BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 5.0.10//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:Network Calendar NAME:Network Calendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20140330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20141026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:International Albinism Awareness Day DTSTAMP:20221224T172438Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:309-7-014e54df8e55db0ddedbc25b476240ab@moraga.se ORGANIZER;CN="Julio Moraga":julio@moraga.se DESCRIPTION:\n (A/RES/69/170)\n\n\n\n Albinism is a rare\, non-contagiou s\, genetically inherited difference present at birth. In almost all types of albinism\, both parents must carry the gene for it to be passed on\, e ven if they do not have albinism themselves. The condition is found in bot h sexes regardless of ethnicity and in all countries of the world. Albinis m results in a lack of pigmentation (melanin) in the hair\, skin and eyes\ , causing vulnerability to the sun and bright light. As a result\, almost all people with albinism are visually impaired and are prone to developing skin cancer. There is no cure for the absence of melanin that is central to albinism.\n\n\n\n While numbers vary\, it is estimated that in North Am erica and Europe 1 in every 17\,000 to 20\,000 people have some form of al binism. The condition is much more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa\, with estimates of 1 in 1\,400 people being affected in Tanzania and prevalence as high as 1 in 1\,000 reported for select populations in Zimbabwe and for other specific ethnic groups in Southern Africa.\n\n\n\n Health challenge s of people living with albinism\n\n The lack of melanin means persons wit h albinism are highly vulnerable to developing skin cancer. In some countr ies\, a majority of persons with albinism die from skin cancer between 30 and 40 years of age. Skin cancer is highly preventable when persons with a lbinism enjoy their right to health. This includes access to regular healt h checks\, sunscreen\, sunglasses and sun-protective clothing. In a signif icant number of countries\, these life-saving means are unavailable or ina ccessible to them. Consequently\, in the realm of development measures\, p ersons with albinism have been and are among those “left furthest behi nd.” Therefore\, they ought to be targeted for human rights intervention s in the manner envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals.\n\n\n\n D ue to a lack of melanin in the skin and eyes\, persons with albinism often have permanent visual impairment. They also face discrimination due to th eir skin colour\; as such\, they are often subject to multiple and interse cting discrimination on the grounds of both disability and colour.\n\n\n\n People with albinism and human rights\n\n\n\n People with albinism face m ultiple forms of discrimination worldwide. Albinism is still profoundly mi sunderstood\, socially and medically. The physical appearance of persons w ith albinism is often the object of erroneous beliefs and myths influenced by superstition\, which foster their marginalization and social exclusion . This leads to various forms of stigma and discrimination.\n\n\n\n In som e communities\, erroneous beliefs and myths\, heavily influenced by supers tition\, put the security and lives of persons with albinism at constant r isk. These beliefs and myths are centuries old and are present in cultural attitudes and practices around the world.\n\n\n\n United Nations Independ ent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism\n\n T he United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in 2013 (A/HRC /RES/23/13) calling for the prevention of attacks and discrimination again st persons with albinism. Moreover\, in response to the call from civil so ciety organizations advocating to consider persons with albinism as a spec ific group with particular needs that require special attention\, the Coun cil created the mandate of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of huma n rights by persons with albinism. In June 2015\, the Human Rights Council appointed Ms. Ikponwosa Ero as the first Independent Expert on the enjoym ent of human rights by persons with albinism. In August 2021\, she was suc ceeded by Ms. Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond.\n\n\n\n Violence and discriminati on against persons with albinism\n\n While it has been reported that perso ns with albinism globally face discrimination and stigma\, information on cases of physical attacks against persons with albinism is mainly availabl e from countries in Africa.  \n\n\n\n Persons with albinism face more sev ere forms of discrimination and violence in those regions\, where the majo rity of the general population are relatively dark-skinned. In other words \, a greater degree of contrast in pigmentation often gives rise to a grea ter degree of discrimination. That appears to be the case in some sub-Saha ran African countries where albinism is shrouded in myth and dangerous and erroneous beliefs. The figures on violations against persons with albinis m are telling. There have been hundreds of cases of attacks and killings o f persons with albinism reported in 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade. The attacks have several root causes including ignorance\ , longstanding stigma\, poverty and most abhorrently\, harmful practices e manating from manifestation of beliefs in witchcraft. The alarming reality is that these horrendous practices continue today.\n\n\n\n The manner in which discrimination faced by persons with albinism manifests itself\, and its severity\, vary from region to region. In the western world\, includi ng North America\, Europe and Australia\, discrimination often consists of name-calling\, persistent teasing and bullying of children with albinism. Little information is available from other regions such as Asia\, South A merica and the Pacific etc. However\, some reports indicate that in China and other Asian countries\, children with albinism face abandonment and re jection by their families.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140613 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR