There has been a surge in abductions and murders of people with albinism in Malawi, and the reason why is horrifying.
According to an updated Amnesty International Report that was released on Tuesday, at least 18 people with the pigment mutation have been killed and five individuals remain missing since November of 2014. But considering Malawi is quite a rural area, there is the possibility that there were many more deaths and abductions that were simply never reported.
Albinos are reportedly being “hunted” because witch doctors in Western Africa claim that their body parts can bring wealth and good luck. The witch doctors actually make potions out of an albino person's limbs.
Amnesty International reports:
… people with albinism in Malawi experience widespread societal discrimination including verbal abuse and exclusion from accessing basic public services. They are discriminated against in the education system and many die from skin cancer because of lack of access to preventative resources such as sunscreen and information about the condition.
Unfortunately, these attacks are not new to Western Africa. According to the United Nations, 19 people with albinism have been killed in Burundi since 2008, with the last incident taking place in December of 2014. Only 11 people were arrested for the crimes, of whom six escaped and one was convicted.
The Malawian police claim that the violence in Malawi is the result of neighboring Tanzania imposing restrictive measures on this practice since January 2015.
One mother decided to step forward and speak to The Associate Press last month on her own experience. One of her two albino sons was abducted in the middle of the night and later decapitated.
Cedrick, the mother of the murdered boy, recounted his abduction to The Associated Press last month while holding the murdered boy’s surviving twin brother, who also has albinism.
In the middle of the night, she said, she woke to the sound of people kicking down the door of the house. Her husband was away.
“Before I could understand what was happening, they sliced the mosquito net and grabbed one of the twins,” the 26-year-old said, tears in her eyes. “I held on to him by holding his waist, at the same time shielding the other with my back.”
When they could not overpower her, one assailant hacked her in the forehead with a machete, she said.
“This dazed me, and I lost hold of my son and he was gone. I shouted for help, but when my relatives rushed to our house, they were gone.”
The boy’s twin keeps asking where his brother is, she said. She lies, saying he will return.