CHILD SACRIFICE - Uganda

View the full slideshow.

Child sacrifice in Uganda is a rampant phenomenon that has embedded itself within traditional customs, although it is not genuinely related to the local culture. This guise within the "cultural beliefs" is actually an excuse used by witchdoctors to justify their crimes, and by the Ugandan Government to avoid taking action. The Gov't tries to minimize the magnitude of the problem as politicians are afraid of losing votes; in a country where witchdoctors yield such influence to define the result of the elections.

Most victims are children. Behind the torture, mutilation and killing of the victims lies just one single cause; money. This fraudulent business moves through every social class, from the poorest villagers who live out of the capital, to the rich tycoons and generals that determine the wealth and stability of the country.

Children are beheaded when new buildings are under construction, as their heads, which are buried beneath the foundations, are believed to bring success to business. People looking for money, sexual performance or love visit healers that don't hesitate to kidnap children from their families or from the streets to acquire body parts thus enabling them to charge their clients more. Witchdoctors perform cheap tricks for their clients who are easily cheated, blackmailed or threatened and who are often turned into killers.

Organ trafficking due to ritual murder is another alarming side effect. Street children become easy targets and disappear every week.

Pentecostal Churches, another fraudulent business around this phenomenon, are responsible for the killing of several children. These churches have power, money, radios and TV channels. And they have thousands of followers. The preachers use persuasion, threats, and blackmail to extort money from people, while children are killed to heal someone else from AIDS or cancer.

So far, nobody has done anything to stop the massacre.