Killing of women, child "witches" on rise, U.N. told

Witchcraft in this day and age ? Yep it is a big problem !
With Estimates of tens of thousands killed , You have to wonder what these people are drinking? ( Or Smoking ) , What a messed up World !

GENEVA (Reuters) - Murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is spreading around the world and destroying the lives of millions of people, experts said Wednesday.

The experts -- United Nations officials, civil society representatives from affected countries and non-governmental organization (NGO) specialists working on the issue -- urged governments to acknowledge the extent of the persecution.

"This is becoming an international problem -- it is a form of persecution and violence that is spreading around the globe," Jeff Crisp of the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR told a seminar organized by human rights officials of the world body.

Aides to U.N. special investigators on women's rights and on summary executions said killings and violence against alleged witch women -- often elderly people -- were becoming common events in countries ranging from South Africa to India.

And community workers from Nepal and Papua New Guinea told the seminar, on the fringes of a session of the U.N.'s 47-member Human Rights Council, that "witch-hunting" was now common, both in rural communities and larger population centres.

....Other U.N. officials tracking the problem said deaths ran into at least tens of thousands, and beatings, deprivation of property and banishment and isolation from community life meant victims of "witch frenzy" ran into millions.

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