sexual abuse. 
In many instances, accusations of witchcraft are made and verified by African churches in the UK. Often within these churches there is a strong focus on success, as measured by wealth and possessions &#8211; a mark of God’s favour. Those who do not succeed believe that they have been prevented from doing so by witchcraft. 
Most migrants, many of whom are escaping violent upheavals, may still experience poverty, anxiety and suffering in the Western world. This makes migrants particularly vulnerable to a number of religious entrepreneurs or “rogue pastors”, readily available and willing to take advantage of such individuals.  Rogue pastors often encourage the diagnosis of witchcraft in the households of those who are searching for an explanation for their misfortunes. Those who are targeted are often the most vulnerable members of society. Victims of witchcraft include: children with a <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CCcQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.londonscb.gov.uk%2Ffiles%2F2010%2Fresources%2Fchild_abuse_linked_to_accusations_of_possession_and_witchcraft__eleanor_stobart_report_2006.pdf&amp;ei=RHRxUJ3LK6Sa0QWn4oHADw&amp;usg=AFQjCNGJFsgqDO_mMAeJHeYv11mgULGClA">disability</a> (i.e. autism, epilepsy, Down syndrome and dyslexia), children living away from home in private fostering situations, those living with a step parent or with one natural parent absent or dead and those children whose parents have been diagnosed as witches. 
Accusations of witchcraft and possession can provide a financially lucrative business due to the rewards which often follow. It is within a pastor’s interest to diagnose a child with a condition that only they can cure. Material rewards can range from charging <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/01/accusations-witchcraft-pattern-child-abuse">£500 for an oil</a> that is going to “cure” a child of evil spirits, to the more profitable performance of a deliverance ceremony. The prestige of large congregations as a result of successful deliverance ceremonies is also, no doubt, a motivating factor. 
Currently, those who are inciting harm upon children are outside the reach of the law.  Nowhere in UK law is the link between child branding and incitement to harm made. Thus, the law must be reformed so that those who initiate the process of abuse no longer remain outside its reach and vulnerable children are protected from long term abuse, harm and even death.   
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<pre>Image from: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/01/witchcraft-trial-unreported-cases-police">http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/01/witchcraft-trial-unreported-cases-police</a></pre>

Child Abuse in the UK: Witchcraft and Possession

The rise in honour killings in Turkey points to a patriarchal need to control women, where women straddle structures that can either reinforce or challenge gender norms 
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In March 2011, 19-year-old Hatice Firat’s body was discovered by Turkish police in the Southern province of Mersin, Turkey. Hatice had been tracked down and stabbed more than 40 times by her brother, Mahsun Firat, after she had allegedly run away with her boyfriend in February. According to Hatice’s family, her killing was necessary in order to cleanse the family of her “dishonourable act” and “reclaim” their honour. 
Over recent years, honour killings like Hatice’s have increased at an alarming rate. Recent government figures suggest that murders of women – including honour killings – have increased <a href="http://rojwomen.com/2011/04/27/turkey-grapples-with-spike-in-honor-killings/">14-fold in seven years</a>, hitting nearly 1,000 in the first seven months of 2009. Justification for honour killings can include a young woman looking at a man, becoming pregnant out of wedlock or being raped. 
Although steps have been taken in Turkey to tackle this problem, these steps fail to go far enough and have brought with them their own problems. In recent years, changes have been made to Turkey’s penal code which now imposes life sentences for murders in the name of honour, regardless of whether they were committed by a minor or not. Consequently, female suicides in Turkey have increased.  Female family members are now encouraged to take their own lives in order for male family members to avoid life imprisonment for murder. There are also cases in which murders are disguised as suicides. 
In the Turkish context, the concept of honour is represented as being determined by acts of “purity” or “impurity” and is embodied in women’s behaviour. This is linked in a fatal way to a man’s prestige and status, which paradoxically provides women with the power to maintain and emasculate a man’s position of privilege in society if they choose to resist the hierarchical order. Masculinity is defined by one’s ability to exert control over another. 
Often, this order is maintained and perpetuated through violence or the threat of it. Hatice Firat’s attempt at autonomy would no doubt have robbed the male family members of their status and standing in society until her death when, to some degree, it would have been restored.   
In contrast, femininity is defined by subordination. Honour is maintained through obedience, self-restraint and self-effacement, modesty in dress, speech and seclusion. For example, 44.2 per cent of women living in urban areas and 64.5 per cent living in rural areas believe that <a href="http://sgdatabase.unwomen.org/uploads/Turkey%20-%20National%20Research%20on%20Domestic%20Violence%20Against%20Women%202008.pdf">women must obey their husbands</a>. Furthermore, 10.6 per cent of women in urban areas and 24.9 per cent in rural areas believe that in some cases a man <a href="http://sgdatabase.unwomen.org/uploads/Turkey%20-%20National%20Research%20on%20Domestic%20Violence%20Against%20Women%202008.pdf">can beat his wife</a>, as well as 42.7 per cent of women in urban areas and 61.2 per cent rural areas believing that the behaviour of women is the responsibility of males. 
No amount of effort by the government, international community or non-governmental organisations will provide a sustainable solution to the problem of honour killings until patriarchal definitions of masculinity and femininity which legitimise violent behaviour are problematised. In order for this to be achieved, both women and men must actively and constructively become engaged and re-educated in alternative definitions of masculinity and femininity. Perhaps then, tragedies like Hatice’s will be tragedies of our past, and not of our present and future.  
<pre>Image from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/turkish-honour-seriously-misguided</pre>

Feriha Tayfur