Tanzania criticises film on witchcraft attacks

A documentary filming attacks on people with albinism in Tanzania has drawn a formal rebuke from the country's government, Reuters reported.

The film, according to Reuters, documents violence carried out against people with albinism — attacks driven by the belief that body parts from people with albinism carry magical properties. Such killings and mutilations have been recorded across Sub-Saharan Africa for decades, with Tanzania among the most affected countries.

Tanzanian authorities criticised the production, Reuters reported, though the government's precise objections were not detailed in full in the available source text. Official responses to such documentaries have historically centred on concerns about national reputation, framing, or the methods used by filmmakers operating in sensitive communities.

The tension between documentation and government response is not new here. Human rights organisations, including the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism, have repeatedly called on Tanzania to strengthen protections and prosecution for attacks. Tanzania has made legislative efforts in recent years, including a ban on witchdoctors, but advocates say enforcement remains uneven, according to prior UN reporting.

People with albinism in the region continue to face threats that are both physical and social. The trade in body parts for use in ritual medicine — sometimes called muti — places individuals, and particularly children, at documented risk. The UN has classified these attacks as a form of discrimination amounting to human rights violations.

Documentaries and investigative journalism have served as one of the few consistent mechanisms for bringing international attention to these crimes. Whether Tanzania's criticism of this particular film reflects concern for the subjects or discomfort with outside scrutiny remains, on the available evidence, an open question.