Ritual killings of people with albinism have prompted Amnesty International to ask us for help by signing an online petition to implore the government of Malawi to stop these atrocities. Please help.
The Amnesty International call is reproduced below.
Ritual killings are on the rise in the African nation of Malawi. People with the genetic condition of albinism are at grave risk of being hunted for their bones, which are then sold for ritual uses.
Albinism is a rare condition where people are born with a lack of pigmentation in their hair, skin and eyes.
With these disturbing killings on the rise in Malawi, people with albinism are living in fear of being hunted for their bones and body parts, which are then sold for ritual uses. Children are at particular risk, with parents often having to withdraw their kids from school. The latest victims are 2-year-old Whitney and 9-year-old Harry who were abducted from their homes and brutally murdered.
Last year alone there were 45 incidents of attempted murder and abduction. It’s high time the Malawi Government stopped just condemning the attacks and started taking urgent steps to protect these vulnerable people.
Update 5/05/16: The latest murder – David Fletcher, a teenage boy with albinism from Malawi who went missing on 24 April has been found dead in Mozambique with his hands and feet chopped off. This must stop now! Call on the President to take immediate action.
Such horrors always seem to go unreported in our country. It was interesting that the biggest media story of the day today was the fact that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a pet hamster named Marvin. Are we really that small-minded that we would rather know facts of such insignificance rather than the existence of these repugnant crimes?