[Congressional Bills 111th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H. Res. 1088 Introduced in House (IH)] 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1088 Recognizing the plight of people with albinism in East Africa and condemning their murder and mutilation. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 22, 2010 Mr. Connolly of Virginia (for himself, Mr. Wolf, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Faleomavaega, Ms. Watson, Mr. Inglis, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. Schauer, Mr. Payne, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Lance, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms. Norton, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Crowley, Mr. McMahon, Ms. Granger, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Sarbanes, Mrs. Schmidt, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas, Ms. Richardson, Ms. Harman, Mr. Murphy of New York, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Schock, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Matheson, and Ms. Lee of California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ RESOLUTION Recognizing the plight of people with albinism in East Africa and condemning their murder and mutilation. Whereas, in parts of East Africa, most notably Tanzania, shamans promote the reprehensible belief that people with albinism are less than human, and that their body parts can be made into potions to bring wealth or luck; Whereas over the last 2 years, more than 50 adults and children with albinism have been murdered in East Africa by mercenaries who sell their body parts to shamans; Whereas countless other people with albinism have survived these attacks, and have been permanently mutilated in the name of profit; Whereas two mothers of children with albinism were attacked by gangs who were searching for the children in Eastern Tanzania in November 2008; Whereas a 10-year-old boy with albinism, Gasper Elikana, was beheaded by men who fled with his leg in October 2008; Whereas a 28-year-old woman with albinism, Mariamu Stanford, was attacked while she was asleep in October 2009, losing both of her arms and her unborn child; Whereas a 17-year-old woman with albinism from Kenya, Vumilia Makoye, was killed by 2 men in her home who sawed off her legs in May of 2008; Whereas hundreds of children with albinism are living in fear for their lives in rural outposts; Whereas people with albinism are routinely shunned by their communities and often excluded from East African society; Whereas people with albinism in East Africa are not provided with life-saving information about preventing skin cancer, and have no means of protecting themselves from excess sunlight; Whereas people with albinism lack access to medical treatment for skin cancer, and the average person in East Africa with albinism dies by age 30 from skin cancer, and only 2 percent of people with albinism in that region live to age 40; and Whereas a number of government officials in rural areas of East Africa have ignored or even colluded with local shamans in these degradations: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives-- (1) condemns the murder and mutilation of adults and children with albinism for their body parts; (2) expresses the support of the citizens of the United States for people with albinism in East Africa who have been the victims of such attacks; (3) recognizes that the murder and mutilation of people because of a genetic condition constitutes a form of gross violation of human rights; (4) urges the Governments of Tanzania and Burundi to actively and aggressively prosecute and convict the perpetrators of these crimes; (5) calls for the Governments of Tanzania and Burundi, along with international organizations, to actively support the education of people with albinism about the prevention of skin cancer; (6) calls for the education of East Africans about the realities of albinism, with the purpose of eliminating the discrimination and treatment of people with albinism; (7) calls for the United States to provide humanitarian assistance to people with albinism in East Africa; and (8) calls on the Governments of East Africa to take immediate and forceful action to prevent further violence against persons with albinism and to bring to swift justice those who have engaged in such reprehensible practices. <all>