A UN expert's report finds that people with albinism face compounded risks when they migrate, including reduced access to sun protection and heightened exposure to violence.
A person with albinism who crosses a border carries the same needs they had at home — sun protection, eye care, safety — but the systems designed to meet those needs rarely follow.
The UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism examined exactly this gap in report A/77/199, submitted to the UN General Assembly. The report focuses on what happens to people with albinism when they move: as refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, or economic migrants.
Vulnerabilities that compound at borders
The Independent Expert found that people with albinism face a distinct set of risks during displacement. Humanitarian settings — camps, transit centres, temporary shelters — are rarely designed with skin and eye protection in mind, according to the report. Sunscreen, protective clothing, and low-vision aids are frequently absent from standard aid packages.
The report also documented that people with albinism in displacement contexts may face double discrimination: once for their migration status, and again for their appearance. In communities where myths about albinism persist, arriving in an unfamiliar place without social networks can increase exposure to exploitation and violence.
Women and girls with albinism, the Expert noted, face additional layers of risk, including gender-based violence in settings where protection mechanisms are already overstretched.
What the Expert recommended
The report called on states and humanitarian organisations to take specific steps. These include incorporating the needs of people with albinism into refugee registration processes, ensuring that dermatological and ophthalmological care is available in humanitarian responses, and training camp administrators and border officials to recognise and address the particular vulnerabilities involved.
The Independent Expert also recommended that sunscreen and UV-protective clothing be classified as medical necessities within humanitarian aid frameworks — a designation that would make them eligible for procurement through health budgets rather than discretionary supplies.
National human rights institutions were urged to monitor how people with albinism are treated within asylum and migration systems, and to report findings to relevant UN bodies.
The report sits within a broader mandate: since 2015, the Independent Expert has documented how people with albinism are affected by ritual attacks, exclusion from education, barriers to healthcare, and now, the specific pressures of being on the move. Each report builds on the last, constructing a record that states are formally required to address.
For communities already navigating life with limited melanin protection in high-UV environments, displacement adds exposure without adding resources. The report names that plainly.
Keywords
Core topics and entities mentioned in this summary.