How Children Became Scapegoats for Family Misfortune

Introduction

In Togo, one of the most damaging consequences of witchcraft beliefs has not been a single nationwide panic but the accusation that children are responsible for illness, death, poverty or other family misfortunes. These accusations have led to beatings, coercive exorcisms, abandonment, exclusion from school and, in some cases, severe physical abuse. Human rights organisations, United Nations experts and child-protection groups emphasise that the harm comes not from religious belief itself, but from treating suspicion as proof and allowing fear to justify violence against children. Although reliable national statistics are limited, evidence from NGOs and international bodies shows that child-witch accusations remain an important child-protection concern in parts of Togo, particularly where poverty, family stress and deeply rooted fears of supernatural harm reinforce one another.[ohchr.org]uhri.ohchr.orgUnited NationsDecember 11, 2025…Published: December 11, 2025

Which children were most vulnerable to accusation?

Reports from Togo show that accusations rarely fell at random. They often targeted children who already occupied a vulnerable position within their families or communities.

Children were more likely to become suspects if they were:

Rather than being selected because of any objective evidence, these children often became convenient explanations for events that families could not otherwise understand. A sudden death, repeated illness, crop failure, infertility or financial collapse could create intense pressure to identify a hidden cause. Once suspicion focused on a child, ordinary behaviour might be reinterpreted as confirming supernatural guilt.

Anthropological research across sub-Saharan Africa, including examples relevant to Togo, argues that these accusations should not be explained simply as ancient tradition. They emerge through changing social and economic pressures, including urbanisation, poverty, family restructuring and religious competition, which reshape older beliefs into new forms of scapegoating.[UNICEF]unicef.orgChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF NigeriaChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF Nigeria…

How suspicion became accepted as proof

A striking feature of child-witch accusations is that ordinary family events were transformed into evidence.

If a relative became ill after an argument with a child, or if a family experienced repeated setbacks, coincidence could be interpreted as spiritual causation. Dreams, rumours or statements from neighbours sometimes reinforced these suspicions. In some cases, religious figures or traditional practitioners were asked to identify the supposed source of supernatural harm, lending apparent authority to accusations that had begun as anxiety or gossip.[UNICEF]unicef.orgChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF NigeriaChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF Nigeria…

This process made the accusations difficult for children to escape. Denials could be interpreted as deception, while fear, distress or unusual behaviour caused by abuse could itself be treated as further “proof”. The absence of verifiable evidence mattered less than the shared conviction that an unseen cause had to exist.

Researchers stress that this is an example of a self-reinforcing social belief rather than an investigative process. Once a child acquired the reputation of being a witch, later events were often interpreted through that existing label instead of being examined independently.[UNICEF]unicef.orgChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF NigeriaChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF Nigeria…

What abuse, abandonment and exploitation followed?

The consequences extended well beyond social stigma.

[Children accused of witchcraft]unicef.orgChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF NigeriaChildren accused of witchcraft | UNICEF Nigeria… have reportedly experienced:

Some organisations working in northern and central Togo describe cases in which children underwent violent exorcism rituals after being blamed for sickness, accidents or deaths within their families. Campaigns run by local partners have highlighted reports of torture, mutilation and, in extreme situations, killings, while also warning that many cases remain hidden because relatives fear social condemnation or believe intervention would oppose accepted community beliefs.[kinderrechte-afrika.org]kinderrechte-afrika.orgKinderrechte Afrika e. VKiRA - Togo: Children accused of witchcraft…

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery similarly reported receiving information that children accused of witchcraft could be confined, denied education and healthcare, have their freedom of movement restricted, and face physical abuse during exorcism practices. Civil society organisations also told the Special Rapporteur that many incidents never reached official authorities, leaving children with little access to justice or rehabilitation.[uhri.ohchr.org]uhri.ohchr.orgUnited NationsDecember 11, 2025…Published: December 11, 2025

Why families turned to accusations

It would be misleading to reduce these cases simply to superstition.

Research points instead to several interacting pressures:

These pressures help explain why accusations sometimes spread within extended families even when there was no direct evidence against the child.

Protection efforts and continuing challenges

Togo has legal protections against violence towards children, and UNICEF and other child-protection partners support government efforts to strengthen reporting, psychosocial care and legal assistance for children experiencing abuse. National child-protection programmes have expanded services for children subjected to violence more generally, although published figures are not broken down specifically for witchcraft accusations.[UNICEF]unicef.orgProtection de l'enfant | UNICEFProtection de l'enfant | UNICEF…

Local organisations have also developed awareness campaigns aimed directly at challenging the belief that children can legitimately be blamed for family misfortune. These initiatives work with teachers, community leaders, police officers and religious figures to encourage earlier intervention and safer alternatives when families seek help.[kinderrechte-afrika.org]kinderrechte-afrika.orgKinderrechte Afrika e. VKiRA - project in Togo…

Despite these efforts, international observers continue to identify significant gaps. The UN Special Rapporteur noted the absence of comprehensive systems specifically designed to identify, rehabilitate and reintegrate children accused of witchcraft, while emphasising that under-reporting remains widespread.[uhri.ohchr.org]uhri.ohchr.orgUnited NationsDecember 11, 2025…Published: December 11, 2025

Why these accusations matter in understanding Togo

Child witchcraft accusations illustrate one of the clearest ways that collective fears can translate into direct harm. The accusations were not primarily driven by evidence against individual children but by attempts to explain misfortune through hidden supernatural causes. Once a child became identified as the source of family suffering, ordinary events could be reinterpreted as confirmation, making escape from suspicion extremely difficult.

For the history of collective fear in Togo, this is therefore less a story of dramatic public panic than of repeated, localised episodes in which anxiety, social pressure and spiritual explanations combined to make vulnerable children into scapegoats. The lasting importance of the issue lies not only in the beliefs themselves, but in the continuing efforts of child-protection organisations, local activists and international bodies to separate spiritual belief from practices that expose children to violence, abandonment and exploitation.[ohchr.org]uhri.ohchr.orgUnited NationsDecember 11, 2025…Published: December 11, 2025

Amazon book picks

Further Reading

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Endnotes

1. Source: uhri.ohchr.org
Title: United Nations
Link:https://uhri.ohchr.org/Document/File/d91cf2de-5e49-42cb-bc53-07773eb467e9/33A769C3-9273-497E-AE2F-73BC6CF01F0F

Published: December 11, 2025

2. Source: unicef.org
Title: Protection de l’enfant | UNICEF
Link:https://www.unicef.org/togo/protection-de-lenfant

3. Source: unicef.org
Title: Children accused of witchcraft | UNICEF Nigeria
Link:https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/reports/children-accused-witchcraft

4. Source: kinderrechte-afrika.org
Title: Kinderrechte Afrika e. V
Link:https://www.kinderrechte-afrika.org/english/recently-concluded-projects/togo-children-accused-of-witchcraft/

5. Source: kinderrechte-afrika.org
Title: Kinderrechte Afrika e. V
Link:https://www.kinderrechte-afrika.org/english/our-projects/togo-strong-local-organizations/

6. Source: unicef.org
Title: and partners bring hope children accused witchcraft liberia
Link:https://www.unicef.org/liberia/stories/unicef-and-partners-bring-hope-children-accused-witchcraft-liberia

Published: February 7, 2023

7. Source: kinderrechte-afrika.org
Title: Kinderrechte Afrika e. V
Link:https://www.kinderrechte-afrika.org/fran%C3%A7ais/projets-r%C3%A9cents-cl%C3%B4tur%C3%A9s/togo-enfants-dits-sorciers/

8. Source: kinderrechte-afrika.org
Title: Kinderrechte Afrika e. V
Link:https://www.kinderrechte-afrika.org/english/recently-concluded-projects/togo-fundamental-rights-and-future-prospects/

9. Source: ecoi.net
Link:https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/1308804.html

Additional References

10. Source: creusetogo.org
Link:https://www.creusetogo.org/etude-de-base-du-projet-de-renforcement-des-mecanismes-institutionnels-communautaires-et-participatifs-pour-la-protection-des-enfants-contre-la-violence-et-les-pratiques-culturelles-nefastes-comme-le/

11. Source: repository.essex.ac.uk
Link:https://repository.essex.ac.uk/41695/

12. Source: pure.roehampton.ac.uk
Link:https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/studentTheses/transnational-yoruba-nigerian-pentecostalism-child-witchcraft-and/

Published: December 19, 2021

13. Source: youtube.com
Title: Nigeria: The Plight of the Witch Children | ARTE.tv Documentary
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD6BlzUSGt0

14. Source: youtube.com
Title: Deadly superstitions
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ot-Z-Tg1RE

15. Source: youtube.com
Title: The ordeal of “child witches” in Togo I Focus • FRANCE 24
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf5Swko7ovM

16. Source: youtube.com
Title: The plight of Togo’s so-called ‘witch children’
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXk_Kk5lr80

17. Source: occrp.org
Link:https://www.occrp.org/en/news/africa-witchcraft-accusations-against-children-still-prevalent

18. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271669002_Oracles_chieftaincies_and_witchcraft_accusations_in_south-western_Togo

19. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07329113.2013.806842