UN resettles people with albinism fleeing Malawi threats

UNHCR has begun resettling refugees with albinism from Malawi after escalating threats to their safety. The moves follow years of documented attacks linked to ritual practices.

A small group of refugees with albinism has left Malawi under a resettlement programme coordinated by UNHCR, according to Voice of America. The move follows documented threats against people with albinism in the country, where body parts are sought for use in ritual practices believed to bring wealth or good fortune.

UNHCR facilitated the resettlements after determining that the individuals could not be adequately protected inside Malawi, VOA reported. The agency identified them as facing specific, credible danger because of their condition.

Malawi has recorded repeated attacks on people with albinism over the past decade. A 2019 report by the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism documented killings, abductions, and the desecration of graves across the country. The report named Malawi among the nations with the highest rates of such violence in sub-Saharan Africa.

Resettlement as a last resort

Resettlement through UNHCR is typically reserved for refugees whose protection needs cannot be met in their country of asylum or origin. For people with albinism in parts of southern and eastern Africa, VOA reported, the combination of visible difference and deeply rooted superstition creates a specific and persistent threat that displacement alone does not resolve.

Advocates have long argued that resettlement, while necessary in individual cases, cannot substitute for the broader legal and cultural changes needed to protect people with albinism within their home countries. Organisations including Under the Same Sun have called on governments across the region to prosecute perpetrators and dismantle the markets that drive demand for body parts.

The individuals resettled in this case were not identified by name in the VOA report. Their destinations were not disclosed.

For the families involved, the resettlement represents a rupture — a departure from language, land, and community — made necessary by the failure of protection closer to home. That fact sits quietly at the centre of this story.