Salum Khalfani Bar'wani became the first Tanzanian with albinism to be elected an MP in 2010
The
UN human rights chief has condemned a recent spate of "horrific
attacks" on people with albinism in Tanzania, including the murder of a
young boy. The government should act to stop the "vicious killings" and discrimination they faced, said Navi Pillay.
The mutilation and murder of
people with albinism is often linked to witchcraft, the UN says. Only
five people have been convicted in Tanzania since 2000 for killing
people with albinism, it adds. Some 72 people have been killed in that
time.
In 2009, President Jakaya Kiwete said the murders had brought
shame to Tanzania and launched a national campaign to end the
persecution of people with albinism.
'Arm hacked off'
In 2010, Salum Khalfani Bar'wani became the first person with albinism to be elected as an MP in Tanzania.
Navi Pillay
UN human rights chief
In a statement,
Ms Pillay said four attacks on Tanzanians with albinism had been
documented in just 16 days between the end of January and mid-February.
They included:
- the murder of a seven-year-old boy, Lugolola Bunzari, on 31
January at Kanunge village in the Tabora region. His attackers slashed
his forehead, right arm and left shoulder, and chopped off his left arm
just above the elbow. The boy's grandfather, aged 95, was also killed in
the attack as he tried to protect his grandson;
- a seven-month-old baby, Makunga Baraka, narrowly escaped death
on 5 February after armed men attacked his home in the Simiyu region.
Villagers chased the attackers away and surrounded the house to protect
him. The baby and his mother were taken to the police station the
following morning and given temporary sanctuary;
- a 39-year-old woman Maria Chambanenge was attacked on 11
February by five armed men, allegedly including her husband, in Mkowe
village in the Rukwa region. They hacked off her left arm while she was
sleeping with two of her four children. The five suspects were
subsequently arrested and the victim's arm recovered - their trial is
reportedly under way
- a 10-year-old boy, Mwigulu Matonange, was attacked on his way
home from school and his left arm chopped off above the elbow by two
unidentified men in Msia village in Rukwa. Three men have been arrested
in connection with the attack.
"These crimes are abhorrent.
People with albinism have
the right to start living, like anyone else, without fear of being
killed or dismembered," Ms Pillay said. Tanzania's authorities needed to
step up efforts to bring the attackers to justice, she added.
Public awareness campaigns should
also be launched to end the stigma associated with albinism, Ms Pillay
said. "I am deeply alarmed by the general discrimination and social
exclusion many people with albinism suffer, as a result of their skin
colour, not just in Tanzania but in other countries as well," she said.
Some witchdoctors say that magic charms are more powerful if
they contain body parts from people with albinism - this has led to a
lucrative criminal trade in these body parts.