Dar es Salaam. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities accused Tanzania on Wednesday of failure to condemn and investigate attacks against people with albinism, which it fears may constitute “serious violations” of the country’s obligation to protect people with disabilities.
The committee expressed “regret” for Tanzania’s unwillingness to follow up on three petitions filed to the committee concerning the mutilation of people with albinism and the lack of accountability for such abuses.
“We call on [Tanzania] to urgently and unambiguously condemn any attacks against people with albinism and to investigate any such attacks promptly and effectively,” a statement quoted committee member Amalia Gamio Ríos saying.
“Failure to do so sends a message that ritual killings and mutilations are condoned, which amounts to serious violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” Gamio Ríos added.
Government chief spokesperson Mobhare Matinyi said Tanzania has not abdicated its obligation to protect people with albinism. He declined to take further questions, saying that he had not seen the statement by UN experts and asked The Chanzo to share it with him, which it did.
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In their report on Wednesday, the UN experts said they had examined three cases that occurred in Tanzania between 2008 and 2010 involving attacks against people with albinism in the East African nation and which authorities there mishandled.
In one case, farmer X was assaulted by two men in April 2010 while fetching firewood. They cut off his left arm, which was never found. Despite reporting the attack to the police, X alleged that the authorities had not investigated his case.
In the second case, Y and his brother were abandoned by their family because of their albinism. They had to stop attending primary school due to an escalation in the killings of and violence against people with albinism.
At age 12, Y was attacked by a man with a machete in Geita, who took three of the fingers of his right hand and hacked his left shoulder, leaving him unable to use his right hand and left arm.
Single mother Z was assaulted in October 2008 by two men who cut off one of her arms with machetes and maimed the other. They fled with her arm.
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The other arm was later amputated. Z was pregnant at the time, but because of the attack, she miscarried. An investigation was opened, but the prosecution of two of the accused was withdrawn, and the third person was acquitted.
The experts considered that judicial proceedings in the third case were “unduly prolonged” and “appeared ineffective.” They noted that the complainants were victims of direct discrimination and violent crimes against people with albinism, acknowledging the victims’ limited access to justice and the total impunity around these cases.
The UN experts found that Tanzania had violated its obligations under the Convention in these three cases in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively by failing to take “effective measures to prevent violence against people with albinism.”
They asked Tanzania to provide the victims with an effective remedy, including compensation and the support necessary to enable them to live independently again.
They also urged authorities to conduct impartial, prompt, and effective investigations into the attacks and to adapt legislative measures to combat violence against people with albinism and trafficking in their body parts.
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Tanzania, however, failed to provide a report on its follow-up steps despite multiple reminders, the UN experts revealed on Wednesday. Authorities also did not reply to the experts’s invitations to meetings in 2023 and 2024.
“We regret [Tanzania’s] lack of cooperation with the committee, including its failure to engage in a dialogue to ensure prompt implementation of our recommendations and provide adequate reparation to the victims,” Gamio Ríos said.
Additional reporting by Lukelo Francis.
