Persecution of people with albinism
In some parts of Eastern Africa body parts of albinos are considered harbingers of luck and wealth.[1] This superstition has become a motivating force for witch doctors and others to utilize albino body parts as ingredients for concoctions and potions with the claim that these will bring prosperity to the user. As a result albinos have been persecuted, killed and dismembered, and graves of albino people dug up and desecrated. At the same time albinos have been also ostracized and even killed because they are presumed to bring bad luck.[2]
Tanzania
In December 2007 the Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) accused the government of inactivity in the face of four albino killings over the past three months.[3] While older albino women with red eyes had been at risk for being murdered sporadically in the past as witches, this killing spree may have been the beginning of the ongoing persecution of albinos with the intent to harvest the victims' body parts.[3] With escalating killings President Kikwete publicly and repeatedly condemned witch doctors, their helpers and middlemen, and the clients, among them members of the police force, for these murders. Victims include children snatched or abducted from their parents. The killers and their accomplices use hair, arms, legs, skin, eyes, genitals, and blood in rituals or for witch potions.[4][5] Fishermen incorporate albino hair into their nets to catch more fish from Lake Victoria or in the expectation to find gold in the belly of the fish they catch.[5] [6] A number of steps were taken by the government to protect the albino population: The president ordered a crackdown on witchdoctors in the spring of 2008,[2] an albino woman, Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer, was named to become a member of the parliament - the first albino in such a position ever in Tanzania-, police has been advised to generate lists of albinos and provide special protection,[7] and to foil graverobbers, graves of the albinistic were to be sealed with cement.[5] However, by October 2008 killings had not abated, and while some suspects had been apprehended, no convictions had taken place.[4] By October 2008 it was estimated that over 50 murders had taken place since March 2007, many of them in the mining and fishing communities near Lake Victoria, especially at Mwanza, Shinyanga and Mara.[8]
It is estimated that over 150,000 albinos live in Tanzania, 8,000 of these are registered with the TAS. [2] A number of albinos have fled to the Dar es Salaam area as they feel safer in an urban setting.
Neighboring countries
By June 2008 killings have been reported in neighboringKenya and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo.[6][4]
In October 2008 AFP reported on further expansion of killings of albinos to the Ruyigi region of Burundi. Body parts of the victims then are smuggled to Tanzania where they are used for witch rituals and potions. [1] Albinos have become “a commercial good” indicated Nicodeme Gahimbare in Ruyigi who established a local safe haven in his fortified house.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Esdras Ndikumanna (October 14, 2008). "Burundi's albinos flee sorceres and organ traders". AFP.
- ^ a b c BBC (April 03, 2008). "Tanzania in witchdoctor crackdown".
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b BBC (December 17, 2008). "Tanzania fear over albino killing".
- ^ a b c John Kulekana (AFP) (October 21, 2008). "Crackdown vowed after Tanzania albino girl killed, mutilated".
- ^ a b c BBC (27, 2008). "Tanzania Albinos Targeted Again". BBC News (online edition).
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Jeffrey Gettleman (June 8, 2008). "Albinos, Long Shunned, Face Threat in Tanzania". New York Times. New York Times Company.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Karen Allen, BBC (July 21, 2008). "Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos".
- ^ Orton Kiishweko (October 20, 2008). "Tanzania: JK Orders Crackdown to Stem Murder of Albinos". The Citizen (Dar es Salaam).