UN expert calls for monitoring of traditional healers to protect people with albinism

[JURIST] Ikponwosa Ero, the UN's first Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, called Friday for the "enhanced oversight" of traditional healers to ensure that they do not use the body parts of people with albinism in rituals. According to the report, 600 people with albinism have been attacked in 27 different countries because some healers believe their body parts will bring wealth and good luck. Ero said, "The issue is further complicated by the lack of effective oversight over the practice of traditional healers, the secrecy that often surrounds witchcraft rituals and the absence of clear national policies on the issue." Ero recommends a two-pronged approach, where countries "urgently" deal with the physical attacks and trafficking of body parts while at the same time educating those without albinism about the myths surrounding the condition.

The treatment of people with albinism in Africa has been a highly contested human rights issue for many years. In October a UN report called for action to end violence against people with albinism. In September Ero expressed ongoing concerns for the safety of people with albinism in Mozambique, while at the same time recognising that the nation had taken successful steps to improve conditions. In March Ero noted the increasing violence against people with albinism triggered by fallacious "witchcraft" beliefs. Last year the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched a website aimed at disproving the myths of albinism. In 2014 the OHCHR said that the Tanzanian government's system of placing children with albinism in government care centres does not provide this vulnerable group with adequate protection from those who target them.

Source: jurist.org