Albino
12-year-old Mwigulu Matonage Magesa from Tanzania poses for a portrait with a stuffed animal that he says makes him feel safe at night and that he sleeps with, in the Staten Island borough of New York, September 21, 2015. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

It is not only albino people from Tanzania who are being killed for their white skin used in witchcraft. A similar surge in killing of albinos in Malawi has been observed, prompting Amnesty International (AI) to push the national government to punish the people behind the cannibalistic practices.

In April, four albinos in Malawi were killed for their skin. One of the victims is a child below two years old. Over the past 19 months, 18 albinos in the country had been murdered and five others kidnapped. But the number of victims could be higher, says AI, because of unreported cases in rural area, reports the New York Post. From November 2014, the total number of victims in Malawi is 69.

Albinos, who have light skin, hair and eyes due to lack of pigment, are considered sources of wealth and good luck. Witches use their sin as charms and for concocting magic potions. Some Malawi residents even believe having sex with an albino would cure HIV.

“The macabre trade is also fueled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold,” says the AI report. Nikolai Gondwa, spokesman of the Malawi Police, says gangs in Tanzania and Mozambique are behind the trade of albino body parts, reports Reuters.

As a result of the increase in killings and abductions, Deprose Muchena, AI director for southern Africa, says the unprecedented wave of brutal attacks on albinos created a climate of terror for members of the vulnerable group and their loved ones. Although Malawi officials, including President Peter Metharika, have condemned the attacks and initiated measures, it failed to abate the attacks, notes AI.

Some suspects have been arrested, charged and jailed – including the father of the tot killed in April – but majority of the crimes are unresolved, points out AI. It said the charges and penalties are not enough in comparison to the gravity of the crime which creates “a sense of impunity” among the victim’s families.

AI, which observes a lack of systematic documentation of crime against albinos in the country, believes high unemployment rate and drought are among the reasons behind the surge, says Simeon Mawanza, lead researcher of AI.

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