The killing of Albinos in Tanzania
African Quest condemn the killing of one year old boy known as Yohana Bahati,which happened in Geita the northern western region of Tanzania,such intrusion is inhuman and injustice and shall not be experienced typically to infringe human right.
Tanzania is located in the east coast within the African great lakes region,with the population of about 49,639,138 people, an approximately of one out of 1,400 people' born with Albinism which rank the country to be with the highest number of Albinos in Africa, compared to the west African country where one out of 20,000 born with Albinism . On Friday 20 February the people with Albinism announced their intention to organize peace demonstration across the country,the rally of peace will be on March 02 which will awaken the majority of Tanzanian of these injustices, upon the demonstration this report followed after the killing of Yohana Bahati.
With regarding to the news report - five men armed with machete abducted Yohana Bahati in his home at Geita the northern west region of Tanzania, two days later, the police found his body with the arms and legs lopped off. His mother was taken to hospital for treatment after injured when trying to protect her baby from the attackers, the police were said to be questioning the baby’s father, but no charges have been filed.
However we see the killings of Albinos are rising during the presidential election campaign, for instance when we pay a close attention of 2005 /2006 election campaign many Albinos were killed, it then went quiet for sometimes after the election, then today 2015 is another presidential election the killing of Albinos are rising up very badly. the attacks are mostly happening in rural area where there is people with a very low economic status and not many resources available for the victim to secure their safety in the community, it is also believed that many communities where the attacks is happening are those of whom don’t practice religions instead they practice witchcraft, the hot regions are (Mwanza, Tabora and Shinyanga) all these regions are populated with majority of the Sukuma tribe, which is one of the largest tribe in Tanzania, and majority of them does not practice much of the religions, than traditional' witch craft and sacrifice. On my confrontation with some few people who didn’t want their names to be mentioned for security purposes, some of them said to believe that the killings are definitely relate to the practices of witchcraft, for some people who want to get reach easily and quick so they get provisions from their witch doctors to bring some body parts of Albinos, while others tend to believe that politicians are the cause of the killings.
According to me - the issue is very controversial we see the rise of these killing occurs during the presidential election,since the presidential election on 2006/2015 more than 76 Albinos have been killed and more than 58 are left with serious injuries, this might convince us to believe that some of the government official are involved in the killing for their on benefit of winning the vote,and if so i believe these injustices of killing innocent people will not end unless the president should introduce the bill that will protect the right of Albinos in the country,and offer a proper protection of the Albinos,while educating the society in appropriate way to stop the killing of innocent people,and mobilize the protection system of Albinos in a entire country. Or else the society and the government in general has failed to encompasses the acceptance and respect in recognizing that each individual are unique without recognizing our differences, there is a social construction in this society which is segregating people depending on physical appearance, people seen different depending on how we look. Therefore the Social justice Quest suggest for the authority to consider the protection of fundamental human right,. With regard to the Universal declaration of human right article No: 7. “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination”.
"On19 February 2015 – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein condemned the latest attack against people with albinism in Tanzania that took the form of the “horrific murder and mutilation” of an albino baby and demanded such “terrible” crimes be halted.
In his statement he said “Attacks against people with albinism, which are often motivated by the use of body parts for ritual purposes, have claimed the lives of at least 75 people in Tanzania since 2000 and seem to be on the rise, with at least three incidents over the past two months,” the top UN rights official said in a statement.
Mr. Zeid’s statement came in response to the “horrific murder and mutilation of Yohana Bahati, a one-year-old baby with albinism, in Northern Tanzania.”
He said on Sunday, Yohana was kidnapped from his home by five unidentified men armed with machetes and his mother was badly injured, and his body was found on 17 February, with his arms and legs chopped off.
“Violence and discrimination against people with albinism must be halted,” Mr. Zeid said. “I call on the Tanzanian authorities to swiftly investigate and prosecute perpetrators of this terrible crime and to strengthen its protection measures for people with albinism, particularly in the lead up to general elections in the country.”
His statement comes a day after the top UN official in Tanzania, UN Resident Coordinator Alvaro Rodriguez, expressed concern at the recent abductions of baby boy Yohana and another albino child named Pendo, who has been missing since December. Despite the Government’s efforts, Pendo has not been found.
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