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| Bishop David Oyedepo |
The Metropolitan police states that in local councils across the UK, cases rose from 10 in 2012, to 21 in 2013, and 31 in 2014.
Experts believe that the figures do not cover the real statistics of the phenomenon which is gone widespread, as human rights campaigners are calling for the UK government to do more to regulate faith groups and religious organization, as many of them are believed to be behind such acts.
Leo Igwe, a human rights activist, inferred that in a bid to tackle the problem, a program that educates
and enlightens people must be put in place.
Igwe, who has worked to raise awareness of the issues facing vulnerable people accused of witchcraft in Africa and Europe, said a focus must be placed on the importance of challenging the beliefs that lead to children and other vulnerable groups being labelled as witches.
He said: “The belief that they cause misfortune through witchcraft or magic is mistaken and must be abandoned.
“Religion or multiculturalism is not, and should not be, an excuse to condone harmful practices in Africa or in migrant communities in the UK,” Igwe added.
Gary Foxcroft, executive director of the Witchcraft and Human rights information network, said in a statement on Monday, October 12, that the churches are growing at a phenomenal rate across the UK.
Foxcroft noted that most of them are branches of large mega churches from Africa.
He said: “Some of these churches are known to promote the idea that children can be witches. Indeed the head of one of the biggest churches in Africa was captured on YouTube slapping a young woman and calling her a witch.
“There is currently no regulation in place to stop such people from entering the UK and establishing churches. This is clearly something that the government needs to address.”According Foxcroft, the cases of witchcraft allegations and persecution are mostly linked to Christian and Muslim faith group where children, women, and the disabled are often labelled as witches or possessed by evil spirits, and then forced to undergo ‘deliverance’ or ‘exorcism’ ceremonies, most times at a stipulated fee.
“There are a number of challenges to overcome to put a stop to this practice, the first is at a national policy level.
“There is a complete lack of regulation of the people and practices that are behind these cases, the fact is that most cases primarily arise due to the practices of faith leaders, often in Pentecostal churches,” Foxcroft stressed.The human rights activist concluded by saying that more needs to be done in the UK.
He said asides focusing strongly on preventing Islamic or far-right extremists from entering the UK to spread their hate speech, more needs to be done to stop pastors who commit acts of terror on children.
“Preventing such people from entering the UK therefore needs to be prioritized.
“Additionally, any place of worship found to be promoting such beliefs and practices in the UK should be shut down and have their assets seized.
“The Charity Commission in particular needs to show stronger leadership here. Finally, at the local level awareness and understanding is lacking amongst frontline staff.
“Most practitioners that we have trained express how they find the beliefs in witchcraft and subsequent methods used to deal with them, such as deliverances or exorcisms, deeply challenging issues to work on,” Foxcroft said.Meanwhile, five Nigerian clergymen have been deported by Zimbabwean immigration officials, because of their link to a certain Pastor Okafor, who is the general overseer of Mountain Of Liberation And Miracle Ministries (The Liberation City).
Pastor Okafor, had sent seven members of his church to Zimbabwe to make preparations for his arrival for a conference convened by a local cleric, Joseph Magorimbo.
However, the emissaries were denied access in to Zimbabwe, due to the fact that the Nigerian pastor had allegedly made a negative prophesy about President Robert Mugabe.
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