practices, it would appear that greater funds and attention have been spent in banning practices such as FGM, whereas incidents of WAP, have been somewhat ignored. This is evidently the situation in Africa, as stated within the Protocol to ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa, where although article 1 provides a broad definition of harmful practices, article 5, which deals specifically with the elimination of harmful practices, makes specific reference to FGM only. This lack of acknowledgement of WAP is surprising in a continent, which is plagued with allegations of witchcraft abuse, not only against women, but also against children and persons with albinism, and, is the only country in the world that has witch camps exclusively for those people accused of witchcraft. Lack of acknowledgement of the situation of WAP within all four states is astonishing, particularly India’s reference to the of witch-hunts, bearing in mind that this is a country where WAP is possibly at its most ‘localised nature’ prevalent. There appears to be little awareness, or perhaps ignorance, both nationally and internationally at the potential scale of the human rights violations caused by WAP and the emergence of WAP as one of the worst forms of discriminatory social practices. This, together with a lack of state compliance, poor implementation and inadequate punishment for failure to adhere to their legal obligations, means that international human rights are failing victims of WAP. There needs to be a greater understanding and acknowledgment of the issue of WAP, throughout the international community. Whilst there has been progress, in terms of the Human Rights Council recognising the use of WAP against persons with albinism, there needs to be greater recognition of the use of WAP, specifically against women. It has already been acknowledged by the CSW that WAP is a gender issue. The international community needs to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders on a wider scale, such as NGOs, victims of abuse, academics, governments and UN representatives, in order to produce greater research into the scale and pervasiveness of WAP, establish the true scale of the problem before, ultimately, providing tangible solutions in tackling the issue of WAP. As this chapter has discussed the issue of traditional harmful practices and WAP as violations of human rights on an international level, it becomes necessary to examine these issues and the protection afforded to women on a domestic level. This will be examined in the subsequent chapter.
practices, it would appear that greater funds and attention have been spent in banning practices such as FGM, whereas incidents of WAP, have been somewhat ignored. This is evidently the situation in Africa, as stated within the Protocol to ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa, where although article 1 provides a broad definition of harmful practices, article 5, which deals specifically with the elimination of harmful practices, makes specific reference to FGM only. This lack of acknowledgement of WAP is surprising in a continent, which is plagued with allegations of witchcraft abuse, not only against women, but also against children and persons with albinism, and, is the only country in the world that has witch camps exclusively for those people accused of witchcraft. Lack of acknowledgement of the situation of WAP within all four states is astonishing, particularly India’s reference to the ‘localised nature’ of witch-hunts, bearing in mind that this is a country where WAP is possibly at its most prevalent. There appears to be little awareness, or perhaps ignorance, both nationally and internationally at the potential scale of the human rights violations caused by WAP and the emergence of WAP as one of the worst forms of discriminatory social practices. This, together with a lack of state compliance, poor implementation and inadequate punishment for failure to adhere to their legal obligations, means that international human rights are failing victims of WAP. There needs to be a greater understanding and acknowledgment of the issue of WAP, throughout the international community. Whilst there has been progress, in terms of the Human Rights Council recognising the use of WAP against persons with albinism, there needs to be greater recognition of the use of WAP, specifically against women. It has already been acknowledged by the CSW that WAP is a gender issue. The international community needs to engage in constructive dialogue with stakeholders on a wider scale, such as NGOs, victims of abuse, academics, governments and UN representatives, in order to produce greater research into the scale and pervasiveness of WAP, establish the true scale of the problem before, ultimately, providing tangible solutions in tackling the issue of WAP. As this chapter has discussed the issue of traditional harmful practices and WAP as violations of human rights on an international level, it becomes necessary to examine these issues and the protection afforded to women on a domestic level. This will be examined in the subsequent chapter.
PHD_whole_Amendments_post_viva_2016_.docx