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Page last updated at 11:10 GMT, Thursday, 7 January 2010

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In pictures: Child sacrifice in Uganda

Gathering of Loro villagers in a grassy field.

Villagers in Loro have come to the spot where 18-month-old Robina was found with her throat cut. They fear that more children could be abducted for ritual child sacrifice.

Grave marked with clay cross outside a straw hut.

Little Robina is now buried outside her parents' hut.

Ten-year-old Shafik (in the middle) was abducted and taken to a shrine to be "sacrificed". The knives were ready. But when they saw he was circumcised he was no longer deemed "pure" enough and was let go. He now lives in hiding.

Mutilated three-year old with his parents

Three-year-old Mukisa was abducted and had his genitals cut off for witchcraft. He must now live away from his mother Perus and his father Godfrey, as he needs frequent hospital treatment in the capital.

Poster campaigning against child sacrifice

The Ugandan government and NGOs campaign against child sacrifice. The practice is on the rise as more people use it in the belief it could help them get rich, or obtain consumer goods that have become desirable as Uganda develops.

Street scene in northern Ugandan city, with lots of people on bicycles.

In northern Uganda people are still traumatised from decades of war during which the rebel Lords Resistance Army snatched children to abuse them as child soldiers.

This is the moment when a witch-doctor (in brown) is abandoning sorcery under the guidance of anti-witchcraft campaigner and former witch-doctor Polino Angela.

They are about to burn his shrine as part of the ceremony to put witchcraft behind him. The witch-doctor confessed that sacrificed human body parts were brought to him three times a week.

View of a cloth poster with a local-language advert for a traditional healer, including her mobile phone number.

A traditional healer's roadside advertisement features a very modern mobile phone number. Traditional healing and witchcraft both rely on nature and spirits. Witchcraft uses human sacrifice in an attempt to win favour with evil spirits.

Class taught indoors, with traditional objects like a crocodile skull or dried leaves.

Trained dental surgeon Dr Yahaya Sekagya, top left, also runs a school for traditional healing. The objects in the centre, from the crocodile head to the dried leaves, all have a meaning or use in traditional healing practices.

View of adult students in outdoor classroom.

Students are taught deep in the forest outside Kampala. Dr Sekagya wants the government to create a licensing system for traditional healers in order to outlaw and marginalise witchcraft. These students have reached level two.

Students in the forest, the one in the foreground is in trance, holding a hot piece of coal.

The most advanced students learn to commune with spirits. Deep in a trance, the man in white is about to chew a smouldering log. Later, possessed by a monkey spirit, he climbs to the top of a tree.

Smiling little girl with more startled-looking toddler.

These children are neighbours or relatives of mutilated three-year-old Mukisa. Some parents now have their daughters' ears pierced or their sons circumcised because piercing or scarring makes children "impure" and so unsuitable for sacrifice.