Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
The Nexus Between Socio-cultural Beliefs and Fundamental Human Rights Abuse Amongst Victims of Witches’ Accusations in Rural Communities in the Northern Part of Ghana
Ghana, as a member of the United Nations, is a signatory to its human rights standards. However, socio-cultural belief systems in Ghana, such as witchcraft accusations, show some divergence between socio-cultural belief systems and the modern concept of human rights. This study sought to critically analyse how socio-cultural belief systems relate, contradict and trample on the fundamental human rights of persons accused of witchcraft practices. The study employed a qualitative method where interviews were conducted with 37 participants. The participants were mainly persons accused of witchcraft practices living in the Gambaga Camp. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews through personal face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions. A thematic approach was used in the data analysis. The study found that the victims of witchcraft accusations have a distinctive conceptualization of human rights. The respondents classified human rights to include social and cultural rights, economic rights, civil and political rights and legal rights. The study further found that some of the participants were aware of some rights standards as provided by the United Nations Human Rights Declaration, which relates to the current conditions of persons accused of witchcraft practices. It was recommended that governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, traditional leaders and community members help in promoting human rights awareness by emphasizing the importance of equality, dignity and respect for individuals accused of witchcraft practices.
AbdullaM. R. (2018). Culture, religion, and freedom of religion or belief. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 16(4), 102–115.
2.
AbdullaS. (2018). Discrimination and social stigma in rural Ghana: Barriers to human rights for marginalized groups. Journal of Human Rights and Development Studies, 12(3), 56–72.
3.
AbuyaK. (2020). Embracing partnership for social transformation and the realization of human rights: A pathway to ending female genital mutilation, marginalization of women in political leadership, and other harmful practices amongst the Abagusii of Kenya. Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 7(1), 7–7.
4.
AcheampongK. (2020). Human rights advocacy in culturally diverse contexts: Lessons from Ghana. African Journal of Social Sciences, 18(4), 34–50.
5.
AckahW., DodsonJ. E., & SmithR. D. (Eds) (2017). Religion, culture and spirituality in Africa and the African diaspora. Routledge.
6.
AcquahF. (2011). The impact of African traditional religious beliefs and cultural values on Christian–Muslim relations in Ghana from the 1920 to the present: A case study of the Nkusukum-Ekumfi-Enyan traditional area of the Central Region. Journal of Religion and Culture, 26(1), 21–44.
7.
AlhassanM., & AsamoahJ. (2021). Local perceptions of human rights in rural Ghana: Bridging universal principles with cultural contexts. Ghana Journal of Social Development, 9(2), 22–39.
8.
AnandA. (2022). Unheard and unnoticed: Violence against women in India–a study of practice of witch-hunting, honour killing and devadasi system. Lancaster University (United Kingdom).
9.
ArnskovC. M. (2012). Camping with witches- witch hunts as practices of securitisation and Biopoliticisation. University of Copenhagen.
10.
AssimengM. (2006). Understanding society. An Introduction to Sociology for Africa Students. University Press.
11.
BabaI. M. (2013). Life in a witch camp. Experiences of residents in the Gnani witch camp in Ghana (Master’s thesis, The University of Bergen).
12.
BenedikterR., SiepmannK., & McIntoshA. (2016). Zoltan Istvan’s ‘teleological egocentric functionalism’: A libertarian philosophical basis for ‘transhumanist’ politics. Review of Contemporary Philosophy, 15, 82.
13.
BenyahF. (2022). Prayer camps, mental health, and human rights concerns in Ghana. Journal of Religion in Africa, 51(3–4), 283–308.
14.
BoatengR., OwusuD., & AppiahK. (2023). Strengthening human rights enforcement in Ghana: Challenges and pathways. Journal of Governance and Public Policy, 15(1), 78–91.
15.
ColaizziP. (1978). Psychological research as a phenomenologist views it. In ValleR. S. & KingM. (Eds.), Existential phenomenological alternatives for psychology. Open University Press.
16.
DixonR. (2012). ‘In Ghana’s witch camps, the accused are never safe’. LA Times.
17.
DzorgboD. S. (2013). Sociological theory. Classical ideas and their application in the African context. Woeli Publishing Service.
18.
EllisB. (2000). Raising the devil: Satanism, new religious movements, and the media. University Press of Kentucky.
19.
ElwellF. L. (2013). Socio-cultural systems: Principles of structure and change. Athabasca University Press.
20.
Evans-PritchardE. E. (1937). Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande. Oxford.
21.
FinnisJ. (2015). Grounding human rights in natural law. The American Journal of Jurisprudence, 60(2), 199–225.
22.
GeschiereP. (1997). The modernity of witchcraft: Politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa. University of Virginia Press.
23.
GeschiereP. (2013). Witchcraft, intimacy, and trust: Africa in comparison. University of Chicago Press.
24.
GiddensA. (1987). Social theory and modern sociology. Stanford University Press.
25.
GiddensA. (2004). Capitalism and modern social theory. An analysis of the early sociologists. Cambridge University Press.
26.
GiorgiA. (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology. Duquesne University Press.
27.
HabermasJ. (2018). The new conservatism: Cultural criticism and the historian’s debate. John Wiley & Sons, 89–94.
28.
HannumH., AnayaS. J., SheltonD. L., & CelorioR. (2023). International human rights: Problems of law, policy, and practice. Aspen Publishing.
29.
HaralambosM., & HolbornM. (2004). Sociology themes and perspectives. HarperCollins.
30.
IsiomaC. L. (2019). Witchcraft stigmatization and abuse of children in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 11(4), 43–53.
31.
JeanT. K., & JohnC. (1993). Reflections on the generalization of agency theory: Cross-cultural considerations. Human Resource Management Review, 14(3), 325–335.
32.
JoyS., & PoonamalleeL. (2013). Cross-cultural teaching in globalized management classrooms: Time to move from functionalist to postcolonial approaches?Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), 396–413.
33.
KajiruI., & NyimbiI. (2020). The impact of myths, superstition and harmful cultural beliefs against albinism in Tanzania: A human rights perspective. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad, 23(1), 45–65.
34.
KatiuzhinskyA., & OkechD. (2014). Human rights, cultural practices, and state policies: Implications for global social work practice and policy. International Journal of Social Welfare, 23(1), 80–88.
35.
Kroesbergen-KampsJ. (2020). Witchcraft after modernity: Old and new directions in the study of witchcraft in Africa. HAU:Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 10(3), 860–873.
36.
LernerN. (2012). Religious human rights under the United Nations. In Religion, secular beliefs and human rights, 13–55.
37.
MattheeJ. (2021). Indigenous beliefs and customs, the South African criminal law, and human rights: Identifying the issues. The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 53(3), 522–544.
38.
MayohJ., & OnwuegbuzieA. J. (2013). Surveying the landscape of mixed methods phenomenological research. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 8(1), 2–14. https://doi.org/10.5172/mra.2013.3581
39.
MingersJ. (2004). Can social systems be autopoietic? Bhaskar’s and Giddens’ social theories. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 34(4), 403–427.
40.
MotsoenengM. (2022). The lived experiences of elderly women accused of witchcraft in a rural community in South Africa. EUREKA: Social and Humanities, (3), 112–118.
41.
MurrayJ., & WallaceL. (2013). In Africa, accusations of witchcraft still a reality for many women. The Globe and Mail.
42.
PalumboA., & ScottA. (2005). Classical social theory I: Marx and Durkheim. A. Harrington (Ed.). Oxford University Press.
43.
SchmitterP. C., & LefkofridiZ. (2016). Neo-functionalism as a theory of disintegration. Chinese Political Science Review, 1(1), 1–29.
44.
SchomerusG., SanderC., SchindlerS., BaumannE., & AngermeyerM. C. (2023). Public attitudes towards protecting the human rights of people with mental illness: A scoping review and data from a population trend study in Germany. International Review of Psychiatry, 35(2), 167–179.
45.
SossouM. A., & YogtibaJ. A. (2015). Abuse, neglect, and violence against elderly women in Ghana: Implications for social justice and human rights. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 27(4–5), 422–427.
46.
TurnerJ. H. (2007). Human emotions: A sociological theory. Routledge.
47.
TurnerJ. H. (2010). Theoretical principles of sociology. Paulson Press.
48.
TweneboahS. (2023). Religion, human rights, and the parliamentary regulation of ‘one-man churches’ in Ghana. Journal of Church and State, 65(1), 25–45.
49.
VealA. J. (2023). Cultural participation as a human right: Holding nation states to account. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 29(6), 686–700.
50.
WalasekH. (2016). Destruction of the cultural heritage in Bosnia-Herzegovina: An overview. InBosnia and the destruction of cultural heritage (pp. 53–72). Routledge.
