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The UN Human Rights Council will host the first ever Witchcraft and Human Rights Expert workshop in Geneva this September 2017. 

According to a statement by Gary Foxcroft, founder/executive director , WHRIN, the workshop is ground-breaking as it is the first time that witchcraft and human rights will be discussed in a systematic and in-depth manner at the UN or international level.

The event which is being organised by WHRIN, the UN Independent Expert on Albinism and Lancaster University will bring together UN Special Rapporteurs, academics and members of civil society to discuss the violence associated with such beliefs and practices, and groups that are particularly vulnerable.

“It is my sincere hope that this event will mark a seminal moment in the fight to raise awareness and understanding of the scale of human rights abuses that take place across the world due to beliefs in witchcraft. However, for it to do so, we need support from you, our friends working in the media. I therefore invite you to explore these issues further and work with WHRIN to help put a stop to these horrific human rights abuses,” he said in the statement.

Foxcroft expressed happiness that the workshop was coming after ten years of working tirelessly on these challenging issues, and trying hard to get the United Nations to acknowledge their seriousness.