N. V. GRISHINA

Candidate of Historical Sciences

Institute of Africa, Russian Academy of Sciences

Keywords: albinos, Africa, rituals, traditions

The persecution and killing of albinos for ritual purposes in many African countries has long attracted international attention. Every year, hundreds of Africans who lack the skin pigment melanin die or become disabled at the hands of their fellow tribesmen, and often their own relatives.

In many African communities, there has long been a belief that albinos are the ghosts of the dead or the living dead, "children of the moon", bringing misfortune and disease. The newborn's white skin is attributed to a curse cast on its parents, and in some African beliefs, white brothers are considered to be the incarnation of the spirits of the dead.¹

However, amulets made from their bodies are in high demand: millions of Africans believe that they protect their owners from harm and guarantee good luck. Therefore, from the point of view of public "benefit", the murder of such "ghosts" is still considered quite justified.

On average, there is one albino per 20 thousand people in the world. In Tanzania, the ratio is 1:1400, in Kenya and Burundi - 1:5000; there is no consensus in the scientific community why the percentage of albinos among the local population is so significant in this region. According to one version, this is the result of closely related marriages ².

"PREY" AND "HUNTERS"

The strong belief of Africans in the magical power of talismans and potions made from the bodies of albinos, became a favorable ground for the prosperity of hunting for white-skinned tribesmen. Persecution of albinos is widespread in Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Uganda. For many years now, there has been an extensive business for the extraction and resale of human "raw materials" to sorcerers and healers, the demand for which is consistently high.

Amulets and potions are actively bought up by representatives of different social strata. Among those who want to become richer and happier are fishermen from Lake Victoria, whose catches have recently significantly decreased, diamond prospectors, merchants, farmers, and well-to-do citizens. Some of the "goods" are exported: the dismembered bodies and skin of albinos are traditionally in demand among West African shamans and even in prosperous South Africa.

As a rule, for their specific "activities" they prefer to get the hands and feet of the unfortunate, because these parts of the body, according to ancient beliefs, have the most powerful magical effect. Dried heads, hair, entrails, etc. are often used.

It is believed, for example, that a fishing net made from albino hair guarantees rich catches; even strands of light or red hair woven into it can increase the prey. Amulets made from the bones or genitals of albinos are credited with attracting good luck, wealth and health.

Albinos not only become outcasts in their native lands, they are often sold for organs by their own relatives. There are not isolated cases of black parents selling their own white-skinned children. Thus, sellers got rid of the" bearer of evil " in the family and received huge, by the standards of African countries, money.

A complete "set" of magical body parts consists of limbs, genitals, ears, nose and tongue, and the price of it on the Tanzanian black market reaches up to $75 thousand. ³ Therefore, human hunters do not care whether they take the life of a man, woman or child. By selling even one

such a victim for witchcraft rites, the killer can live comfortably for many years in a country where the average annual income is approximately $690 ⁴.

Even after his natural death, the albino remains a "tasty morsel" for sorcerers, so his grave, if possible, is filled with concrete or filled with stone blocks.

Still, children are the main prey - about 65% of the albinos killed are children. It is children who, because of their small age, are considered pure and sinless, so sacrificed to the spirits, they supposedly provide the sacrificer with health, material well-being, good luck, and atonement for their own sins. In addition, children do not resist the raiders, it is much easier to kill them than an adult.⁵

DEMAND FOR DRUGS

In the context of a shortage of professional medical care, and especially with the spread of AIDS in African countries, the demand for drugs made from albino body parts has increased dramatically. So, in Tanzania, there is a belief that eating dried genitals of albinos cures this disease. In Zimbabwe, where one in ten people is a carrier of AIDS, there is an opinion that the rape of an albino woman cures the disease. There is a huge demand for albino body parts in Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho,Swaziland, and Botswana, where AIDS affects 15 to 25% of the population. ⁶

According to medical statistics, only 2% of Tanzanian albinos live to the age of 40. The lack of pupil pigment or lack of it leads to the fact that albinos who have barely reached adolescence lose vision by 60-80%. Most of them suffer from strabismus due to frequent blinking in an effort to protect the unprotected iris of the eyes from light. The probability of developing skin cancer for albinos at the age of 30 is 60%. A study in Tanzania found that 100% of them have skin damage already in the first year of life. Progressive cancer symptoms were observed in 50% of albinos aged 20 to 30 years; no person over 20 years of age was found to be free of malignant skin damage. ⁷

A significant number of albinos lag behind in general development due to poor eyesight and lack of social contacts. For visually impaired students, school education does not bring any tangible results, and the constant fear for their lives makes many of them fearful and withdrawn. As an adult, an albino, whether male or female, faces the challenge of finding employment: there are very few people who want to hire a "half-man-penumbra". That is why the vast majority of African albinos are almost forever trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, rejection and hopelessness.

crime and punishment

The number of albinos killed for ritual purposes is unknown. As a rule, such crimes cause a public outcry only if international human rights organizations learn about them. Therefore, until recently, hunting albinos was almost not punished - the collusion of the local society with the law enforcement officers led to the fact that the unfortunate people were simply declared missing. Only Western public opinion, outraged by the brutal killings, forced the authorities of some African countries to catch and punish the criminals.

In recent years, the legislative acts of some States of the continent have introduced articles on the criminal prosecution of customers and perpetrators of these crimes. However, only a few people fall into the hands of law enforcement agencies, on charges of which demonstrative trials are held.

In 2009, the then Prime Minister of Tanzania, M. Pinda, called on the civilian population and the police to kill albino attackers, but this call was not supported by the masses. Still, the first trial was held in 2009

three murderers of a 14-year-old boy who hacked his body to pieces to sell it to sorcerers. The sentence was the death penalty by hanging.

This incident has made albino hunters more inventive: now they do not kill their victims, but chop off their limbs. When apprehended, the offender usually receives between 5 and 8 years in prison for grievous bodily harm.

In 2009, Tanzanian President D. Kikwete also tried to stop the persecution and murder of albinos, saying that they were a disgrace to the country. A year later, the first albino was elected to the Tanzanian Parliament. The candidate was Salum Khalfani Barwani, who ran for the opposition Civil United Front party. On the way to victory, Barwani had to overcome pressure from his opponent, who spread rumors among his supporters about the mental inferiority of albinos.

Previously in Tanzania, only once did an albino manage to get into power structures: in 2008, Al-Sheima Kvegira, appointed by the President of the country to the post of head of the commission on combating attacks on albinos, joined the parliament.

But the wave of persecution of light-skinned Africans did not subside. It is estimated that between 2010 and 2013, at least 90 albinos in East African countries lost an arm or leg, and several people died from their injuries. According to the UN, 72 albinos were killed in Tanzania between 2000 and 2013. At the same time, only five people were convicted of these crimes. In early 2015, more than 225 healers were arrested in a nationwide police operation, but most of them were soon released. Only a few were sentenced to death for particularly brutal methods of killing albinos.⁸

In addition, the actions carried out by the Tanzanian authorities in defense of albinos provoked a sharp surge in aggression in Malawi and Burundi: gangs of hunters for white-skinned Africans went in search of victims in neighboring countries. More than 10,000 Malawians and more than 600 Burundians living in the border areas with Tanzania have been placed under the threat of becoming crippled or losing their lives. ⁹

"SAVING THE DROWNING..."

However, the statistics provided on victims of attacks hardly fully reflect reality, since official reports only include information about crimes recorded by the police. Information about the majority of cases of albino deaths or injuries caused to them as a result of mutual responsibility between the servants of the law and ordinary citizens never becomes widely known.

In an attempt to survive and survive in the society that rejects them, albinos organize their own settlements, placing them away from villages and cities. In Malawi, for example, they work on remote tea and tobacco plantations, avoiding external contacts because of threats to their own safety.¹⁰

In 2011, after a long battle with bureaucratic obstacles, the Albinos of Malawi obtained State registration of their organization, the Albino Association of Malawi (AAM). Members of the Association strive to attract the attention of the state to their problems. In particular, they need tinted glasses, clothing that covers the body as much as possible, and hats that protect them from direct sunlight, since even in cloudy weather, ultraviolet rays provoke serious burns.

These seemingly low-cost needs tend to remain unfulfilled: social protection services are either unwilling or unable to spend the resources at their disposal to help albinos.

Supported by international human rights organizations in spring 2015 Malawi Disabled People's Association demands USO-

improving legislation for the protection of albinos. President P. Mutharika condemned the violence, calling on the security agencies to go on high alert, and the Minister of Gender, Children, Disabled People and Social Work P. Kaliati developed a program to increase public awareness of albinos, as well as initiated research on the reasons for hunting them. Moreover, a government decree was issued allowing the police to shoot without warning at any attempt on the life of an albino citizen ^of Malawia11.

However, advocates for the rights of Malawian albinos believe that allowing the authorities to shoot to kill will not stop the killing.: the profit from hunting people is higher than the fear of being shot by the police.

In an attempt to protect themselves at least partially from external threats, Albinos from different countries of the African continent are trying to organize their own network of clinics that, in addition to providing medical care, would advise parents of albino children who are hard-pressed by the birth of children who, in their opinion, are defective. Thirteen such clinics are already operating in Tanzania, but this is extremely small to solve the problem.

In order to help albinos in East Africa, the UN sends humanitarian missions, which include delivering medicines to those in need, raising awareness with the local population, opening protected schools for children and adolescents and boarding schools for adults. But even there, albinos do not feel safe: women are often sexually harassed by male clinic staff and security guards, and men are beaten.

One of the charities that help children of the Moon survive is the Canadian Under the Same Sun, which is headquartered in Toronto. Its branches operate in Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. Employees of Under the Same Sun help families who survived the attack, educate albinos, provide legal assistance, and relocate victims to less dangerous areas. But their capabilities are very limited: for example, in Tanzania, the organization oversees a little more than 300 people in need of protection, despite the fact that approximately 180 thousand albinos live in the country, according to estimates.¹²

* * *

To date, the measures taken to protect African albinos are completely insufficient, so the situation does not change dramatically: there are still reports of murders and attacks in local and international media. The problem seems to lie in the extreme persistence of centuries-old traditions, as well as in the chronic lack of funds and opportunities for national Governments to protect their citizens from attacks on their lives.

^{Tokarev S. A.} 1 Rannie formy religii. M., Politizdat, 1990. P. 109. (Tokarev S. A. 1990. Rannie formy religii. M.) (in Russian)

² http://www.skepton.ru/albino/

³ Albino hunting gangs are rampant in Africa. 30.11.2009 -http://www.rbc.ua/rus/digests/

⁴ http://www.be5.biz/makroekonomika/gni/gni_tanzania.html

^{PETER Ash:} 5 "For the body of an albino, you can get 75 thousand dollars" - http://misto.zp.ua/article/partners4947.html

⁶ http://medafarm.ru/

^{Aihua Wei, Dongjie Zang, Xiumin Yang.} 7 Genetic diagnosis of oculocutaneous albinism and functional studies of associated genes. 4th International Conference on Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. San Antonio, USA. 14 - 16 April, 2014.

⁸ UN condemns attacks on Tanzanian albinos - http://lenta.ru/news/2013/03/06/albino/

^{Kayira J., Тапшпеп S.} 9 Albinos "hunted like animals" for body parts in Malawi and Burundi. 03.03.2015 -http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/

¹⁰ http://fullpicture.ru/africa/

¹¹ http://www.vice.com/ru/read/cops-in-malawi-can-just-shoot-anyone-attacking-albinos-now-1 95

¹² Kill an Albino: Tanzanian Passion - http://masterotvetov.com/

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