The Himalayas are stuff of legend. These daunting mountains hide some of the most secluded corners of human society. Tucked and hidden between monstrous peaks, the country of Nepal is famous for Mt. Everest and legends of the mythical yeti. Nepal is a relatively poor country with little modern infrastructure. The city of Kathmandu is the largest urban center and beyond the limits of city lie villages sprinkled up cliffs at incredibly high altitudes. Foreigners to the country are welcomed as visitors but little do they know the extent of the connection these villages have to the mountains around them and their spiritual roots. Many of these villages have not yet reached the development levels of other developing countries, like Indonesia, Taiwan, and India. Due to this, Nepal experiences high poverty, low education, and a poor standard of living. Almost going hand and hand with this comes a rise in the dependence on spirituality amongst the people of Nepal. A lot of parallels can be seen between secluded Nepalese society and those plagued by witch hunts in America in the 1600s. Since the year 2013, Nepal has seen a massive rise in accusations of witchcraft and the subsequent jailing and torture of these “witches” in villages far from Kathmandu. This horrifying reality is something that seems far fetched from our modern society that has come to embrace the image of the witch.
In 2019, there were 46 cases of witchcraft in the country. In 2020, this number was 34. These numbers have remained consistent since 2013, which was the year the first significant rise of witchcraft cases was seen. These cases led to 84 people being jailed and tortured in the years 2019-2020. Nearly all victims were females from low-income communities. Four were minors; and these are just the reported cases. Nepalese law has banned accusing people of witchcraft and the subsequent jailing and torture thereof. Yet, the poor infrastructure and lack of easy access to much of the country has led to villages being plagued with accusations of witchcraft and the crumbling of sanity. Much of this has been contributed to lack of education, social and economic disparity, and lack of public awareness of the dangers of engaging in witch hunts. See any coincidences? Salem suffered the same problems in 1692. These problems Salem saw and the horrifying consequences of these realities are still present in society. People are suffering and it’s easier to see how serious these accusations are when its happening today than in 1692. Many times in Nepal, a women is accused of witchcraft when she is single, a social outcast, and helpless. It is an easy target for society to blame their problems on. Often times, accusations first arrive when a family member passes away and the family then blames the passing on witchcraft. The village then performs vigilante justice on the accused witch, torturing her by smearing her with soot, feeding her human excreta, expelled from the village, and sometimes killed. This is a disgusting and tragic reality these women face. Nepalese police have stated the reason this has become prevalent is due to economic hardships in the area and due to the unequal power distribution between men and women, women who are not in the mainstream of village society are targets for the rage of the village. Law enforcement is trying desperately to get this problem under control, but no tangible progress is being made. It is worth noting that despite the tragedies these regions are facing, there is hope. Officials from Kathmandu have been deployed to areas where accusations are prevalent in hopes to educate those who are impressionable and punish those responsible for these atrocities. The point of all of this is to show that the common themes behind the reasoning of witch hunts are common: targeting the “others” of society in hopes to solve problems out of society’s control. It is a sobering reality that reminds us of how far American society has come and that it is our responsibility to protect and care about the human rights of all people across society.
This is another great post, thanks. Like all of your posts, you closely engage with your topic here. I had heard about Nepal but had never read much and did not realize the extent of the witchcraft cases. Sad. I appreciate you tying the cases in Nepal to the country's living and education standards. Persecution always follows illiteracy.