Tanzania bishop calls for protection for albinos: CEN 4.24.09 April 26, 2009
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Tanzania, Church of England Newspaper.trackback
| The Anglican Church of Tanzania has joined the battle against the discrimination and abuse of albinos. In his Easter Sunday sermon, Bishop Phillip Baji of Tanga denounced the killings of an estimated 45 albinos since mid 2007, saying the murders dishonored God and disgraced the nation.
The church called for the government to crack down on traditional healers or witchdoctors who trafficked in albino body parts. In February UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete to address the issue, saying the killings were a “gross violation of human rights.” Peter Ash, founder of “Under the Same Son,” a Canadian charity that advocates for the rights of Tanzania’s albinos, told the National Post discrimination against albinos was endemic in some of the country’s tribal cultures. Many believe albinos to be ghosts or a curse, leading to the deaths of many albino infants, he said. Those who survive to adulthood are worth up to £20,000 to witchdoctors and are killed for their body parts, Ash said. Hair, bones, skin and the blood of albinos are used to create potions by the witchdoctors who sell the concoctions top those seeking wealth or power. They “chop them up or grind them up, use them in potions or what’s called a talisman, an object they will sprinkle blood on or infuse with body parts,” he said. Approximately 200 people have been arrested in the attacks but no convictions have yet been forthcoming. “A lot of that was just people weren’t aware of it, and to some degree nobody wants to tangle with something this evil,” Ash said. “You’re looking evil in the eye when you do this.” Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper. |
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