Saturday 21 February 2015

Abidjan, Ivory Coast - Sant’Egidio denounces the ritual killings of children and the inhuman beliefs and attitudes that make them possible

The Community of Sant’Egidio has long been outraged and worried about the murders of children that occur in different rural and non-rural regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. These are true ritual murders, human sacrifices offered to the idols of ambition and money in the superstitious belief that the blood, the limbs or the organs of these innocent ones can guarantee success, wealth and power.
These are the sad stories coming out of Angola, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania (where the victims are albino), Togo and Uganda. This is what happened in the Ivory Coast which experienced a tragic growth in the numbers of these kinds of crimes. 

The Community of Sant’Egidio in Abidjan has stated its firm condemnation of these dreadful actions and has launched an appeal during a press conference organized for that purpose. The appeal is aimed at overcoming a culture and an attitude that systematically devalues the life of minors, and in which children are exploited by ruthless adults.
The Community’s website reports the statements by the head of Sant’Egidio in the Ivory Coast, Georges Adon, and the coordinator of the Schools of Peace, Ange Saye’ Zirihi: “First of all we need to stop the hand of those who take away the lives of some many innocent victims. But to ensure that acts such as these are not repeated we also need to change the culture with regards to childhood”, we need to fight against “inhuman beliefs behind which are hidden a thirst for wealth and power.”
In the course of the press conference the valuable role of the Schools of Peace was also recognized. These centers of school support, aimed at educating towards coexistence and peace, are managed by Sant’Egidio. They exist in various locations in Abidjan and in other cities of the Ivory Coast. Among other things, in these after school settings, the legal registration of the participants protects them from the administrative “invisibility” that can most easily be exploited to entrap these children for criminal purposes. 

1 comment:

  1. This problem are even here in Tanzania,last week albino child killed with unknown people,Many people in African country treat other people in painful manner,this because the do not value the life other especially disabled people.

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