“We need to ensure a stronger protection environment” and “raise awareness” over the killings of girls and boys in Tanzania, believed to be linked to witchcraft rituals, said the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country on Wednesday.

Strongly condemning the recent killing of ten children in the south of Njombe district, Álvaro Rodríguez said the UN was lending its full support to national and local authorities to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.

The bodies of the children were found abandoned with missing body parts, which are “believed to be used in rituals” – practices which are deep-rooted among some communities in Tanzania, a nation of 57 million people, where some persons with Albinism have also been targeted for ritual killing and dismemberment.

Stella Vuzo from the UN Information Office in the capital Dar es Salaam spoke with Mr. Rodríguez, who started by highlighting the importance of protecting children on their way to school.