Leo Igwe is stepping down as International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) Representative for Western and Southern Africa, in order to start a three year research programme on “Witchcraft accusations in Africa” at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany.

IHEU representative Hannah Bock raised two examples of traditional practices that are continuing to impede efforts to reduce maternal mortality: child marriage in Afghanistan and the forced feeding of young girls in Mauritania.

On July 26, 2011, nearly 30 people took part in the first ever Humanist meeting in the West African nation of Benin.

George Thindwa, leader of the Association for Secular Humanism (an IHEU member organization) in the Southern African republic of Malawi, has reported a dramatic encounter with witch hunters last week. Despite his arrest for intervening in a live witch hunt, he was able to send us the following report  and photographs of this horrifying event:

The 2010 Nordic Rainbow Humanists award has gone to secretary general George Thindwa and his colleagues of the Association for Secular Humanism of Malawi. “This has been made for their courageous public stand for LGBT identity and rights in this African nation, taking great risks of retaliation from homophobic politicians, religious leaders, and a hostile mass media”, said Nordic Rainbow Humanists' international secretary Bill Schiller in Stockholm.

Leo Igwe, IHEU Representative for Southern and Western Africa, has led a rescue of two children accused of witchcraft. The children, who were living with a member of a family known for trafficking children, were rescued on February 11 and handed over to the local authority who will now care for them. Every year in the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, thousands of children are accused of witchcraft, and then abused, abandoned or ejected from their homes. These children are forced to live on the streets, or abandoned buildings, and are often trafficked for sex or slave labour.

Fellow Humanists, Dear Friends

Thank you and welcome to this conference.

Leo Igwe, IHEU’s representative for West and Southern Africa, is working to combat widespread human rights abuses caused by belief in sorcery and superstition. On November 11, 2010, he raised the issue of ritual killing and human sacrifice at the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, with the following statement.

In response to a campaign by Humanists, the government of Malawi has promised to review the cases of more than 80 people imprisoned for witchcraft.