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UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Increased funding and awareness campaigns are helping to slow down rates of violence against people with albinism in Africa, officials said and activists.
In some countries of sub-Saharan Africa, people with albinism – lack of pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes – are attacked for parts of their bodies that are prized in witchcraft for use as a door -baby or as magic potions.
But funding and campaigns to highlight the plight of albinos are beginning to bear fruit, said Peter Ash, founder of Under The Same Sun, a charity dedicated to albinos, the number of attacks in Tanzania is from 20 to 2010 last year. .
"For us, it's a progress," Ash told a United Nations protest this week on the occasion of the fifth annual day of internal albinism outreach.
Isaac Mwaura, the first member of the Kenyan parliament suffering from albinism, said that this annual day deserved to be celebrated for once.
More and more reports of ritual killings and witchcraft on body parts in countries such as Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi in recent years have prompted the United Nations to appoint an expert. special for the protection of albinos.
"(Before) there was nothing to celebrate," said Mwaura.
But Stephan Bognar, executive director of the New York Dermatology Group Foundation, which launched a global awareness campaign, warned that the lives of people with albinism was still very much at risk.
"Albinism, poverty and extreme discrimination go hand in hand in many countries," he said, calling for more dermatologists to care for the albino population.
Kenya has spent about $ 7 million to provide health care, protective clothing and free sunscreen for people with albinism, according to its permanent representative to the United Nations.
Malawi has toughened its laws and sanctions, launched public awareness programs, set up a database on people with albinism and set up nearly 200 protection homes in the country, said Perks Ligoya, Ambassador of Malawi to the United Nations.
The 15-year-old Tanzanian Mwigulu Magesa, who lost her left arm during an attack five years ago and lives in a sheltered boarding school, went from Tanzania to the event to take the speech, with the help of Under The Same Sun, but was too shy at the time of his arrival. .
But the day before, in front of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Magesa said he enjoyed his freedom in New York, where he stayed at Global Medical Relief Fund, a charity that helps children injured in conflict.
"I can go from here to the beach, but in Tanzania, I can not go alone to the beach. There is not enough security for people with albinism, "he said.
Albinism is a congenital disorder that affects approximately one in 20,000 people worldwide, but is most common in sub-Saharan Africa. It affects about one in 1400 Tanzanians. (Report from Ellen Wulfhorst, edited by Michael Taylor and Belinda Goldsmith.) Thank you for crediting the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers the humanitarian news, the rights of women and LGBT +, human trafficking, property rights and climate change Visit news.trust .org)
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