Some members of the Liberian Albino Society (LAS) are unhappy with the Weah administration for its alleged failure to lend more support to the institution amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is unacceptable; we too deserve better living, despite we make up a minute portion of the country’s population but people with albinism are being marginalized in every sector of this country”, the group laments.
It says since President Weah pronounced that coronavirus has entered Liberia, they are yet to receive anti-corona virus materials from the government, something, they term as gross insensitivity to their plight.
Chief administrator, Clarence Clay, made the charges Wednesday via mobile to a local radio station, stressing that people with albinism are Liberians, so they should be treated with equal rights and have access to every necessary support.
According to him, since the index case of the pandemic in Liberia, LAS has been soliciting support to cater to the needs of its members without the authorities coming to their aid.
“Our people have been complaining; asking us on a daily basis to solicit help, and as a small organization that takes care of a minute portion of this population, we are doing our best through the instrumentality of our Executive Director Madam Patricia Logan to see reason to take care of people with albinism, but this is not enough.”
Like other human beings, people with Albinism are entitled to the same fundamental rights as others. “The United Nations Human Rights Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted resolutions (HRC resolutions 23/13, 24/33 and 26/10, ACHPR resolution 263) in 2013 and 2014, respectively, calling for the prevention of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism.”
Mr. Clay calls on national government, specifically state institutions such as the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, National Port Authority, General Services Agency and humanitarian organizations, including well-meaning Liberians to come to their aid so that the organization may reach out to its members across the country.
LAS is a Liberian NGO established in 2009 to advocate for people with albinism and work to restore their dignity and build capacities of vulnerable minority groups through empowerment programs aimed at improving their lives.
By Lewis S. Teh–Editing by Jonathan Browne
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