Tanzania: Promotion Mission, 2008

The mission was undertaken by Commissioner Mumba Malila, member of the African Commission responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in the United Republic of Tanzania, and the African Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa. He was accompanied by Mrs Aminata Jawara-Manga, Legal Officer at the Secretariat of the African Commission. The promotion mission to the United Republic of Tanzania took place from 6 – 10 October 2008.

The terms of reference of the mission are:

• To promote the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the activities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
• To engage the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania on the measures it has or is taking to implement its international human rights obligations in general and its obligations under the African Charter in particular;
• To exchange views with the government of the United Republic of Tanzania on the challenges it may be facing in fulfilling its international and regional human rights obligations and the extent to which the African Commission can assist;
• To exchange views with other human rights stakeholders in the United Republic of Tanzania on ways and means of promoting and protecting human rights in the country;
• To encourage closer collaboration between the African Commission and the State on the one hand, and between the African Commission and civil society organisations on the other; and
• To encourage the government of the United Republic of Tanzania to participate regularly in the activities of the Commission including attending sessions of the Commission.

Recommendations

The Commission makes the following recommendations to the Government:

1. To ratify outstanding key human rights instruments...
2. To continue to undertake sensitization programmes aimed at galvanizing public opinion in favour of the eventual abolition of the death penalty;
3. To intensify the efforts aimed at enhancing the betterment of prisons conditions, in particular to address the issue of overcrowding in detention facilities including construction of new prisons, implementing alternative sentencing policies etc;
4. To ensure the availability of adequate water supply in the prisons;
5. To provide educational programmes in the prisons, particularly for juveniles’;
6. To undertake deliberate policies aimed at addressing the problems confronting the judiciary in Tanzania, in particular the delays in the dispensation of justice;
7. To appoint more judges to deal with the heavy work load in the courts;
8. To step up efforts aimed at eradicating harmful traditional practices such as those responsible for the perpetuation of FGM in spite of the existence of legal provisions proscribing such practices;
9. To adopt efficient measures to deal with the growing phenomenon of using Albino body parts allegedly to enhance business fortunes. The Commission recommends the use of specific intelligence officers to investigate perpetrators and gather information;
10. To afford the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance sufficient resources and facilities to effectively undertake their mandate of investigating human rights violations and recommending measures to redress the same;
11. To collaborate closely with the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance in sensitization programmes on human rights, in the state reporting process, and in devising new legislation or amending legislation with human rights implications;
12. To domesticate the provisions of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, particularly with regard to violence against women, minimum age for marriage and marital rape;
13. To consider repelling laws which criminalize unmarried pregnant girls and ensure girls are maintained in schools;
14. To take measures to improve the electoral process to ensure free and fair elections, free from harassment and brutality, especially in Zanzibar;
15. To expedite the enactment of the Mental Health Bill.

The Commission recommends to Civil Society:

1. To intensify their efforts of advocacy and sensitization of the public on such issues as women’s rights and the death penalty;
2. To coordinate effectively in synergizing their efforts in the provision of legal aid and to the indigent in society;
3. To apply for observer status with the African Commission and to participate in the work of the Commission.