Talk:Killing of disabled children in Uganda

Contested deletion

This article should not be speedy deleted as having no substantive content, because... (I am still in the process of editing the article) --Velma Muhatia (talk) 18:27, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

Okay. My mistake. However, be aware that Wikipedia's title policy have rules for capitalization. I would advise that you read through it beforehand. -- Veggies (talk) 18:37, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

reversion

I reverted the article to an earlier version because of a copyright violation. I see that there were some subsequent edits by other editors but I think those edits affect the material that was removed so that may be no further issues but it might be worth double checking to see if I missed something. I would typically rev del the intervening edits but I will leave them alone for now so that other editors can check to see if a else is wrong.--S Philbrick(Talk) 13:35, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Strange article combination

It seems like two different articles may have been combined under this title, muddling two topics:

1. "mercy killing" of disabled children (usually by their family, their mother) for social and economic reasons
2. "sacrifice" killings of children by strangers (and as noted in one of the references): "Most children are not given up willingly for sacrifice by their parents or carers. Instead, they simply go missing, abducted by the witch doctor or by his or her associate. "

The text is interleaved in such a way as to conjoin the two, but on checking the sources, they are treated as two different things, or only mention one. (One source and documentary does mention them both, to contrast them with each other.)

For example, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/09/26/witch-doctors-in-uganda-sacrificing-children-in-bid-to-end-drought-report-says.html says nothing about disabled children, and https://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Untold-story-mercy-killing-disabled-children/688342-4320562-7p6gsdz/index.html says "While the rituals of child sacrifice have attracted widespread attention and condemnation, our investigation has revealed a more alarming and deadly practice, one perhaps even more endemic than child sacrifice."

This indicates to me that they are separate topics (and we do have an article already on the sacrifice topic, Child_sacrifice_in_Uganda.

Specifically, I am referring to this in the text:

Most of the time, a witch doctor will resort to these rituals to save the disabled children from their painful disability after the failure of multiple attempts using other methods that include herbal remedies or animal sacrifices which are less powerful [2].

That [2] citation is to https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15255357#story_continues_1 Which says nothing about disability, or using herbal remedies for the disability, the animal sacrifices and herbal remedies are for then luck, wealth, and success of others, not the child.

During the rituals of child sacrifice, the witch doctor is in presence of his accomplices and starts by verifying any evidence of demonization in the child [3]. Then, he removes different parts of the child’s body by force and uses the blood to make a potion mixed with herbs [3]. These body parts are mostly heads, genitals, eyes, tongues, limbs, teeth, and organs [4]. According to the perpetrators, these rituals are necessary to bring about success, healing or wealth [2]. 

That [3] citation is to http://www.jubileecampaign.co.uk/stories/child-sacrifice-report , which does talk about sacrificed children being examined for being unclean, or impure, or blemished in some way, but the document does not mention disability, or mercy killing. It does mention sacrificial practices. It does talk about herbal remedies for generic misfortune, but not the child's misfortune, it's the misfortune of the one who procures the sacrifice.

The [4] citation is to https://kidsrights.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/No%20Small%20Sacrifice%20-%20Child%20Sacrifice%20in%20Uganda%2C%20in%20a%20global%20context%20of%20cultural%20violence_0.pdf which talks about child sacrifice, again, but says nothing about mercy killings or disabilities.

The [2] citation (as noted above) is not about disability killings, it is about sacrifices.

The ‘killing’ of disabled children in Uganda is perpetrated by witchdoctors who praise the power of these rituals to their clients in search of wealth, health or fame.[5]

The [5] citation https://www.foxnews.com/world/witch-doctors-in-uganda-sacrificing-children-in-bid-to-end-drought-report-says does not mention killing disabled children, but does talk about child sacrifice.

Those witchdoctors are often compared to traditional healers which have resulted in the propaganda stating that witchcraft is associated with the healing practices of the indigenous culture although they are, in reality, responsible of horrible crimes unlike traditional healers who do not use human organs [3].

This information is not relevant to mercy killing, or disability. (It's also not very encyclopedic, but I think it should be removed for other reasons as well).

The parents of disabled children also play a major role in the rituals by allowing it and leading their children to death because they believe that the so-called ‘mercy killing’ would avoid them the pain of enduring these disabilities.[1]

This [1] links to https://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Untold-story-mercy-killing-disabled-children/688342-4320562-7p6gsdz/index.html , where there is no mention of parents playing a role in sacrificial rituals. It does state that mercy killing would end their child's pain, but the stories described are non-ritual killings.

I think this would a better article if we removed the synthesis, and did not conflate the two topics.

Ronabop (talk) 09:42, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Good catch! I have added a notability tag and request that someone try to identify a source somewhere that combines the two topics in this way and focuses on disability. If this is not possible, he/she should bring it to AfD. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 06:25, 19 December 2018 (UTC)

this page

should be merged with the spirit children page as this covers the research into this harmful traditional practice Mfernflower (talk) 16:29, 29 June 2024 (UTC)