Roundup: Activists draw an ambitious plan to end killings of albinos

Human rights activists from across the world on Monday came up with an ambitious plan aimed at ending atrocious cases of albino killings in countries like Tanzania, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo and help vulnerable communities protect themselves against the attacks.

The action plan backed by the United Nations and the African Union was made at the end of a three-day forum in Tanzania's business capital Dar es Salaam.

The plan will later be refined by the United Nations experts over the next one year and it will become a continental standard for holding all stakeholders and particularly governments accountable.

According to the plan, human rights experts want to move away from idealistic recommendations and instead develop specific, simple and effective measures that can be executed by all stakeholders in ending the killings of albinos.

Various academics and human rights specialists from over 29 countries in Africa pledged to lobby their governments to conduct a thorough census on people with albinism for proper planning and policy response.

The UN Resident Coordinator for Tanzania, Alvaro Rodriguez, said that the plan had the potential to completely put an end to the abuses and inequalities that persons with albinism have encountered.

"With strong government commitment, support by development partners and engagement by society at large, we are confident of that the plan will succeed," said Rodriguez.

Ikponwosa Ero, a UN independent expert who also lives with albinism, said it was not possible to deal with albino killings without targeting the real cause of the problem.

Ero, a Nigerian national, was a strong voice for the action plan which was expected to shift the landscape of interventions that have been put in place to curb albino discrimination and killings.

She said: "Specific measures include provision of iron bars and proper locks on the doors at homes of people with albinism, particularly in rural areas as prevention against the attackers.''

"The provision of cement to families to cover the graves of the deceased members with albinism so that their remains are not stolen,'' she added.

"Now we have a catalogue of effective specific measures that are not very expensive to execute, governments should no longer act ignorant of what to do on the issue," she said.

The forum had over 150 participants from 29 countries in the region including governments, non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, activists, human rights specialists from the UN and AU as well as academics.

Attacks against persons with albinism for the sale of their body parts continue to occur across the African continent due to ignorance about the scientific basis of albinism, witchcraft practices and insufficient government response.

Civil society report nearly 500 attacks in 25 countries in the region annually with most cases are not reported due to the secrecy of witchcraft practice, family involvement, and the likely involvement of the rich and powerful. Endit