Raising awareness against ritual crimes: a call to action to end impunity in Gabon
The start of the school year brings new opportunities and new debates, but it is also the perfect time to draw attention to persistent issues. It is in this spirit that the Association for the Fight against Ritual Crimes in Gabon has launched an urgent appeal to the new authorities. Its president, Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, urges the new leaders to undertake a national awareness campaign and put an end to the impunity surrounding these abominable crimes.
Since the tragic death of his son in 2005, found mutilated on a beach, Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo has fought tirelessly to ensure that those behind these ritual crimes are brought to justice. Today he asks senior political leaders to act by putting an end to this unbearable impunity. “We want justice for all,” he says. “For 18 years we have been fighting this fight, and we want to see these businessmen, these politicians, brought to justice and convicted.”
The transitional president has pledged to fight economic crimes, but Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo also hopes he will take steps to put an end to kidnappings carried out in the name of beliefs. According to him, it is essential to put an end to these abominable practices which use human organs as “spare parts” for demonic rituals. The association estimates that there are around a hundred of these ritual crimes each year in Gabon, with peaks during political periods. However, due to the lack of resources and qualified personnel, few investigations are successful.
To fight against this scourge, Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo is calling for an awareness campaign across the nine provinces of Gabon, so that all citizens are informed and encouraged to denounce these crimes. He also hopes that in the future Penal Code, ritual crimes will be imprescriptible, in order to guarantee that the guilty cannot escape their responsibility.
It is essential that this fight against ritual crimes continues to occupy a central place in the country’s political agenda. Raising public awareness is essential to encourage the filing of complaints and allow victims to hope that justice will be done. However, it is also crucial to allocate the necessary resources to investigations and invest in the training of forensic pathologists to ensure that evidence is collected and those responsible are brought to justice.
In conclusion, it is imperative that the new Gabonese authorities take concrete measures to end the impunity surrounding ritual crimes. Raising public awareness, making ritual crimes imprescriptible and the resources allocated to investigations are all necessary actions to effectively combat this scourge.. It is time to act and ensure justice is served for all victims of these heinous crimes.