The organisation said hundreds of victims of witchcraft accusations and rituals attacks were forced to flee their communities for fear of their lives.

According to a research conducted by AI Ghana between July 2023 and January, 2025, “Ninety-three people accused of witchcraft living in four camps, including eighty-two women, most of them aged fifty to ninety.”

However, in 2023, Ghana’s parliament passed an Anti-Witchcraft Bill making it a criminal offense to declare or accuse someone as a witch but the bill is yet to be signed.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, April 14, 2025, Ms. Michele Eken, Senior Researcher at Amnesty International West and Central Africa Regional Office, explained that witchcraft accusations normally began in the family and then spread into the community.

She said the accusation usually occurred as a result of a tragic event such as death or illness.
She said, “older women living in poverty with health conditions or disability were often accused due to gender stereotype and others too based on their claims of bad dreams about the person.”

She said this deeply rooted and prevalent practices had led to untold suffering and violence in societies.

Adding, “while the belief in witchcraft is protected under international law, harmful practices that stem from the belief are not and those impacted need protection and reparation.”

Madam Genevieve Partington, the Country Director, said the testimonies of state failure to established a conducive environment to investigate and prosecute witchcraft attackers contributed to the recurrence of accusations.

She said the government had also failed to ensure access to adequate food, safe housing and clean water in the camps.

Adding that health services were inadequate for the women who had serious health conditions.
She called on the authorities to pass a legislation specifically criminalising witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks, including protective measures for potential victims.