A/HRC/45/8/Add.1 appear to be an ongoing problem, despite the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, made in 2012.30 60. The Special Rapporteur noted that as a result of cultural bias and discrimination, girls suffer from unequal access to education in comparison to boys. According to the Gender Inequality Index, 26.3 per cent of adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education, compared to 52.5 per cent of their male counterparts.31 Families affected by poverty and isolation are forced to make difficult decisions, and in some cases, they marry their daughters off at an early age. Marriage can be seen as the next best alternative for girls without an education, and a way to alleviate a family’s expenses. B. Placement of children in convents 61. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned about the risks of exploitative situations associated with the harmful impact of cultural and religious traditions, such as the practice of placing children in “voodoo convents”. Some communities practising voodoo place boys and girls in such a convent for up to 45 days as a way of initiation into religious practice. “Witch children” 62. In this context, the Special Rapporteur looked specifically into the issue of so-called “witch children” who are confined in “voodoo convents”. Witchcraft accusations are usually made by a child’s family, and as a result, the child is handed over to a voodoo priest who then keeps the child in such a convent. These children are deeply stigmatized by their families and communities, to the extent that they are often ostracized and unable to reintegrate after they have been held in a convent. Some children are taken in by local nongovernmental organizations after having been released from a convent. According to the National Federation of the Voodoo Cult, there are more than 2,000 such convents in Togo where children are interned to follow the cult’s initiation rites according to tradition or to undergo “treatment”.32 63. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur that the most recent data on the number of “witch children” dated back to 2016 and had been provided by the Child Protection Dashboard. Thus, 157 “witch children” (56 girls and 101 boys) were counted during this period.33 64. Witchcraft is not criminalized in Togo, and generally, there continues to be a strong social acceptance of this practice. The Special Rapporteur is not aware of any concrete activities focused on identifying, rehabilitating and reintegrating children subjected to witchcraft accusations. 65. Civil society actors providing assistance to children affected by witchcraft accusations informed the Special Rapporteur that the majority of such cases were commonly not reported to the authorities. Without access to justice and adequate rehabilitation assistance, these children are further marginalized and even more vulnerable to human rights violations. The affected children commonly have no means of accessing justice regarding the human rights violations suffered and very limited chances of receiving adequate rehabilitation assistance. 66. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur received first-hand reports that children who were confined to convents did not have access to education and health care and that their freedom of movement was restricted. Furthermore, concerns were raised by various stakeholders that the priests may subject “witch children” to abuse which may include severe acts of physical abuse while engaging in exorcism. The latter reportedly takes place with the aim of freeing the affected children from the spirits that allegedly possess them. 30 31 32 33 CRC/C/TGO/CO/3-4, para. 70 (c). See http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/Country-Profiles/TGO.pdf. Information received from UNICEF after the visit, in April 2020. Information provided in a follow-up questionnaire sent to the Government in March 2020. 11