Peter Ash in the midst of children with albinism in Africa. (Under the Same Sun photo)
Peter Ash is recognized by the UN Human Rights Council as one of the “champions of the albinism cause.” Ash, whose Under the Same Sun (UTSS) group is based in Surrey, has been active in dispelling myths about albinism since 2008.
In commending those champions, the Council states:
The worst expression of discrimination against persons with albinism is their dehumanization, which lays the foundation for horrifying physical attacks against them.
Because some believe that they are magical beings or ghosts, they mutilate or even kill them, so their body parts can be used for witchcraft rituals.
In a video on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) site, Ash states:
I didn’t know the language, didn’t know the culture, but genetically these people are my brothers and sisters.
We have the same DNA. Because albinism is a universal metaphor for unity of humanity. You take someone who’s Chinese, somebody who’s African, somebody who’s Caucasian from Canada and you put them beside each other, and they all have albinism, how do they look? Well they all look the same.
Ash published a book about his life and work this spring: “Out of the Ashes is a true story of survival, faith and an unseen human-rights crisis.”- It enjoys consultative status at the United Nations and makes regular presentations to UN mechanisms.
- The UN declared June 13th to be International Albinism Awareness Day in 2014.
- It is the main source for publishing international data on human rights violations against persons with albinism. This data is used by the UN, advocates and many others.
- The UN has issued five Human Rights Council Resolutions and the AU [African Union] has issued one, because of UTSS work.
- In 2015, the UN created the position of Independent Expert on Albinism.
- It hosted the 1st Pan-African Albinism Conference in 2015 with 29 African countries and 177 delegates participating.
National Geographic profiled children with albinism and the work of Under the Same Sun in 2017.
The UTSS has received considerable international press coverage. For example, National Geographic has also taken note of his work; the June, 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine featured The Perils of Pale, which notes:
Detailed, gruesome records are kept by Under the Same Sun, a nonprofit organization working to end discrimination against those with albinism.
Since the 1990s, in 27 African countries, at least 190 people have been killed and 300 attacked, most since 2008. The epicenter of this crime wave, which includes the robbing of graves, is Tanzania. . . .
It carries on to describe the lives of Emmanuel Festo (Emma) and Miriamu Staford:
Emma’s secure schooling and Staford’s caregiver are paid for by Under the Same Sun, founded by wealthy Canadian businessman Peter Ash. From his commercial real estate business based in Vancouver, he and his wife contribute about a million dollars each year to the nonprofit’s $1.5 million budget.
Ash is almost certainly the foremost advocate for people with albinism. He persuaded the United Nations to name June 13 as International Albinism Awareness Day and to appoint a UN expert, who traveled to Malawi and Mozambique last year as attacks there soared.
“People with albinism; not ghosts but human beings.” From the OHCHR site.
The UN’s OHCHR site offers this overview of Ash and the UTSS:
From my earliest memory I knew I was different from everyone else. The moment I walked out the door of my home I felt somewhat alone. From the stares, smirks and comments it was clear to me that I stood out somehow.
I recall other youth yelling out “Hey albino!” as I walked the streets of my neighbourhood. When taking the bus having fellow passengers stare me down was common. At school, bullying was common. Beyond this I faced the challenge of learning in an academic environment not familiar with the severe vision limitations I lived with due to my albinism.
As a student who was ‘legally blind’ I was unable to see anything ever written on the blackboard. Sometimes the text of handouts and books was too small to read. Teachers were most often not helpful. School was a constant struggle. Sports were particularly hard as most were team sports requiring eye hand coordination. My inability to perform deepened the social exclusion from my peers very often.
This monument in Sengerema, Tanzania stands near the epicentre of attacks against people with albinism, to honour those who have been violently assaulted and killed. The life-sized metal statue is made by Tanzanian artists with disabilities,
Trigger
In 2008 I read about the killings of persons with albinism via the BBC website. A journalist named Vicky Ntetema from Tanzania had written an article about a gruesome trade in the body parts of persons with albinism she had uncovered.
During her undercover investigation she obtained video evidence that witch doctors were trafficking in these organs, selling them for tens of thousands of dollars to wealthy leaders.
When I saw this video I was deeply impacted. Sitting in my home in Vancouver, I recall thinking to myself:
If I lived as a person with albinism in Tanzania I would never feel safe at night as I fell asleep. I can’t sit idly by here in Canada while my brothers and sisters are being butchered simply because they have the same genetic condition I do. I must see what I can do to help.
That was the beginning of Under the Same Sun.
I began traveling to Tanzania and in 2009 we established Under the Same Sun with offices in Tanzania and Vancouver. My goal was to expose the deadly discrimination occurring against my people. My plan was to use education and advocacy to expose the damaging myths that were killing my people. We have been doing this in Tanzania, throughout Africa and around the world.