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, 17

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents