What was thought to be an outdated ritual in Uganda has authorities scratching their heads as to why human sacrifice is still on the rise.

Last year, an estimated 18 children and 14 adults were victims of ritual homicides, in which people are mutilated and their body parts are removed for use in spiritual ceremonies. In 2007, there were three reported cases of such killings.

Currently, there are 123 children and adults reported missing, and according to the Ugandan police, 90 (or 73 percent) were children suspected to have become victims of human sacrifice.

Some experts theorize that the crime is connected to rising levels of development and prosperity, and a strong belief that witchcraft can help people become richer more quickly.

Ironically, the country that was so notorious for its human rights abuses, which spanned two decades in the '70s and '80s, has among its legal books Witchcraft Act of 1957. The law clearly states that any person who engages in murderous acts involving witchcraft will be subjected to life imprisonment.

Yet according to the world's largest orphan charity, SOS Children's Villages, the Witchcraft Act has not been enforced over the years, thereby leaving the gate wide open for witch doctors or traditional healers to engage in child-trafficking and ritual murders.

Reports claim that the Ugandan government has dragged its feet on this serious issue due to the corrupt police personnel who never seem to create solutions and an apathetic court system. There were 54 people charged with ritual killings last year, and oddly enough, not one individual has been convicted yet.

A BBC investigation this year uncovered a former witch doctor, who admitted to killing more than 70 humans, including his son. The spiritual practitioner revealed that his roster of clients had sought his services, so that they could increase their wealth:

"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits. ... They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he admitted. He also confessed that these same clients would meet with him about three times a week with fresh blood and body parts in tow.

Still another man sits in prison, guilty of conspiring to kill his only son, a 17-month-old toddler. The father, Andrew Baguma, told ABC-News that he collected $2,000 from a wealthy man for the head of his son. A friend of his beheaded his child, then threw his headless body in a shallow grave that was discovered by Baguma's wife, Asima. Baguma says he needed the money to set up a bicycle fix-it shop. Asima is praying that her husband gets the death penalty and rots in hell.

Child protection campaigners, such as Facilitation for Peace and Development and African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN), have demanded that the government put forth new legislation to stop these killings and regulate these traditional healers.

An ANPPCAN member was recently interviewed by an Associated Press reporter. The spokesman for the organization mentioned that his agency has immersed itself in child sacrifice cases. He noted that it is not customary for these witch doctors to mutilate male children who are circumcised or who have pierced ears, because they are considered unclean. Since this information leaked, parents have begun to take their sons to get circumcised or their ears pierced.

Parents shadowing their children throughout their day and giving them strict curfews are other ways in which to help stem these violent acts against children.

Meanwhile, the Ugandan government has also placed a ban on traditional healers and witch doctor ads. But until the powers that be step up to actively confront these heinous crimes against their citizens by creating stringent laws to stop and punish these "healers," the murder rate will continue to rise.