The number of children in England being abused because of witchcraft beliefs is on the rise, according to new figures.
Child abuse based on faith or belief, which includes witchcraft, spirit possession and black magic, increased by 34% in the past year, said the Local Government Association (LGA).
Around 1,950 suspected victims were identified by councils in 2018/19, rising from 1,460 in 2016/17, and experts believe the real figure may be even higher due to a lack of awareness about the issue.
The figures also revealed that the number of girls either having had or being at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) reached a high of 1,000 cases this year – an increase of 6% on the 940 cases in 2017/18.
A belief in witchcraft and FGM can sometimes be linked, though experts say it is not true in most mutilation cases.
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The National FGM Centre has been doing research and providing education and training into faith-based abuse since 2015.
It said both sets of figures are “hugely worrying” and of “significant national concern” and probably does not reflect the true prevalence of this “hidden” crime.
Leethen Bartholomew, head of the National FGM Centre, said the rate at which child abuse linked to faith, belief and FGM has risen is “alarming and unacceptable”.
He said: “We know [faith-based] abuse is often linked to when families experience some kind of misfortune – whether it is a child with a disability or parental mental health, or when some of these families experience exclusion because of poverty.
“They try to make sense of what they are experiencing through a lens where they have this belief system where there is this spiritual realm and what happens there has an impact on what happens here.”
He added: “They use children as a scapegoat for that misfortune that they are experiencing.”
Mr Bartholomew said it was difficult to provide exact reasons for the increase in cases or belief-based child abuse in England.
He explained: “Some of it is linked to cases of child trafficking where children are taken through different practices like witchcraft, juju and black magic to silence them – as a form of control.”
In 2013, eight-year-old Ayesha Ali was abused and killed by her mother who believed she was “evil” and had “bad blood” after her father left their home in east London.
Victoria Climbie, who was also aged eight, was tortured to death in 2000 by her great aunt and her partner after a Christian preacher convinced them she was possessed.
Her death sparked an inquiry as well as a series of safeguarding initiatives, including a national action plan to tackle faith or belief-based child abuse that launched in 2012.
Councillor Anita Lower, the LGA’s lead on FGM and chair of the National FGM Centre’s advisory board, said: “Rising cases of child abuse linked to faith or belief are extremely worrying and are destroying the lives of children and young people in communities across the country.
“Children’s services departments need to have the funding to address the huge demand for help from children and their families and maximise the effectiveness of prevention and intervention work.”
The LGA figures are based on safeguarding assessment data from local authorities passed to the Department for Education.
