A new UN report finds that people with albinism who migrate or are displaced face compounded dangers, from targeted violence to near-total exclusion from health services.
At a border crossing, a person with albinism carries two vulnerabilities at once: the exposure that comes with displacement, and the visibility that has historically made people with albinism targets. The UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism has examined what happens when those two conditions meet.
The report, published by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), found that people with albinism on the move — whether as refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced persons — face a distinct and compounded set of risks that standard migration frameworks rarely account for.
Targeted in transit
According to the report, people with albinism moving through certain regions face the threat of ritual attacks even during displacement. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the OHCHR noted, demand for body parts of people with albinism for use in ritual practices does not stop at national borders. Displacement can, in fact, increase vulnerability by separating individuals from the community networks that might otherwise offer some protection.
The report also identified a pattern of double discrimination inside reception and asylum systems. People with albinism reported being marginalised within migrant communities as well as by host country institutions — excluded from informal support structures while simultaneously being overlooked by official ones.
Health and documentation gaps
Skin and eye care are not optional for people with albinism; without consistent sun protection and ophthalmological support, the health consequences are serious and cumulative. The OHCHR report found that access to these services is severely disrupted during migration. Sunscreen, low-vision aids, and dermatological care — already difficult to access in many countries of origin — become almost entirely unavailable in transit and in refugee settings.
Documentation presented a further barrier. The report noted that people with albinism are sometimes not recognised as belonging to a specific persecuted group when making asylum claims, meaning the particular dangers they face are not adequately weighed in protection decisions. Their condition may not be understood by adjudicators as grounds for a well-founded fear of persecution, even in contexts where ritual attacks are documented.
The Independent Expert called on states to train asylum officers in the specific risks faced by people with albinism, and to ensure that national protection frameworks explicitly recognise persecution based on albinism as a valid ground for asylum.
The report further urged humanitarian organisations to include skin-appropriate sun protection and low-vision support in standard medical supply packages for displaced populations — a step that the OHCHR described as both feasible and necessary.
The findings extend a body of work the Independent Expert's mandate has built over several years, documenting how people with albinism fall through gaps in systems not designed with them in mind. Migration and displacement simply add new gaps to an already incomplete picture.
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