By Joseph Ebi Kanjo 

Government at all levels, private organisations and individuals have been urged to include persons with albinism especially women and girls in their programmes – political office; Gender Based Violence (GVB) Intervention Programmes, etc.

Joy Odigie, Executive Director, Initiative for Advancement of the Albinism Cause (INAAC), who made the appeal during a day Sensitisation Workshop for Civil Society Organisations and media practitioners in Benin, said the inclusion will go a long way in alleviating the plights of persons with albinism who, according to her, experience GBV due to lack of awareness about their skin colour.

INFO DAILY reports that the sensitisation workshop was to create awareness about albinism and the need to include persons with albinism especially women and girls with albinism as well as mothers of children with albinism in Gender Based Violence Intervention Programmes.

According to Odigie, due to lack of awareness on how albinism comes about cum myth about albinism, persons with this special skin face a lot of challenges in the society including decriminalisation, sexual violence targeted at women with albinism, etc, insisting that persons with albinism are just like every other creature.

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“Isolation and expulsion from the community is also commonplace due to the belief that the child with albinism is a curse on the community.

“Self-removal from the community by mothers of children with albinism also takes place in some cases to avoid hostility and exclusion from community members.

“Women with albinism are often targets of sexual violence. This is frequently due to fetishes, myths and misbeliefs that result in rape and sexual assaults.

“In some part of Nigeria, it is also due to the prevalent myths that sexual intercourse with women with albinism can cure HIV and can confer good luck. These myths continuously expose these women to violence and increase their vulnerability to unwanted pregnancies and to contracting various sexually transmitted infections,” the Executive Director lamented.

Odigie therefore tasked the media to promote interventions as well as communicate understanding of albinism with a view to correcting the misconceptions about persons with albinism and the challenges they face in the society.

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She added: “This is important in reducing the violence. The key message should be that people with albinism are humans who have rights, so the whole community should treat them well.

“The media, owe the duty to demystify the misconceptions and myths that have been propagated and sustained in the mass media against persons with albinism. While we are quick to announce that “Black Lives Matter,” we mustn’t hesitate to also push that “The Lives of Persons with Albinism Matter.”

In her presentation, Agatha Osieke, Executive Director, The Women, Youths and Children Advancement Programme, said the discrimination against persons with albinism and non-inclusion of them in government programmes is violation of their fundamental human rights, insisting that they are no less human

The legal practitioner said: “Chapter four of the Nigeria Constitution on fundamental human rights never discriminated against anyone. Not even based on colour, heath status or biological makeup. Therefore, any form of discrimination against persons with albinism is unconstitutional, and anyone who discriminate against them has violated the provisions of all fundamental human rights documents including the Edo State Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law 2021.”

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She added: “It should be noted that persons with albinism are not ghost but human.

“Women and girls with albinism and mothers of children with albinism are not different from any other women or girls in the society. (Sic)

“Persons with albinism are no less human. They have equal rights of association. They can also lead. They should be allowed to exhibit their God given talent.”