A/HRC/34/59
are able to authorize the practice of traditional medicine in their administrative and/or
health subdivisions. In certain countries, unlicensed practising of traditional medicine is a
punishable offence. In other countries, including those with records of attacks, there is no
licensing or registration process for practitioners of traditional medicine.
74.
The adoption of regulatory measures regarding traditional medicine would benefit
from a Government-enforced monitoring mechanism that reaches rural, remote and border
areas, particularly where attacks against persons with albinism have been reported. It is also
critical that any legislation enacted regarding the practice of traditional medicine be
accompanied by public education campaigns explaining the criminal nature of witchcraftrelated attacks and violence. In addition, efforts should be made to ensure that relevant
legislative developments are communicated to practitioners of traditional medicine and that
the new provisions are effective and enforced.
75.
This does not mean that there is no role for the organizations of traditional healers in
the process. On the contrary, their task is fundamental in complementing the actions taken
by the State. For example, they could, in collaboration with the Government, develop
internal rules of practice and clarify the impact of law and policy on the details of their
practice. In this regard, good practices include cooperation among such organizations and
between the organizations and the ministries of health, including through exchange of
information and referrals.
76.
In the public interest, it is also important that States ensure adequate standards for
traditional medicine. There must be minimum requirements for all practitioners, regardless
of whether they are affiliated with an organization. The standards must be in line with
established human rights norms, without compromising the core principles of availability,
accessibility, acceptability and quality of goods and services. The obligation on States also
extends to ensuring that practitioners do not conduct harmful practices, including the use of
body parts of persons with albinism for muti or juju.
Trafficking of body parts
77.
Attacks against persons with albinism are characterized by the hacking off of body
parts. This appears to be the primary purpose of a majority of attacks. Body parts such as
limbs are removed from the body and transported to alleged witchdoctors for the purpose of
concocting muti or juju medicines and potions.
78.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime defines trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of
a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”. A similar
definition is used in most legislation addressing trafficking in persons.
79.
In 2008, the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking convened
a workshop on human trafficking for the removal of organs and body parts, at which it was
stressed that the Protocol does not take trafficking in human organs into full consideration:
it addresses trafficking in organs only for the purpose of organ removal. It does not cover
the transfer of organs (for profit) alone, a situation that is analogous to the trafficking of
body parts of persons with albinism.
80.
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in
her 2013 report to the General Assembly (A/68/256), stated that the difference between
trafficking in organs and trafficking in persons for the removal of organs was largely
semantic, given that organs were not moved or traded independently of their source,
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