Accra, Nov. 24, GNA - Mr Laari Bimi, Chairman of National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), has called for national census and networking in rescuing women condemned into witchcraft camps in the Northern Region of Ghana.

He admonished civil society and religious groups to help educate and disabuse the minds of the citizenry from fear, hatred and anger against people accused of witchcraft as they were often regarded as evil and harmful. "Society would be doing a great disservice to humanity if we sit down and look on unconcerned while such vulnerable women continue to suffer silent maltreatments in branded camps and other seclusions where they are subjected to dehumanising situations that infringes greatly on their fundamental human rights," he said.

Mr Bimi made the call when addressing the opening session of a validation workshop on "Witchcraft and Human Rights of Women in Ghana," in Accra on Wednesday. He expressed concern that though witchcraft was a universal and historical phenomenon, certain societies and communities in Ghana had adopted obscure ways of dealing with suspected and accused persons. Mr Bimi condemned acts where camps had been created in some parts of the Region purposely for women accused of witchcraft and forced to stay there as a safe haven and referred to such acts as very absurd and violation of human dignity.

He explained that the workshop was to validate case studies conducted by the NCCE on various witches' villages in Northern Ghana and ascertain the conditions of such victims in the various camps to work out appropriate policies and strategies of enforcing legislations to abolish such human right abuses.

Mr Bimi said it was part of the Commission's mandate to organise periodic studies and researches to establish various issues pertaining on the ground and ensure the maintenance of absolute peace and coexistence of the people to promote peace and protect the country's young democracy. He said Ghana's success in organising four general election had resulted from the peaceful co-existence of the citizenry and respect of each other's fundamental human rights and any act that could trigger or hinder these achievements must be condemned.

Mrs Gertrude Zakaria-Ali, Director of Research, NCCE, argued that democracy could not be strengthened where the freedom of some section of the people was curtailed by others.

She said the outcome of the workshop would provide empirical solutions to the problem and aid the Department of Women under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs' in the holistic presentation of the national report on the status of witches camps in Ghana.