Advocacy and Campaigning

The belief in child witches is deeply held and cuts across all tiers of society in Akwa Ibom State. This belief, fuelled by religious profiteering, has led to a worryingly high rate of child abandonment in the area. Hundreds of children are still sleeping in market stalls, abandoned buildings or are imprisoned in churches. Many more are murdered with frequent incidences of children being burried alive, drowned, given poison berries or macheted to death. Numbers of children accessing the services at the CRARN emergency shelter tripled over a six month period in 2006. In response to these worrying developments Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN, in partnership with Akwa Ibom State Government, launched the Prevent Abandonment of Children Today (PACT) campaign in November 2006.

Abandoned child: A common site on the streets of Akwa Ibom State

The Aims of the PACT Campaign

To tackle the probelm of ignorance and the superstitious belief in child witchcraft

To highlight the torture and killings of children stigmatised as witches or abandoned

To advocate for Child's Rights and the enactment of the Child Rights Act by the Akwa Ibom State Government

To encourage all stakeholders to support orphans and vulnerable (OVC) in Akwa Ibom State

PACT Campaign Launch

A wide range of stakeholders came together at the 1st annual international symposium on Preventing the Abandonment of Children Today (PACT) at the Villa Marina hotel, Eket, November 2006. Commissioners, NAPTIP officials, social welfare teams, police, international and local pastors, HIV/AIDS activists, women's groups, academics and NGO workers debated the current child abandonment crisis and what can be done to halt its spread. The event received widespread coverage in local and national papers, TV and radio. In addition to this local TV and radio now run daily adverts warning of the illegality and immorality of child stigmatisation and abandonment.

The Launch of the PACT Campaign

The event was followed up by widespread police arrests of parents guilty of abandoning their children due to witchcraft stigmatisation. This sent out a very strong message to community members that the police force would no longer tolerate child abandonment. This had an instant effect of stopping the growing tide of children accessing the services at the CRARN shelter. However there remains countless other children still living on the streets of nearby towns and cities. Stepping Stones Nigeria and CRARN are committed to significantly expanding the scope of the PACT campaign to all corners of Akwa Ibom State.

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