Malawi continues to be unsafe for people with albinism – another murder of an albino child

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Dr. F.P.M. van der Kraaij

Warning: some readers may find this story disturbing because of its detailed and explicit description of a crime.

On many occasions I have drawn attention here on the violence against people with albinisme in Malawi. See mee previous posts (using the dropdown menu in the heading under ‘African countries’, or you my click here). On November 30 another murder of an albino girl, Tadala Chirwa, only three years old, was committed for the sole purposes of using her body parts for rituals linked to the delusion that this would bring luck or good health to the delinquent perpetrator. The incident happened in Mawawa, in the center of the country. The brutal crime followed the abduction of another albino child in Phalombe township, in the south of the country, on November 19. And, reportedly, in October, unknown persons exhumed the grave of an albino person in order to amputate the arms and legs of the corpse.

When will it end? When will Malawi be a safe place for all Malawians?

The government of Lazarus Chakwera, president since 2020 and leader of the Malawi Congress Party is urged to ensure safety to all Malawians including people with albinism and investigate all violence against them and bring perpetrators of crimes against people with albinism without any hesitation to the country’s courts where the accused will be impartially tried and punished for their crimes after being found guilty in a transparant public trial.

As long as this is not the case, Malawi cannot be called a country where the rule of law is being applied (webmaster FVDK).

Amnesty International denounces ritual murder of three-year-old albino girl in Malawi

Child with albinism attends school in Machinga, Malawi. –
JOSEPH MIZERE / XINHUA NEWS / CONTACTOPHOTO – Provided by News 360

Published: December 2, 2022
By: Daniel Stewart – News 360

Amnesty International on Friday denounced the brutal murder in Malawi of a three-year-old albino girl whose arm was amputated postmortem in the false belief that the limbs of people with this skin discoloration possess “magical properties.”

“We find the horrific nature of Tadala Chirwa’s death deeply disturbing,” said Amnesty’s Southern Africa campaigner Vongai Chikwanda.

The murder occurred on November 30 in Mawawa, in the center of the country, when an unidentified man entered the home of the girl’s grandmother, where she was sleeping, and stabbed her to death in the neck before amputating her arm, which he took with him.

According to information available to the NGO, the person responsible for the crime has not yet been arrested.

Amnesty also sees signs of a new pattern of crimes against the country’s albino population following the November 19 abduction of a two-year-old boy in Phalombe township in the south of the country.

In October, unknown persons exhumed the grave of the mortal remains of an albino person in order to amputate the arms and legs of the corpse.

“The authorities,” calls Amnesty International, “must also take urgent action to ensure the safety of people with albinism in Malawi, investigate all previous attacks and provide justice for the victims and their families.”

Source: Amnesty International denounces ritual murder of three-year-old albino girl in Malawi

Also:

Albino toddler, 3, murdered in her bed and leg cut off for ‘lucky charm’ by sick intruder

**Former President for the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi, Overstone Kondowe (Image: Getty Images )**

Published: December 3, 2022
By: Sean Meleady – Express, UK

Little Tadala Chirwa was murdered in her grandmother’s house with the intruder stealing her severed leg in a disturbing pattern of killings driven by a bizarre belief that albino body parts bring wealth.

A killer mudered an albino toddler in her bed then cut off her leg for good luck. Tadala Chirwa, three, was sleeping at her grandmother’s house when the intruder broke in to carry out the sick crime just before midnight on Wednesday. She was snatched from the bed she was sharing with her grandmother in the village of Mawawa. The “shocking” murder in central Malawi is believed to have been driven by a belief that the body parts of people with albinism guarantee good fortune. It comes just weeks after the attempted abduction of a two-year old albino boy in the Phalombe district.

The incident on 19 November involved three masked assailants attempting to break into a home where a toddler was asleep with his mother and a sibling. However, the mother managed to get her family to safety.

The human rights organization Amnesty International has urged the Malawian authorities to improve the protection of people in the east African country following the death of the infant.

Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International’s Campaigner for Southern Africa, said: “The horrific nature of the death of Tadala Chirwa is deeply shocking and a cause of great concern.

“This killing and the removal of a limb is consistent with past patterns on attacks on persons with albinism, which are driven by the false belief that their body parts bring wealth and good luck.

A 23 year old Malawi albino women pictured in 2015 (Image: Getty Images )

An Albino child pictured in Nkole, Machinga district (Image: Getty Images )

“Authorities must promptly and thoroughly investigate the killing of Tadala Chirwa and ensure that those suspected of responsibility are brought to justice in fair trials.

“The authorities must also take urgent steps to guarantee the safety and security of persons with albinism in Malawi, including by investigating all past attacks and delivering justice for victims and their families.”

Source: Albino toddler, 3, murdered in her bed and leg cut off for ‘lucky charm’ by sick intruder

Malawi: Police ask witchdoctors for help against attacks on albinos

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Dr. F.P.M. van der Kraaij

It is unprecedented what recently happened in northern Malawi, in the Chitipa district, which is the country’s most northern district, near the Malawian-Zambian border. The police have asked witchdoctors and traditional herbalists to help in the protection of people with albinism (PWA).

Malawi has a relatively large number of people with albinism, an estimated 10,000. Attacks on them are frequent, people with albinism fear for their lives every second of the day. Reportedly, more than 200 attacks, kidnappings, mutilations and murders of persons with albinism have occurred since 2014. However, it must be feared that the real number is higher since not all incidents have been reported.

Witchdoctors are allowed to practice in Malawi though – of course – officially the Malawian law does not recognize witchcraft. Superstition, however, is widespread in the country, hence also the use of the services of witchdoctors, an unknown number of them being somehow associated – to say the least – to the attacks on persons with albinism.

The cry for assistance from the Malawian police directed to witchdoctors and traditional herbalists is therefore remarkable. Is it comparable to asking mafia leaders help fighting murderers, kidnappers and other bandits? I don’t know whether this comparison is justified or whether it holds. In any case, the police asking witchdoctors to help against attacks on persons with albinism is a sign of incapacity, read: disqualification. If the police is unable to uphold the rule of law, Malawians have a serious problem and it is high time to have a serious debate on the organization and funding of the police force.

Recently, Amnesty International concluded that the trial of suspects of ritual murders is slow in Malawi. The question seems warranted: Is there a lack of political will? After all, it is common knowledge that in the past political forces and people have been implicated in the attacks on persons with albinism for ritual purposes. I have reported on these links on more than one occasion (e.g. see a recent posting dated April 30, 2021, and my postings of February 26, May 12, and August 28, 2019).
If this lack of political will is indeed the case, turning to witchdoctors for help is close to hypocrisy and useless, ineffective, and the problem will not be solved, the human rights of persons with albinism will continue to be under threat.
(webmaster FVDFK)

Malawi: Police Ask ‘Witch-Doctors’ for Help Against Attacks On ‘Albinos’

Persons with albinism attending a meeting at State House

Published: May 4, 2021
By: Nyasa Times – Gladys Chingaipe

“This would help to provide more protection to people with albinism.”

In an unprecedented manner, police in the northern tip of Malawi have gone on their bended knees and asked traditional herbalists and witchdoctors to help them in the fight against the incessant attacks on people with albinism.

Chitipa Police Station Officer, Dan Sowden in a desperate attempt to end the ongoing ritual killings and egregious human rights violations of the worst kind instigated specifically against people with albinism in the district and the country as a whole has asked traditional healers to work hand in hand with the police.

Snowden made the call last week during a meeting with herbalists and witchdoctors at Chitipa Boma where he expressed a growing concern and explained that there is a general outcry that herbalists and witchdoctors are suspected to be involved in attacks on people with albinism, hence the need to include them in efforts to end the vice.

He said: “We have established that it could be that those who are involved in the vice are not perhaps the real herbalists or genuine witchdoctors but may be some unscrupulous people with evil motives just posing and impersonating as herbalists and witchdoctors.”

“We know for a fact that both herbalists and witchdoctors exists to help people in a traditional way to solve traditional related problems and not to harm anyone and for that reason, we have therefore resolved that the herbalists and witchdoctors should be ambassadors and in the forefront to provide protection to people with albinism by reporting anyone who approaches them on issues to do with people with albinism.”

The police officer in-charge who is responsible for all security in the district called upon herbalists (and witchdoctors) in the district to be more organised and get licenses so that people could easily identify and report anyone falsely pretending to be a traditional healer.

President for Northern Region Traditional Healers, Edward Kayange said: “As herbalists, we are ready to work with the police in order to completely eradicate violence and discrimination against people with albinism.

“We will make sure that all traditional healers have certificates from one body to avoid confusion amongst ourselves. We will form committees which will be working hand in hand with the police and chiefs to report anyone involved in the malpractice,” he pointed out.

Chairperson for Chitipa District Association of People with Albinism, Mabvuto Lwinga said it was a step in the right direction for herbalists and witchdoctors alike to be working with the police.

“This is a good development. I am very optimistic that this would help to provide more protection to people with albinism,” said Lwinga.

The law in Malawi, however, does not recognise witchcraft although traditional healers and witchdoctors are allowed to practice their trade

‘Extra gear’

People with albinism are born with lighter than normal skin, hair and eye colour, making them sensitive to the sun and bright light and in some communities, especially among the African people they are attacked or even killed for their body parts which is erroneously believed to posses magical powers.

Since 2014 more than 200 cases of killings, attacks and other human rights violations against persons with albinism have been reported in the Southern African landlocked nation.

According to United Nations (UN) human rights experts despite various moves to support people with albinism, the continued attacks demonstrate that the Government needs to redouble its efforts to end the ongoing atrocities.

UN’s Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, Ikponwosa Ero said: “We call on the Government of Malawi to urgently address the root causes of these attacks and to strengthen nationwide campaigns to raise awareness, conduct robust investigations and prosecutions in all cases, increase protection for victims, and finance and implement all necessary measures.”

Ero is on record having said that some witchcraft practices result in “serious human violations” such as torture, murder, discrimination and exclusion, including banishment from communities.

Maria Jose Torres, UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi says that the UN remains concerned about continued attacks against persons with albinism.

“We call on the government of Malawi to engage an extra gear in the fight against attacks on persons with albinism. We need to do more to ensure that this comes to a complete end.

Habiba Osman, Executive Secretary for Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) said in an interview with Nyasa Times that the ongoing attacks on persons with albinism is a chilling reminder that Malawi as a country needs to do more to protect people with albinism because they are not safe.

“These attacks on persons with albinism is largely fuelled by a culture of impunity. The government must tighten the noose on anyone suspected to have committed this heinous crime. Persons with albinism like anyone else are protected by the law,” said Osman.

Before being elected president, Malawi leader, Dr. Lazarus Chakwera rode on a wave that if elected, he would make sure that attacks on people with albinism will be put to an end.

“When I become president, anyone found killing, abducting or discriminating against any person with albinism will be dealt severely and face the long arm of the law.”

A recent Amnesty International (AI) report observes that the rate at which cases are concluded in Malawi is slow compared to other crime investigations.

There are approximately about 10,000 persons with albinism in Malawi.

Source: Malawi: Police Ask ‘Witch-Doctors’ for Help Against Attacks On ‘Albinos’

Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM) asks government to speed upon ‘albino’ cases, criticises cover-ups and the protection of high-placed politicians

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Dr. F.P.M. van der Kraaij

Unfortunately, the below article contains a too familiar story. Attacks on persons with albinism, mutilation, murder, involvement of high-placed politicians, cover up practices. The President of the Associations of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM), Ian Simbota, again turned his attention to the country’s rulers and requested the government of President Lazarus Chakwera to speed up all abduction and murder cases which targeted people with albinism (PWA) for ritualistic purposes, often involving high-profile politicians.

It is shocking to read the following article. I won’t repeat here what follows. Once more, however, I want to draw attention to these heinous crimes which threaten people with albinisme on a daily basis. Ritual murders must end. Politicians and other culprits who are involved must be apprehended, put on trial and sentenced. Simultaneously, a national awareness campaign must start, emphasizing the sanctity of life, the need to protect innocent people, the promotion of human rights notably to right to live and the right to live without fear. The government must take its responsibility and act accordingly – or resign.
(webmaster FVDK).

APAM asks Tonse Alliance Govt. to speed upon ‘albino’ cases