Cultural and psychological factors (part 2/4)

Muti (also spelt Muthi) is a term for traditional medicine in southern Africa. The word Muti is derived from the Zulu word for tree, of which the root is -thi. African traditional medicine makes use of various natural products, many of which are derived from trees. For this reason, medicine generally is known as Muti, but it is also applied to formulations used in traditional medical dispensing (Ashforth, 2005).

As part of Muti practices, some witchdoctors make use of the so-called ‘medicine murder’ or ‘Muti murder’, where body parts are removed from the bodies of living persons. The intention is not to kill the victims as such, but it is expected that they will die due to the damage inflicted (Ashforth, 2005). Muti-murder is difficult to describe concisely, as it has changed over time, involving an ever-greater variety of perpetrator, victim, method and motive. In the interviews conducted as part of this research project, Muti using body parts is used widely and for many purposes.

Ashforth (2005) defines Muti as a substance fabricated with parts from plants, animals or minerals by an expert person possessing secret knowledge to achieve healing or witchcraft substances. He mentions that both Healers and witches use supernatural forces, but they use it for different ends. He says that witchcraft is considered the act of malicious persons who use harmful substances (poison) and that TH administer aid to patients, and almost always dispense substances (medicine), but both substances are known generically as Muti. He further states that witches using Muti are said to be able to cause every disease and misfortune and a number of Healers claim to be able to cure every disease (including AIDS) and to remedy every misfortune. This is supported by an interview with a Traditional Healer in Nampula, Mozambique, a member of AMETRAMO, “AIDS does have a cure […] It is probable that, mentally a Traditional Healer can cure AIDS according to his or her information”. However, another informant, also a member of the same organisation, but from Beira, stated “Who can heal someone with AIDS in this world? Nobody! Until today there is no medicine”.

Ashforth’s report mentions that Muti substances can enter the body through the mouth, lungs, skin, sexual intercourse and anus, thus anyone who eats, drinks, breathes or puts the body in contact with other persons or substances needs to be careful. Also Muti is said to work over long distances, without needing any direct contact between witch and victim and can even work through the medium of a dream (Ashforth 2005). Muti has a strong hold on many, as one informant in Mozambique stated “People have a deep belief in it”. Another informant in South Africa stated “It is the belief that you must have Muti for the business to work. The sad part is that they no longer use Muti as we knew it, but body parts”. This belief is further confirmed by other informants from South Africa “It is working because some people who are associated with the use of the parts are untouchable”, “People believe body parts can be utilized as Muti to call customers or to attract customers to buy more in their businesses”.

Cultural and psychological factors (part 1/4)

Historically, the peoples of southern Africa have used Traditional Healers (TH) to aid them in terms of health and to help them improve their life situation in various ways. Access to Government health services and ‘Western’ medicine remains low in many areas, and the use of TH is widespread and for many it remains a 1st choice. It has been documented that TH have developed many remedies using herbs and plants which alleviate their patients’ problems, although it is often dismissed by Western medicine. WHO challenges this, and calls for an integration of traditional medicine into the national health care system and also wants to promote the proper use of traditional medicine by developing and providing international standards, technical guidelines and methodologies.

WHO defines traditional medicine as follows “Traditional medicine as including diverse health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal, and/or mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises applied singularly or in combination to maintain well-being, as well as to treat, diagnose or prevent illness”.

As seen in the WHO definition of traditional medicine, the use of human body parts are not considered part of traditional medicine. Rather, the use of body parts can be considered witchcraft and a harmful traditional practice. Yet, in practice, the terms witchdoctor and Traditional Healer are sometimes used interchangeably. 'Witchcraft' typically refers to malevolent or harmful magic, and is often considered to be a cultural ideology (Klaniczay, 2006). Some informants in this research project made a clear distinction between TH and witchdoctors as seen in a previous post.

A New Research Project

Information on trafficking body parts has previously been based almost entirely on hearsay and has been easy for both Governments and Civil Society to claim it either does not occur or is so infrequent it does not merit any response or attention. The findings in the report however, show that regular mutilations occur both in South Africa and Mozambique and body parts are forcibly removed from children and adults causing death or severe disability. Throughout the report, informants share personal experiences which confirm that body parts are taken across the border between South Africa and Mozambique. Through numerous accounts, both hearsay and firsthand, from Civil Society and Government institutions, the following questions are answered:

• What is the incidence and prevalence of trafficking body parts in South Africa and Mozambique?
• What are the macro (socio-economic, cultural, political, historical), interpersonal and individual factors that lead to trafficking body parts?
• What policies and programmes are in place to counter trafficking body parts?
• How can Civil Society and Governments use this information to improve their programmes?

The report documents that body parts are frequently trafficked in South Africa and Mozambique and so-called witchdoctors, usually through a third party, actively seek human body parts from live victims to be used in their medicine. The research found that it is a commonly held belief in South Africa and Mozambique that traditional medicine, when made with body parts, is stronger and more powerful.

The report highlights that the policies and programmes in place to counter trafficking body parts are practically nonexistent. The limited policies that could be used to counter this activity are out of date and not generally enforced.

The report draws attention to the lack of an internationally recognised definition of trafficking body parts and highlights that without such a definition, any attempt to counter this activity

will be impaired and these Human Rights violations will continue unabated.

Currently a second project is underway which aims, through workshops and focus groups, to reduce the demand through awareness raising activities within the affected communities and the supply, through initiatives with Traditional Healers associations, Border Officials and Governments. The objectives include carrying on with research, raising awareness, civic education, collecting and monitoring information and data on trafficking body parts, providing support for victims, witnesses and communities affected by the problem.

An important aspect of the project community involvement. The project will focus on working with communities towards a solution for reducing the supply and demand of body parts and it is essential that the behavior change comes from within the community. It is hoped that the communities will also feel valued as their ideas will implemented and they will be able to take ownership of both the problem and the solution.

There is no internationally recognised definition for Trafficking Body Parts

(Adapted from Literature Review on Trafficking Body parts by Mozambican Human Rights League)

Trafficking in human organs and body parts is mentioned in a number of documents. However, the majority of documents only consider trafficking of persons for the purpose of organ removal, rather than trafficking human body parts.

During the search for a definition, it was found that a comprehensive and internationally definition for Trafficking Body Parts (TBP) does not exist.

The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol, 2000) provides the first internationally agreed upon definition of trafficking in persons:

(a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. (Article 3)

According to the Palermo Protocol, exploitation may include: sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude, the removal of organs.

TBP alone, separate from the victim, is not addressed in the UN Palermo Protocol. This was confirmed during the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking forum, Vienna, February 2008: “The trafficking of organs alone, separate from the donor, is not addressed by the Protocol, to constitute the crime of trafficking in persons for the purposes of organ removal, the actual person has to be transported for the purpose of removing their organs”.

The finding that there is no internationally recognized definition of TBP is supported by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: “A global comparison of trafficking in human organs and tissues is constrained by the lack of a uniform definition and the absence of consistent statistics and criminal reports”.

It is clear that there has been a long standing assumption that TBP relates only to transplants and therefore, generally speaking, the person would need to be trafficked for the purpose of removing the body part. It appears that the concept of using body parts for purposes other than transplants has not been considered when assessing the need for a definition.

Trafficking is the act of moving and trading something illegal. As being in possession of body parts for trade is considered illegal, this report argues that the movement of a body part for the purpose of sale or commercial transaction is trafficking body parts.

The 2008 research by the Mozambican Human Rights League, suggests the following:

Transportation or movement of a body part, either across a border or within a country for the purpose of sale or commercial transaction is considered trafficking body parts.

What is the difference between a traditional healer and a witchdoctor?

A group interview was conducted in Nampula with AMETRAMO (Traditional Healers’ Association of Mozambique). According to these interviewed Traditional Healers, a “witchdoctor is the one who does the evil”, they “act by envy and vengeance, creating inexplicable diseases to people until these lose their life.” AMETRAMO called them “second-rate” Traditional Healers because “they do not apply their knowledge of traditional healing as they should, in contrast with the first-rate Traditional Healers that investigate and deepen their knowledge to do good.” According to AMETRAMO, the witchdoctors “can incite people to commit murders as a means of making them rich”. They stated that “truthful Traditional Healers do not need to do treatments with human organs” and that the ones who do that “are crooks, who are not Traditional Healers.” The Traditional Healers said that there are treatments performed by witchdoctors using human body parts that they could do without using the body parts, but using the “strength of the spirits and God, without needing to kill anyone, that is done with the help of the roots.”

AMETRAMO members in Nampula said that even though they are incorrectly accused of using treatments with body parts they are “against the witchdoctors”.

SABC3 programme exposes sale of body parts

This is an award-winning SABC3 programme Special Assignment “Strong Medicine” by Journeyman Pictures, about corrupt inyangas* who claimed to be selling human organs in Johannesburg.

The investigation showed networks trafficking in human body parts in contravention of the Human Tissues Act. The body parts were sold to people desperate for cures for illness and financial good luck.

A corrupt inyanga was exposed operating from under a bridge in Eloff Street Extension, selling what were believed to be human body parts. The same man is also shown introducing a middleman at the Faraday taxi rank, who was also trying to sell human body parts.

Levi Masebe, who works at a mortuary at Medunsa in North West province, is also exposed after he sold two human right hands for R4,000 to the journalists.

The programme also tells the case of a baby girl who was killed by her own father, a self-appointed healer, who killed her in front of her mother, who said: "He took us to a secluded spot... where he beheaded her and chopped (off) her limbs and removed her intestines and then wrapped them in a plastic bag. He poured her blood into a calabash and carried them all home."

*Inyanga: a person who uses muti to cause harm, damage, suffering, bad luck, cure diseases, protect from evil spirits and uses mixtures shells, coins, bones, etc. to foretell the future of people, identify witches, perform spells for good and or evil purposes (Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill, 2007—draft version).

Training Workshop

A 3 day training workshop has started yesterday for the Mozambican researchers who will be working in our new project. It will help to improve the researchers' capacity to interview key informants and perform workshops.