be separated from mainstream disability. Very clear and deliberate efforts are essential to address the plight of this group as they struggle to access resources like land. 500. The CRM confirms the CSAR finding that albinos are a particularly vulnerable group. As noted in the CSAR, making commodities of albino body parts led to 58 albinos murdered and nine mutilations between 2008 and 200987. However, ritual albinos killings date back further than 2008/2009. The practice is widespread although it is more pronounced in the Lake Zone regions of Mwanza, Mara, Kagera, Rukwa, Kigoma, Mbeya Morogoro, and Shinyanga. Government has rounded up school-going albino children and put them in dormitories for their security. Though they can continue to attend school, they cannot play freely as children ought to and their movements out of these guarded premises are prohibited. The albinos expressed a desire to be treated like people living with HIV/AIDs who receive free anti-retrovirals. The cost of sunscreen lotions, eye tests, and spectacles to help with correcting sight is beyond what most of the albino community can afford. The total albino population nationwide is put at 270,000. 501. NGOs like the LHRS and the Tanzania Albino Society have carried out campaigns to advocate for the protection of albinos. So far, only nine local perpetrators of crimes against albinos were sentenced to death for the murders. This is a regional problem since similar murders have occurred in Burundi and elsewhere in East Africa. Deconstructing the myth of success and wealth obtained through ritual murders continues to pose major challenges. 502. The 2010 Persons with Disabilities Act88 is currently attempting to take appropriate steps to enhance the welfare of the disabled community on the mainland only. The Zanzibar Disability Policy was adopted in 2004 viewing disability as a human rights issue. In 2006, the Persons with disabilities (Rights and Priveleges) Act No 9 was approved. Rights of the elderly 503. CRM stakeholder consultations revealed a general perception that to be old is like a punishment in the country. This category of Tanzanians have become forgotten citizens without rights. There is no effective wholesome policy to cater for the welfare of the aged. Designated healthcare centres do exist for the aged but in the absence of clear laws to guide their operations, the discretion of the service providers has rendered the policy ineffective. Access to welfare packages is oftentimes problematic because the elderly are required to produce identify cards, which they are yet to be provided. 504. Though some of the elderly pay taxes and are supposed to have a pension scheme to rely on in their twilight years, the process of accessing the pensions is tedious and takes about three years. As a result of the delay, many elderly persons in Tanzania die without receiving their benefits. In any case, most of the elderly are outside this category, being farmers and informal sector workers who do not have a Social Security System specifically targeting them. This is of great concern and Government should take it seriously. lll. Recommendations 505. 87 88 The APR Panel recommends that the United Republic of Tanzania: • Streamline and publicise strategies and structures for implementing the UN Disability Rights Convention and the National Disability Policy of 2004 from the national level down to the local level; [Ministry of Justice, CHRAGG, CSOs] • Reserve special seats in parliament for the disabled; [Presidency, Political Parties,Parliament] • Provide mobile voting registration and polling facilities for the disabled; [NEC] • Carry out a broad civic education campaign on the rights of albinos and thos of persons living with disabilities, and strengthen the promotion and protection of their rights; [Ministry of Justice, Parliament, CHRAGG, CSOs], Tanzania Human Rights Report 2010, pg 58, Legal & Human Rights Centre and Zanzibar Legal Services Centre, May 2011. The Persons With Disabilities Act 2010, URT Act Supplement, no.9, 28th May 2010. 108