Albinos hunted for their bones in Malawi

At least 18 albinos in Malawi have been killed since 2014 in a surge of violence where people with albinism are hunted down for their body parts believed to bring wealth and good luck and sold to witch doctors for quick money.

Amnesty International exposed the violence and discrimination against people with albinism in Malawi in a report released Tuesday, June 7.

"Thousands of people with albinism are at severe risk of abduction and killing by individuals and criminal gangs," the report stated.

According to the report, Malawi's 7,000-10,000 albinos — those with the condition of little or no pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes — are living their lives in fear of superstitious-driven attacks in a hunt for their body parts that witch doctors claim contain magical powers and good luck. These are then sold off to the witch doctors in Malawi and Mozambique.

"The macabre trade is also fueled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold," the report added.

Findings revealed that graves of people with albinism were not spared by the criminal gangs. It is also common for even family members to be part of the trade as abductors because of widespread discrimination.

The human rights group urged the government of Malawi, "The time has come for the government of Malawi to stop burying its head in the sand and pretending that this problem will just go away."

Local activists took to the streets to protest the admitted lack of capacity by the police that helped perpetrate the attacks.

"That anybody could think that you can be rich by using bones or something like that because some witch doctors have said so... That's stupidity," denounced President Peter Mutharika on June 1 during a political rally, as reported by The Associated Press.

It is believed that Mozambique and Tanzania are involved in a cross-border trade with Malawi after the government of Tanzania imposed stricter measures against the trade.