Media Analysis of Albino Killings in Tanzania: A Social Work and Human Rights Perspective

Abstract

Murders of people with albinism are a recently emerging human rights issue in Africa, particularly Tanzania. Thus far, public debates about albino killings in Tanzania and other African countries have been dominated by media reports rather than academic writing. This paper presents the findings of a content analysis of Swahili and English Tanzanian media reports published between 2008 and 2011 on albinism and albino murders in Tanzania, and the diverse activities that have unfolded in response to these attacks. Using a human rights framework, the article explores these responses from a social work perspective. It finds that interventions are often framed with reference to African conceptions of humanness. These conceptions are found to be compatible with notions of human rights as relational, in which the various rights and responsibilities of different members of society are seen as interconnected. In practice however, some interventions have resulted in trade-offs between competing rights, causing further harm to victims and their families. To become sustainable therefore, interventions should aim to support all the human rights necessary for the well-being of Africans with albinism, their families and communities. Further research to this effect is recommended.

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Ethics and Social Welfare
ISSN: 1749-6535 (Print) 1749-6543 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/resw20
Media Analysis of Albino Killings in Tanzania: A
Social Work and Human Rights Perspective
Jean Burke, Theresa J. Kaijage & Johannes John-Langba
To cite this article: Jean Burke, Theresa J. Kaijage & Johannes John-Langba (2014) Media
Analysis of Albino Killings in Tanzania: A Social Work and Human Rights Perspective, Ethics and
Social Welfare, 8:2, 117-134, DOI: 10.1080/17496535.2014.895398
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2014.895398
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Media Analysis of Albino Killings in
Tanzania: A Social Work and Human
Rights Perspective
Jean Burke, Theresa J. Kaijage and
Johannes John-Langba
Murders of people with albinism are a recently emerging human rights issue in
Africa, particularly Tanzania. Thus far, public debates about albino killings in
Tanzania and other African countries have been dominated by media reports rather
than academic writing. This paper presents the findings of a content analysis of
Swahili and English Tanzanian media reports published between 2008 and 2011 on
albinism and albino murders in Tanzania, and the diverse activities that have
unfolded in response to these attacks. Using a human rights framework, the article
explores these responses from a social work perspective. It finds that interventions
are often framed with reference to African conceptions of humanness. These
conceptions are found to be compatible with notions of human rights as relational,
in which the various rights and responsibilities of different members of society are
seen as interconnected. In practice however, some interventions have resulted in
trade-offs between competing rights, causing further harm to victims and their
families. To become sustainable therefore, interventions should aim to support all
the human rights necessary for the well-being of Africans with albinism, their
families and communities. Further research to this effect is recommended.
Keywords Albinism; Social Work; Human Rights; Tanzania; Media, Africa
Introduction
Over the past few years, reports of escalating violence against people with
albinism in Africa, and particularly the United Republic of Tanzania,
1
have
Dr Jean Burke is a Social Work Lecturer in the Australian Catholic University. She worked in Tanzania
for 12 years, conducted research into HIV and witch-killings in Tanzania and is a Swahili translator.
Corresponding to: Jean Burke, School of Social Work, Australian Catholic University, 163 Albert St,
Strathfield, Sydney 2135, Australia; Email: Jean.Burke@acu.edu.au. Dr Theresa Kaijage is a founding
Director of Kaijage Consultants in African Family Health, a research and consulting company, and
Acting Head of the Masters programme in Clinical Social Work at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University.
Email: thjkaijage@gmail.com. Dr Johannes John-Langba is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social
Development at the University of Cape Town and research fellow at the Cairns Institute, James Cook
University, Australia. He has over 10 years of experience in program evaluation, research and teaching
in the fields of social work, public health, social welfare, migration and health in East and Southern
Africa. Email: johannes.john-langba@uct.ac.za
1. Henceforth referred to as Tanzania.
Ethics and Social Welfare, 2014
Vol. 8, No. 2, 117–134, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2014.895398
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
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become prominent in local and international media. Africans with albinism are
particularly stigmatised as people with white skin in black-skinned societies, and
as people with disabilities of low vision or blindness and tendencies towards
contracting skin cancers. Cultural beliefs and myths attribute magical powers
and sub-human characteristics to people with albinism. The present violence
against them, including murders, appears to be driven by traditional ‘witchdoc-
tors’and carried out by contract killers to meet a market for albino body parts
believed to bring wealth and fortune. Moral condemnations of these killings have
been expressed widely by the Tanzanian government, members of its Parliament,
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations (UN) (Alum, Gomez,
and Ruiz 2009), and in resolutions passed in the European (2008) and American
Parliaments (2010). Unjust treatment which affects the well-being of persons
with disability who are already vulnerable to discrimination and marginalisation
is an area of concern for social work.
The murders of people with albinism (albinos) came to the attention of the
world through the efforts of a Tanzanian BBC journalist in 2008 (Alum, Gomez,
and Ruiz 2009; Ntetema 2008). Most of the ensuing writing about albino murders
in Tanzania has been by newspaper journalists in media reports, and by bloggers.
Several news articles have called on academics and social workers to apply
themselves to the issue of albino killings (Navuri 2009; Mosha 2009). This paper
contributes to academic writing on this human rights issue from a social work
perspective by analysing reports published in the Swahili and English Tanzanian
media between 2008 and 2011 on violence against, and murders of, people with
albinism. The aim is to explore the involvement of various social actors in
violating, or protecting, the rights of people with albinism, as well as strategies
of preventing and responding to the violence. These explorations are guided by a
human rights framework. The paper’s specific objective is to document and
support the endeavours of Tanzanian social workers by making evidence-based
recommendations and participate in advocacy towards reducing albino murders
in Tanzania.
It will be argued that the social work profession in Africa is uniquely situated
to challenge this injustice and work in solidarity ‘towards an inclusive society’
and towards ‘the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being’
(International Federation of Social Work [IFSW] 2004). This paper will contribute
to the building of knowledge about this newly emerging human rights issue with
the purpose of guiding effective strategies and responses. The implications of the
findings are considered in relation to human-rights-based social work practice to
enhance the well-being of Africans, particularly Tanzanians, with albinism and
their families.
Background
Albinism is a group of rare inherited conditions which affects the pigment in
eyes, hair and skin of people throughout the world, including Africa. Research
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literature on albinism in Africa has been dominated by epidemiological discus-
sions about prevalence and a medical focus on genetics. Major health and social
issues for Africans with albinism have been identified as skin cancer (Lookingbill,
Lookingbill, and Leppard 1995; Luande, Henschke, and Mohammed 1985),
impaired eyesight and the stigma from skin-colour difference. These adversely
affect the social inclusion and access to education of children and adults with
albinism (Lund 2001; Lund and Gaigher 2002). Current interventions and services
include the provision of special schools, sun protection measures and outreach
clinics (Lund and Gaigher 2002; McBride and Leppard 2002). Until recently, the
major identified threat to Africans with albinism was skin cancer. There is
growing recognition and acceptance that in Africa, people with albinism (PWA)
are persons with disabilities. This is due to problems associated with the absence
of melanin which affects pigmentation of their skin, hair, and eyes. The colour of
their skin makes them vulnerable to skin cancer and their eyes are vulnerable to
visual impairment (Wan 2003; Braathen and Ingstad 2006).
The pale physical appearance and vision impairment of persons with albinism
marks them as of distinct appearance, particularly in people of African descent.
Studies of their social experiences in Western countries (Wan 2003) and in Malawi
(Braathen and Ingstad 2006) show that PWA experience discrimination due to
stigma in some social settings while they are treated with respect in other
situations, such as in families. Stigma and discrimination can be a concern for
PWA from any part of the world. However, its recent manifestation in Tanzania
and some other parts of Africa as violent attacks and murders is a striking
difference which presents unique challenges for human rights practitioners in
this region, including social workers. Some anthropological writings on infanti-
cide of babies with albinism and cultural myths relating to human sacrifices
(Imperato and Imperato 2006; McNeil 1997) point to past violence against
Africans with albinism. However, more recent research examining Tanzanian
albino murders from an anthropological and sociological perspective (Bryceson,
Jonsson, and Sherrington 2010) critique the media for simply assigning blame to
traditional superstitions. Instead, they eloquently argue that in the unpredict-
able context of Africa’s recent mining boom, gold and diamond miners together
with witchdoctors have created an albino fetish, as well as ‘a market in body
parts for the production of lucky charms’(358). Moreover, the internal migration
of Tanzanians has destabilised the local political and moral economy of the
regions concerned (Bryceson, Jonsson, and Sherrington 2010). Hence, the
oppression of PWA cannot be understood only as arising from traditional beliefs,
but also emerges for structural reasons which are related to rapid change and
new forms of inequity in wealth and power.
International non-government organisations (NGOs) have documented cases of
attacks and killings of PWA in Tanzania and other African countries to support
their advocacy purposes. Based on their involvement in sheltering frightened
PWA, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2009) published a
useful advocacy report on the ‘humanitarian crisis’facing PWA in the Great Lakes
region. Under the Same Sun (UTSS), an NGO focused on promoting the well-being
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of Africans with albinism, recently produced a film titled ‘White & Black: Crimes
of Colour’distributed and shown publicly for educational purposes. UTSS also
compiled a comprehensive report for submission to the UN Special Representat-
ive of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. This report convin-
cingly demonstrates that children are the main targets of mutilation and
murders; two-thirds of documented murders are children and nearly all attacks
since 2011 involve mutilation of children (UTSS 2012). It documents 71 murders
and 31 survivors of machete attacks in Tanzania since 2007 (UTSS 2012). The
document also refers to 17 murders in Burundi, seven murders and two
attempted murders in Kenya, with additional reports of murders and attempted
murders in Swaziland, Guinea, Nigeria, South Africa, Congo and Zambia (UTSS
2012). Finally, it is believed that over and above the documented attacks and
killings, many more have either not been reported or captured, making it
difficult to assess their true scale.
Post-graduate students have researched albinism in the Tanzanian context
(Segu 2011) and the issue of albino killings, focusing on stigma (McLeod 2010),
the role of witchcraft and the recent behavioural changes evident in the killings
(Mgwabati 2010). A study conducted by students from the Northwestern
University of Law (Alum, Gomez, and Ruiz 2009) applied a legal human rights
perspective to provide an initial analysis of events and strategies. In 2011,
Kaijage Consultants (KC), a Tanzanian research and consultancy company, hosted
a stakeholders meeting on albino protection, and, in 2012, visited the centres in
Mwanza and Shinyanga where the Tanzanian government had sent children with
albinism for protection. Their recommendations include the need for re-
integration, guided by further research to assess family and community strengths
(John-Langba et al.2012).
Tanzanian government responses have included the Presidential appointment
of a Member of Parliament (MP) with albinism, a ‘secret ballot’(for citizens to
anonymously submit names of those suspected to be involved in the body part
trade) and temporary suspension of traditional healers’licenses to practice, with
the aim of eliminating the market demand for albino body parts. Alum, Gomez,
and Ruiz (2009) note that laws for protection of PWA exist but need to be
effectively executed. International responses are generally limited to political
rhetoric, whilst media and international NGOs have been more successful in
conducting awareness-raising and advocacy work. The Tanzanian government and
the Tanzania Social Workers’Association (TASWA) have identified violence
against Africans with albinism as an urgent issue requiring research expertise
(Mosha 2009; Magege and Mngodo 2012); and African social work scholars
indicate that locally initiated research is important for developing authentic
and relevant responses to societal problems (Mupedziswa 2001; Mwansa 2011).
Despite being identified as a crucial rights issue, justifying a call for more
research to be conducted in Tanzania and beyond, social work research on
violence against PWA has yet to be published.
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Data Collection and Analysis
Data for this paper were drawn from print and online media reports of albino
killings in Tanzania. With few other sources such as research reports or journal
articles, media reports become an important source for information about
events, public knowledge and opinions. The media study analysed online versions
of print newspaper articles from the websites of three media companies, i.e. IPP
Media Group (ippmedia.com), Majira (majira.co.tz) and Mwananchi Communica-
tions Ltd (mwananchi.co.tz). The private media company, IPP Media, based in
Dar es Salaam, is a wide content provider for news in East Africa, comprising nine
newspapers published in both English and Swahili, two television stations, three
radio stations and one internet news website (ippmedia.com). Print media
accessed through ippmedia.com for this study included articles from the Swahili
newspapers, Nipashe, Nipashe Jumapili, Alasiri and the English papers, The
Guardian, Sunday Observer and This Day. The Mwananchi Communications Ltd
website was accessed for articles from the print newspapers of The Citizen
(English) and Mwananchi (Swahili). Finally majira.co.tz was accessed for Majira
articles. In short, this project does not involve human participants but relies on
publicly available secondary data.
Searches for newspaper articles were conducted in the online sites by using the
keywords, albino,albinism,ngozi (skin) and ulemavu (disability). The online
versions of available articles from the nine newspapers listed above were collected
from 2008 to 2011 and saved into data files. The preliminary results presented here
report on the content of a set of 274 articles, including 121 English articles and 153
Swahili articles. The data set was limited by what was available in internet search
engines, which may be extensive but not exhaustive, and the collected articles
were not written for the purposes of this study. While the accuracy of media reports
cannot be guaranteed, digital media allows free access to recent phenomena which
is hard to reach any other way. Only text has been coded at this stage.
Content analysis was chosen as a flexible method generating reliable replicable
data, and is well-suited to the investigation of recent events (Stokes 2013, 139).
This study comprised a mix of problem-driven analysis motivated by questions
about the phenomena, focusing on expressions of attitudes, supported by text-
driven thematic analysis developed from repetitive reading of the texts, focusing
on linguistic references (Krippendorff 2004, 346). The content analysis was based
on coding adapted from other media studies (Gulati 2011) and on theoretical
criteria, particularly framing analysis (Giles 2010), human rights and social work
theories. Data were analysed thematically using the Nvivo9 computer programme
to address the main research questions. Articles were recoded for variables which
were added throughout the coding process, assisted by word frequency searches.
While multiple analysts can provide inter-coder reliability (Krippendorff 2004), it
is not uncommon for experienced researchers to be sole analysts (Entman 1991
cited in Giles 2010, 148; Gulati 2011; Stokes 2013). As this was a small, unfunded
project, only a single analyst was available. Reliability thus had to be ensured by
using repeated coding and checking.
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The collected articles were sorted into categories according to their sources,
story trigger and primary content. The most frequent type were court reports
describing trials of arrested suspects, followed by reporting of attacks on victims
based on police reports and interviews. A significant number of articles focused
on announcements and speeches made by the president, prime minister, MPs and
other government officials, while others reported on visiting celebrities, activists
and diplomats, as well as fund-raising events or launches of groups or a movie,
probably sourced from press releases. Fewer articles were journalist-initiated,
either as editorial opinion or investigative papers, presenting interview material
with PWA and families or focusing on research plans and results. Strategies to
prevent and respond to the attacks on PWA were identified in the media reports
and analysed across diverse levels of society by grouping them in categories
related to the nature of the activities and their level of agency, such as
individuals and families, local groups and communities, national and interna-
tional levels. These strategies may be described as ranging from coping
strategies at the individual level, to interventions at the state or structural
level, intimating some form of organisation and planning (See Table 1 below). A
broad human rights framework was used for analysis in order to be open to
emerging discourses, that is, using the international legal framing of rights,
wider social and community rights, as well as a grounded approach from how
everyday language of rights is commonly expressed by people in the community.
Results
Voices heard in the media
Some voices are represented extensively in the news articles, with politicians
and government officials quoted the most, followed by leaders of albino
associations and police. Individual PWA are quoted frequently (more often
leaders than victims), with religious leaders and relatives of PWA less so. To an
even lesser extent, the words of celebrities, village government leaders,
teachers, businessmen, academics, diplomats and leaders of human rights group
are included in articles. The voices that are least heard are the attackers
themselves (except in a limited way in court proceedings). Notably absent are
the voices of those suspected as driving the attacks, such as traditional
witchdoctors, members of the wealthy elite and business people seeking quick
wealth, some of whom have been named to police by those already arrested, but
with insufficient evidence to justify criminal charges against them.
The media presence of social workers is low in the collected material,
although the main focus in two (out of 274) articles. Both articles emphasise the
potentially significant role social workers can play in responding to the ‘societal
problem’(Guardian 7 September 2010) of albino murders. Majira (18 April 2009)
quotes the Social Welfare Commissioner as calling for the government to
recognise, train and employ professionals (including social workers), ‘and these
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Table 1. Examples of the diversity and multiple levels of activities to prevent or respond to the albino attacks.
Activity level and type Individual Group/Community National International
Identify (or control) the
perpetrators
Report to police Village leaders investigating
locally
Register all and ban some
traditional healers,
‘Secret ballot’,
Police training
Interpol investigation
Punish the perpetrators/
enforce law
‘Mob justice’Arrest suspects and put on
trial
Provide protection Family escort, Stay at home,
‘Restrain at home’,
Bury body in the house
Community security Police distribute cell phones
Remove to safer place Seek asylum in police
station,
Move to other regions,
Move to relatives or
boarding school
Build special school,
Provide scholarships to
boarding schools,
Red Cross camps for
internally placed persons
Move children into boarding
schools
Award refugee status
Public awareness Cultural and sporting events
organised by celebrities,
Publication of children's
books
Media coverage,
Movies screenings
Issue government
statements
Media coverage
Provide services to affected Donations of cell phones by
citizens
Skin care health services
Schools Companies
Sponsor injured woman with
albinism for operation and
house
Research Post-graduate students
theses
NGOs and PWA groups
surveys and needs
assessment
Develop register of persons
with disabilities
Collaboration between UN,
UNICEF, International NGOs
and local partners
MEDIA ANALYSIS OF ALBINO KILLINGS IN TANZANIA 123
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problems could possibly end easily’.
2
This is after arguing that a ‘lack of
professionals addressing social issues is a huge challenge confronting our society’
(Majira 18 April 2009). The commissioner’s statements may go towards explaining
the minor presence of voices from social workers and academics.
Strategies
The types of activities most frequently referred to in the media reports are:
identifying and punishing the perpetrators, raising public awareness, providing
protection, moving potential victims to safer areas, rendering services to the
affected, working towards law reform, engaging in political activism, and
conducting research. References to persuasion and moral education are also
evident but more latent. Some of the strategies to prevent or respond to albino
attacks are criticised and debated in the press, a number of which highlight the
complexities involved in protecting and promoting potentially competing rights.
The most prominent activities reported and recommended as solutions in the
press articles are the identification, arrest and punishment of perpetrators. The
police force is the major actor in this, but also relies on information and
cooperation from the community. Government actions to support this include the
national exercise set up for people to inform authorities of murder suspects.
Cases are reported of villagers telling police when they find limbs. Wider
identification is also called for, that is, of traditional witchdoctors and elite
funders. The arrest, conviction and sentencing of offenders are law enforcement
measures seen to provide a deterrent to future attacks by sending a strong
message regarding the seriousness of the crime and relaying national disap-
proval. If law enforcement is ineffective or slow, ‘mob justice’(people taking
the law into their own hands) becomes a real possibility and concern.
At the level of coping strategies, the media describes family members
escorting children with albinism to school, and when walking in public. Some
PWA are hidden at home, with some reports of cases where children have been
forcibly restrained. Individuals with albinism have sought asylum in police
stations or moved to safer regions. Families have sent their children with
albinism to boarding schools, camps, or to stay with relatives in safer areas to
remove them from dangerous environments. These actions may be accompanied
by persuasion or claims for protection and described in terms of seeking refuge.
An extensively reported government intervention has been the movement of
children with albinism from their family homes into special schools and camps for
the disabled for the sake of their protection. While this form of segregation has
increased security, various concerns are also reported, notably: overcrowding;
inadequate facilities; incidents of child abuse, and family members abandoning
children and their responsibilities towards them. The intervention’s impact on
families is acknowledged to a lesser extent. For example, the Guardian observes
2. Note that quotations from Swahili language have been translated into English by the first author.
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that the stigmatising beliefs and responding actions have continued ‘to wreck
havoc in many households, as families broke up, dispersing members to the
streets and special camps for their safety’(27 October 2011), thus acknow-
ledging that anxiety and fear of violent attacks, and measures which prioritise
safety over most other concerns are causing damage to family unity and well-
being.
Pooling of resources with the aim of increasing protection is one form of
cooperation reported in the press in detail, with contributors being individuals—
often businessmen—companies, NGOs, and various government entities. Usually
the amounts given and donors’names are listed, sometimes with an exhortation
by the donor or journalist to emulate the action. For example, two identified
businessmen donated 300 and 50 cell phones respectively, and ‘urged other
businessmen to help in stopping the criminals from getting away with their dirty
deals by joining hands with the police’(Guardian 6 January 2009). Well-wishers
gave 19 million shillings to buy phones, and a phone company provided 5,000
shilling vouchers to each of the 300 phones to be given to PWA. Sometimes quite
complex collaborations involving private citizens, local groups, NGOs and
government efforts are described. For example, it is reported that the
government would sponsor ten children with albinism to join ‘a special boarding
primary school for disabled children in Tanga region’(Daily News 1 April 2009)
with the district council paying security guards to escort them to the school, an
international NGO providing funding for essentials like uniforms and books, and
an identified ‘good Samaritan’, having pledged to donate 200,000 shillings for
the children. Furthermore, a local group of PWA reportedly plans to buy land and
build a special school in the district. This would allow children to be
accommodated safely in close proximity to their families (Daily News 1
April 2009).
Several news articles state that there is no clear information about the
number of PWA in Tanzania and their needs, or of those who have been killed.
Some needs assessments and surveys have been conducted by partnerships
between international organisations and local NGOs. For example, UNICEF with
UTSS and Kaijage Consultants found that centres for children with albinism are
overcrowded and lack facilities; and Plan International sponsoring TAS (Tanzanian
Albino Society) found that parents were afraid to send their children to school.
The purposes of these studies were generally to assist in planning how to
respond, such as building special schools. Also reported are interviews with
academics or students doing postgraduate theses, as well as excerpts from their
research in the fields of social welfare, anthropology and law, aiming to better
understand the current situation. One journalist compared the tactics used by
police to go undercover to investigate a case as similar to previous ones used by
journalists. The media reports only on ad hoc efforts by some NGOs and district
councils to identify and count PWA, together with an explanation that a national
law would be promulgated to establish a special registry of people with
disabilities, including albinism.
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Human rights
A large number of the articles used the words rights,justice and haki (meaning
both rights and justice). While rights and their violations are mostly written
about in general terms, some specific rights are named, particularly the right to
life, to education, to health services, to work, to freedom of movement and
political participation. Also mentioned are categories of rights including those
belonging to children, disabled persons and citizens. There is recognition of how
different rights affect each other, especially how protecting the safety and
security of PWA may deny them other rights. For example, a lawyer is reported as
saying ‘The albino pupils do not attend school and adult ones are in constant
hideouts, which violates the right to work and the right of movement’(Sunday
Observer 8 March 2009). Keeping safe then affects the ability of PWA to exercise
many other rights. Reference to freedom is another way this is expressed.
‘Albinos have now become a business and their lives are uncertain. Is it lawful to
deny albinos the right to life? Who can remove their humanity, when will they be
free in their own country?’(Majira 8 April 2009). When someone’s right to life is
insecure, they cannot enjoy basic freedoms.
Some articles highlight legal definitions and processes of human rights by
making reference to the Constitution of Tanzania, international conventions on
human rights and institutions like Tanzania’s Commission for Human Rights and
Good Governance. The murderous acts are condemned as violations of human
rights, but responsibility for this more often credited to the perpetrators than
the government of Tanzania. The President and Prime Minister are frequently
cited in the press, giving clear statements of support for PWA. For example, Rt.
Hon. Pinda is quoted as saying: ‘They are our fellow human beings. I want all of
us, as Tanzanians to ensure they get the same rights as everyone else, especially
the right to life’(Guardian 21 September 2011). At times, the government’s
efforts are commended, yet there is also criticisms of inaction coming from
activists, lawyers and PWA themselves. In 2009, a group petitioned the High
Court about ‘the government’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities’in terms of the
constitution, noting specifically that it had failed ‘to provide accessible skin
health care services to persons with albinism, to safeguard the lives of albinos
and failed to provide a report on the state of albino killings or establish strategic
plans which could enable the same to access education’(Guardian 19
March 2009).
Another way that rights are framed in the media is as human rights. PWA are
described as humans who deserve the same rights as others. It is common to
make a link between humans and their right to life by drawing on spiritual
conceptions of life. For example, an executive of a media company called on
society to seek an end to albino killings ‘in the knowledge that all human beings
belong to God and have the right to live’(Guardian 23 April 2010). In this way,
rights are perceived in terms of how we treat each other, and as giving rise to the
moral claim that it is wrong to take a life which is sacred. Narrating how killers
sawed off a victim’s leg, a journalist wrote that ‘all human beings are born free
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and equal in dignity and rights and they are endowed with reason and conscience
and should act towards each other in spirit of brotherhood’(Sunday Observer 8
March 2009). This example shows how human rights can be presented both in
‘Western’and ‘African’terms, referring both to the ability to reason and to show
caring acts as fundamental to our humanness. This emphasis on what it means to
be human as opposed to being non-human is also highlighted in the following
statement, which compares the killing of PWA to being ‘slaughtered like chickens
at the whims of wealth-hungry individuals’(Sunday Observer 22 March 2009).
Indeed, a potent theme threading through the press coverage concerns the
nature and value of being human. At heart of the attacks is the idea that PWA
have become commodities, perceived as sub-human or non-human by their
attackers. While universally condemning the idea that ‘albinos have now become
a trade’(Majira 8 April 2009), the media also reports on the monetary values of
their body parts, varying from 10 to 400 million shillings, noting that ‘one leg can
yield up to $2,500’(Guardian 28 February 2009). Such commodification is
justifiably criticised for undermining communal notions of humanity. Thus, the
media overall delivers strong messages that as humans, PWA are intimately
included in social relationships; for example, the Prime Minister is quoted as
referring to PWA as ‘our fellow countrymen and women, our own kith and kin’
(Guardian 22 September 2009), while a TAS leader is cited as asserting that ‘we
are your children, you have given birth to us’(Nipashe 10 February 2009).
Through this attributed kinship it then becomes possible to conclude that ‘every
person in Tanzania is a victim of albino killings’(Guardian 7 September 2010),
which means ‘their safety falls squarely on our shoulders’(Sunday Observer 1
March 2009). Hence, the value of being human and therefore part of close
societal relationships has corresponding claims on the community to love and
protect such potential victims. These notions of connectedness and moral
relationships have implications for human rights practice.
Discussion
The results presented above provide a preliminary summary and selection of
strategies, relevant to human rights, in response to the recent surge of violence
against people with albinism. This section discusses the multilevel complexity of
these strategies and analyses them within a human rights framework, with
particular reference to African conceptions of human dignity. It interrogates
dilemmas related to the concept of vulnerability, applies a moral approach and
recommends how human rights practice—including social work—can contribute in
sustainable ways. The content analysis of media reports demonstrates the
diversity of strategies used at all levels of society with the aim of protecting
Tanzanians with albinism and dealing with violence and discrimination affecting
them. There are also similarities across these levels, such as families, community
security forces and government bodyguards acting to escort the movement of
PWA, or the often complex pooling of resources to meet needs (see Table 1).
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While the government has been active and vocal, though not always effective,
many local initiatives have emerged from the actions of individual citizens,
groups of people with albinism and communities, expressing empathy and
solidarity with fellow humans who are in danger.
In this media analysis, human rights are situated within a legal framework in
which the state is the agency that guarantees human rights, but it also positions
rights as the responsibility of the community which includes, at one extreme,
those who are violating the rights of fellow-citizens and at the other, those
individuals and groups who act to protect them. The understanding that
responsibilities for human rights exist at ‘multiple levels of human community’
(Ife and Fiske 2006, 299) highlights the legitimacy of these diverse sites of action
and the multiplicity of rights-claims expressed in the local press. Reid (1995)
argues that rights ought to be embedded within a moral conception of
interdependence and relational concepts of solidarity, community, participation
and responsibility. In a kind of implied reciprocity based in the moral nature of
persons then, rights-claims held by people with albinism occur in conjunction
with corresponding responsibilities held by others in relation to them, with the
end of caring and protection. Thus, rights are ‘legitimate claims’involving three
intersecting dimensions: social, legal and personal (Crichton et al.2006). Social
rights comprise claims that are legitimised by religion, ideology, traditions,
culture and general social assent. While legal rights are sanctioned by interna-
tional and national law, they also interact with customary and religious law and
practice. The personal dimension of rights concerns ‘how individuals perceive
their rights, based on their experience, knowledge and multiple influences from
the social dimension’(Crichton et al.2006, 2043). The national response to the
plight of people living with albinism in Tanzania highlights both intersections and
disconnects between the social, legal and personal dimensions of rights in that
personal rights are reportedly violated due to economic interests and cultural
norms, beliefs, and notions of spirituality. These localised practices have
emerged from the intersection of the global economy’s extractive processes
with local conditions of poverty and inequity. And yet, while there are culturally
specific reasons behind the violations and murders of Tanzanians with albinism,
there are also cultural imperatives in the strong public local response against such
practices. Such complexities are not simply explained by reference to the con‐
tested human rights principles of cultural relativism and universality (Reichert
2006).
An African conception of human dignity and rights is evident in many of the
media stories. The way in which people with albinism are described as brothers
and sisters, as part of a ‘we’, positions them as included in the ‘family of
Tanzanian society’. This reflects how Nyerere (1974) spoke about rights and
freedoms, as resting on ‘people-centred development’fostered by education for
self-reliance and extension of kinship to all Tanzanians. The notion of ‘our
common humanity’is a fundamental aspect of human rights and should form an
essential part of any public awareness activities. Ife and Fiske (2006) explain that
this ‘human’element in the concept of human rights highlights the importance
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of ‘connectedness, interdependence and communicative engagement, which
constitute our common humanity’(Ife and Fiske 2006, 230). In the African
context, reference to being created by God, within loving relationships and
desiring freedom, is a common way of describing such humanity. Conceiving of
human dignity as ‘our capacity for loving relationships’as espoused by Metz
(2012, 27), means that violation of human rights must necessarily involve
‘thinking of others as separate and inferior’(Metz 2012, 33) such as when
attackers treat people with albinism as non-human commodities, or children are
segregated from society. An African conception of human dignity as derived from
networks of relationships, which combines a communal identity and solidarity in
caring for other’s quality of life (Metz 2012, 27), positions the community, rather
than Western concepts of autonomy, as the ground of human rights
A familiar dilemma when working with vulnerable groups in society concerns
the question of how to respond to clashes between different rights. Furthermore,
we are warned by Brown (2011) that vulnerability is a concept that may ‘be at
odds with rights’(316). For example, when applied to the case of Tanzanian
children with albinism, the notion of vulnerability can legitimate claims on
resources and leverage action because its location in moral obligations makes it
‘a route to social justice’(Brown 2011, 318). However, it can also be used to
justify social control which is apparent in the state intervention of placing
children with albinism in secure schools. A social work perspective can
contribute towards the development of a shared understanding that even when
social control is exercised to protect the right to life and safety, it may
simultaneously deny basic rights to autonomy and normality, only realisable
when individuals and groups are able to live freely in their communities (Table 2 ).
While residential care may be a life-saving crisis intervention, it cannot be a
sustainable solution as it has negative consequences in terms of separating families
and leading to sub-optimal outcomes in terms of the social and emotional
development of children. Thus, a group of Tanzanian social workers and other
stakeholders recently expressed grave concerns regarding the continued fear
experienced by people with albinism and about emerging evidence that children
who are experiencing stigma, discrimination and exclusion from social and
communal activities, are presenting with emotional and behavioural problems
(John-Langba et al.2012). Not only are interventions which prioritise safety over
psychosocial concerns likely to have limited efficacy, but they can also lead to
long-term psychological problems among the intended beneficiaries (Foster 2002).
Hence, human rights professions have a role to play in alerting policy-makers to
the dangers of ignoring rights that are crucial to basic freedoms and well-being.
The harms resulting from rights abuses impact not only those who are affected
directly but on society more generally. Attacks and killings of people with
albinism are often described in the news articles as wicked or evil actions carried
out by evildoers. Such descriptions exemplify the thesis of Hugaas (2010) that
social workers can be confronted with the phenomenon of moral evil, defined as
acts ‘intentionally inflicting pain and suffering’(Hugaas 2010, 266), suggesting
that hence, there is a need for a discourse on moral evil among social workers
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and the societies in which they are based. Moreover, children who have lost their
right to basic freedoms as the cost attached to protection of their lives exemplify
how evil has wide-reaching repercussions in individual lives, causing real and
extensive harm that social work is called to prevent. The roles of victim and
offender can, and often do blur, but not in the case of albino killings where they
are clear, recognisable polarities. However, Hugaas (2010) highlights that
situated between those two poles, there is a third position of bystanders and
witnesses who in the face of moral evil have a responsibility not to be ‘silent or
indifferent’(Hugaas 2010, 274), but instead to translate moral commitments into
advocacy and practice.
Implications for Human-rights Social Work Practice
While social work is not prominently featured in the media reports analysed
here, it ought to be in the frontline of upholding and defending the well-being of
vulnerable people such as those with albinism in East Africa. The violence
towards people with albinism highlighted in local media has been accompanied
by a realisation of the need—and opportunities—to address other challenges
faced by this vulnerable group, including stigma and lack of access to education
and adequate health services. Interventions based on a holistic conception of
human rights as indivisible emphasising interdependence and social inclusion,
will work towards keeping children closely connected with, and integrated into
their families and communities in order to enhance the well-being of all who are
affected by albinism. Through public education and sustainable services, local
communities can be supported in overcoming roles of silent bystanders, instead
embracing their moral responsibilities towards their members.
Human rights practitioners, such as social workers, have a role in being vocal
witnesses for social change and prevention of harm. Hugaas (2010) argues that
social workers should ‘prioritise prevention of moral evil’and act as ‘moral
agents’to provide moral guidance, education and some social control (Hugaas
2010, 275). One crucial way of doing this is by being outspoken witnesses for
Table 2. Examples of trade-offs between competing rights of children with albinism.
Competing rightsInterventions
criticised in
media Criticisms Either - Or -
Children
restrained
(even by force)
at home
Child neglect and
abuse
Right to
security
Right to education, right to
freedom of movement, right to
freedom from abuse
Children placed
in institutions
Overcrowding and
inadequate
facilities, child
abuse
Right to
protection,
right to
education
Right to freedom from abuse,
right to freedom of movement
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social change rather than silent bystanders, upon which evil seems to depend.
This role can be exercised at all levels, from the local to the global spheres,
through collective engagement with local, regional and global structures to
promote the human rights of vulnerable groups such as those concerned in this
paper. For example, the Tanzanian Social Workers Association has potential to be
a pressure group to comment on, and influence national policy by issuing public
statements and offering critique (Burke and Ngonyani 2004). While local practice
may involve working closely with those communities that are most affected,
creative partnerships can be formed across national boundaries with other
workers and communities facing similar issues in cooperative action (Ife 2012).
Social workers and other human rights practitioners should not only promote the
causes of vulnerable groups, but facilitate the input of the voices of the
marginalised into forums such as government commissions, human rights-based
NGOs, regional groups such as the African Union, and global structures such as UN
agencies (Ife 2012).
Based on an analysis of online media sources, this paper highlights a diverse
range of issues relating to persons with albinism in Tanzania. Much more social
research using a variety of methods and sources—including those people most
affected—is needed to explore the causes, contributing factors and impact of the
multiple issues affecting Africans with albinism and the violations of their rights.
Well-designed research may also assist us in understanding how new manifesta-
tions of human rights abuses arise in rapidly changing societies, and how best to
promote communal well-being in such contexts. Findings from further research
could assist in developing programs which are family and community-centred in
approach, thereby addressing both the physical safety and psychosocial needs of
children with albinism. Tanzanian social workers have conducted preliminary
needs assessments (John-Langba et al.2012) to inform such evidence-based
interventions. Thorough research could contribute to the design of sustainable
programs that support the human rights necessary for the well-being of Africans
with albinism, their families and communities.
Conclusion
This analysis of Tanzanian media reports demonstrates the multiple levels of
activities employed to address the physical threats to people with albinism. The
human rights analysis of these activities highlights firstly the complex harm
which results from prioritising certain rights over others when in fact these are
inseparable. Secondly, it draws attention to the importance of community
relations and responsibilities to righting these injustices. This is illustrated in
the example of moving children into safe schools, which ensures their physical
safety and security but compromises other freedoms, rights, and psychosocial
well-being. Obstacles to making the rights to survival and development for
children living with albinism a reality are mutually reinforcing and require
evidence-based interventions directed towards their best interests and that of
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their family. This paper recommends that further research be conducted to
support the development of sustainable family and community centred inter-
ventions which address both the right to safety and rights relating to integration
in society. With this outlook, the social work profession in Africa will be well
situated to challenge the injustice affecting people with albinism and to promote
social inclusion, individual and community well-being.
Acknowledgements
Our acknowledgements go to Dorothee Hölscher who kept encouraging us to
write about this area of concern, to Donna Petras, of the University of Illinois in
Chicago, for her input and active involvement in Kaijage Consultants’focus on
services for children and to the stakeholders who met with Theresa to discuss
their concerns about protection of Tanzanians with albinism.
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