Thank you, Madam, for the opportunity, and thank you, Government of the Netherlands, for your commitment to protecting and defending the freedom of religion or belief around the globe.
Let me congratulate you, Madam, on your recent appointment as the Dutch Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). Your appointment comes at a time of growing concern over religion-linked abuses around the world.
I recall with deep appreciation the support of the Dutch government while campaigning to free Mubarak Bala, some years ago. In 2020, Bala, a Nigerian humanist, was unjustly arrested, detained, prosecuted, and jailed for blasphemy. I led that campaign and saw firsthand how the Dutch government and the EU coalition in Nigeria worked to ensure Bala’s freedom and safety.
Mr Bala’s case illustrates the situation humanists face in Nigeria and across the region. In many countries, people who do not profess a religion or a belief in a god suffer systemic discrimination and persecution. They are attacked, or killed, imprisoned, or exiled.
Atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers live in countries and communities where they cannot say who they are, what they believe or do not believe in; they cannot express their thoughts or exercise their conscience without serious repercussions.
Madam, freedom of religion or belief is incomplete without recognising the rights of humanists and other non-religious persons.
In Nigeria, the situation is complicated, and grave abuses have happened behind this wall of silence and complication. Religious and irreligious demographics are often misrepresented.
The statistics of religious adherents and victims of religious violence are often minimised, exaggerated, or manipulated to serve political purposes, as seen in the ongoing conflicts in the country.
There has been a lot of controversy over the killings and kidnappings in Nigeria. Is there an ongoing Christian genocide in Nigeria? Of course the answer is an emphatic yes.
But Madam, Christian genocide is not the whole story. It is also a genocide of unbelievers.
At independence, Nigeria inherited a jihadist Islam, that is, a form of Islam that is promoted with force and violence. Christian genocide is a strand of the conflict and bloodletting because other Muslims, traditional worshippers, real or imagined non-believers have been killed.
Any perceived enemy of Islam as envisioned and interpreted by the jihadists has been targeted. So, living or dead, non-believers are targeted.
Even though FoRB is enshrined in the constitution, non-belief is seen as haram, that is, forbidden. Also, changing one’s belief, criticising, or renouncing Islam is a crime under sharia law that is enforced in parts of Nigeria and Africa.
Non-believers are treated not as citizens or as human beings but as cultural outsiders or criminals.
Blasphemy and apostasy laws are in force in many countries. These laws have been used to deny humanists and other minority religion and belief groups and individuals their FoRB.
These laws need to be repealed, and those who attack or murder alleged blasphemers and apostates need to be held accountable and made responsible for their crimes.
Madam, also deserving of your attention is the ongoing persecution and killing in the name of witchcraft across Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea.
Abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and ritual attacks are pervasive. Witch hunting rages with force and ferocity in many countries. Too many people, including persons with albinism, suffer as a result of witchcraft and ritualistic beliefs.
Accused persons are attacked and killed with impunity daily. Accused persons are banished from their communities. In Ghana, they flee and live in makeshift shelters mischaracterised as ‘witch camps’.
Alleged witches are beaten, buried alive, stoned to death, or set ablaze in Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, and Zambia.
The victims are mainly women, children, elderly persons, and people living with disabilities.
In 2020, the Advocacy for Alleged Witches announced a decade of activism and the ambitious goal to end witch hunts in Africa by 2030.
In 2021, the UN passed a resolution urging states to take legal and administrative measures against abuses linked to witchcraft beliefs and ritual attacks.
Advocates in Africa and around the world need the robust support of the Dutch government to achieve these important goals and finally end witch hunts in the region.
Madam, the support of the government of the Netherlands is needed because state and non-state actors, including churches and mosques, fuel and weaponise witchcraft beliefs and accusations for political and economic gains.
I draw your attention especially to the cases of Adijat Pereira, Arit Inyang, Obiageli Ottih, and Samaila Bala from Nigeria.
Last year, the boyfriend of Adijat allegedly murdered her while she was asleep for rituals. To date, nobody has been arrested or prosecuted for the crime.
Arit Inyang was accused and subsequently disappeared. Her accuser allegedly tied a stone around her neck and threw her into a river.
Ms Ottih, a traditional religious worshipper, is being prosecuted in Nigeria. Christian family members connived with the police to arrest and remand her in prison for “witchcraft”.
Since 2020, Bala, a school teacher, has been jailed three times for witchcraft and juju, a non-existent crime under the law.
In Zambia, Leonard Phiri and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde were arrested, prosecuted, and jailed for witchcraft.
In many cases, police and court officers have been complicit in persecuting the accused and shielding accusers and perpetrators of witch hunts from justice.
These cases are only the tip of the iceberg of abuses linked to FoRB in the region. And I look forward to working with you to address them in the coming months and years.
Leo Igwe, PhD, is a board member of Humanists International and the Humanist Association of Nigeria. He directs the Advocacy for Alleged Witches and Critical Thinking Social Empowerment Foundation. He sent in this piece from The Hague. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
