Tanzania agrees to implement at least 167 of UPR endorsements

Senior Journalist with The Citizen

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Presenting the outcome of the UPR at the 49th regular session of the UN human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, George Simbachawene said the country was a strong proponent of the UPR mechanism.

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has agreed to implement 187 proposals (including 20 partially) out of the 252 submitted to the government as a result of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) November 2021 report.
Tanzania was one of the member states of the United Nations that received a review on the human rights situation and received a total of 252 recommendations for implementation.
Presenting the outcome of the UPR at the 49th regular session of the UN human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, George Simbachawene said the country was a strong proponent of the UPR mechanism.
He noted that as the government pursued the goal of realisation of human rights for all Tanzanians, the recommendations were given the highest consideration.
He said in a statement that all 252 recommendations were disseminated to State and non-State actors, including the National Human Rights Institution as well as civil society, in both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
“As a result of broad-based consultations, Tanzania has accepted to implement 167 recommendations, which were in compliance with the Constitution of Tanzania Mainland and the Constitution of Zanzibar,” he explained.
The recommendations aligned with policies, laws and programmes which called for the promotion and protection of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, emerging human rights issues, anti-corruption efforts, environmental conservation and development priorities of Tanzania.
“We affirmed our commitment to implementing all the accepted recommendations, which had been deemed strategic and effective interventions for the promotion and protection of human rights,” he said.
He revealed that, however, 65 recommendations had been noted; those were recommendations that were not in alignment with the Constitutions, policies, laws, traditions, beliefs and culture of Tanzania, or which required further consultations before making a conclusive decision.
“The government strived to ensure that all Tanzanians were provided with equal civil, political, economic, social and cultural human rights,” he told the council.
Speakers at the conference applauded the government of Tanzania for progress made in strengthening its institutional frameworks for the promotion and protection of rights and fundamental freedoms.
“Tanzania’s acceptance of close to 75 percent of the recommendations showed real commitment to further promoting and protecting the rights of all persons on its territory,” states the council’s message.
However, while appreciating President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Zanzibar’s Dr Hussein Mwinyi for improving human rights protection since they took top offices, Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) national coordinator, Onesmo Olengurumwa said there was need to maintain and extend the same to other areas.
"To make recent progressive developments sustainable, we call for comprehensive legal reforms, including the completion of the new constitution making process and facilitate amendments to legal provisions affecting civil society organizations," he said while presenting the results of UPR in Geneva.
He mentioned the Media Services Act, the Statistics Act, the Cyber Crimes Act, the Access to Information Act, the Political Parties Act, the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) regulations, the amendments to the NGO Act and the Basic Rights and Duties Enforcement Act (BRADEA) as restrictions that need to be considered further.