Types of Harmful Traditional Practices

There are various ways whereby people carry out these harmful activities from culture to culture. These acts include:

• Facial and Tribal Marks
• Female genital mutilation/circumcision
• Ritual killings
• Maltreatment of widows
• Forced/child marriage
• Child labour/abuse
• Gender discrimination 

Facial/Tribal marks:

In the olden day’s people were identified by their culture in various ways. One form of identification is the use of Tribal Marks or facial Marks which identifies a person’s tribe, family, or patrilineal heritage.

Tribal marks are lacerations or marks on some parts of the body such as the face, hands, back, stomach etc.

This is a painful and dangerous act because it exposes the body to different types of infections and diseases. It was used in the olden days to identify people, especially during the war.

Female Genital Mutilation/Circumcision:

Female genital mutilation is the removal of a vital part of the female private organ. This practice was a dangerous and injurious practice of the olden days. It was believed to prevent the girl child from being promiscuous.

Nevertheless, the adverse effect is that when these victims become adults, sex becomes unpleasurable which can affect marriage.

This act is carried out traditionally and crudely, it brings about pain to the victims and sometimes in the course of mutilating, damages some vital organs and part of the victim’s body.

Ritual Killing:

The use of human beings for rituals was rampant in the olden days. Human beings were used for sacrifices to gods and appeased to the ancestors e.g. the birth of twins or multiple children were taboos. These children were killed.

Some religions or traditions such as the installation of a new king, or the burial of a king, usually warranted the killing of human beings for sacrifice.

Although recently, there have been cases of ritualists and ritual killings, the purpose and reasons differ from the olden days. Presently it is done in hidden and unacceptable ways, but in the olden days, it was seen as part of a tradition.

Maltreatment of Widows:

A widow is a woman whose husband is dead. In African tradition, the death of the husband is sometimes associated with the carelessness or the handwork of the wife. Hence, women are always subjected to all forms of dangerous and unpleasant torture like:

• Shaving off the hair.
• Isolating in a place for a period of time.
• Being deprived of the husband’s properties and belongings.
• Being forced to drink the water used to bathe the corpse of the husband.

Forced/Child Marriage:

This is a common practice of giving out a girl child’s hand in marriage to a man as old as her father or grandfather. This is mostly practised by Muslims in the Northern part of the country, without the consent of the girl. There is usually no love in such a union and if the girl is too young and exposed to early sex it can damage her cervix and vagina which usually causes vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) that brings about other health challenges.

Child Labour/Abuse:

Child labour refers to the exploitationTo use someone or something unfairly for your own advantage. More of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, prevents them from attending regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, or morally harmful.

Some of these children are denied basic education and are subjected to hawking or farming. Presently some parents still have the habit of not allowing their children or ward to attend school. It is a harmful practise because it exposes such a child to hardship, danger, and other negative effects

Gender Discrimination:

This is discrimination against the female child. It is a situation whereby girls are seen as second-class citizens whose only use is to serve their husbands, perform domestic chores and take care of the home. There is less emphasis on education. Preference is given to training male children who are believed to be pillars of the family.