Albino candidates to run for office in Malawi
The UK's Guardian newspaper reports that six albino candidates will run for office next year in Malawi's general election.
"We
want to show the public that we are more than our skin," Overstone
Kondowe, director of the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi,
told the news site.
Mr Kondowe's association has pledged to field
six candidates in the presidential and parliamentary elections in the
belief it will challenge perceptions of people living with albinism.
In
Malawi, like other countries in the region, people with albinism are
hunted down because of the belief that potions made from their body
parts can bring good luck and wealth.
In 2016, a UN expert warned that Malawi's estimated 10,000 albinos face "extinction" if they continue to be murdered for their body parts.
Graves of albinos are also targeted by criminals who remove bones in order to sell them.
Activists
say poverty contributes to the suspicion surrounding albinos and the
belief their body parts can be sold for large sums of money.
No comments
Your comments and Encouragement are welcome