Tanzania: Withdrawal from Africa court provision not political
Deputy minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Tanzania is one of the first signatories of the 1998 Protocol made by the African leaders that established the judicial organ. The country’s relationship with the Court blossomed later when Tanzania won a bid to host it as it relocated to Arusha in 2007.
Arusha. Tanzania’s withdrawal of the African Court declaration on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was not politically motivated.
The decision was arrived at to ensure the country’s sovereignty is protected from within the legal frameworks outside its borders. “The withdrawal was not politically motivated,” affirmed the deputy minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk.
He dismissed reports that Tanzania has wholly withdrawn from the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR), saying the impression created was misguided. “What Tanzania withdrew was a provision allowing NGOs and individuals to file cases directly to the Court,” he stressed.
The deputy minister made yet another clarification by the government after opening a Retreat for the AfCHPR judges and senior officials from the African Union (AU) seat in Addis Ababa.
The officials are members of the AU Permanent Representatives Committee, an advisory body of the continental organization and its organ, including the Court. Tanzania is one of the first signatories of the 1998 Protocol made by the African leaders that established the judicial organ. The country’s relationship with the Court blossomed later when Tanzania won a bid to host it as it relocated to Arusha in 2007.
The country was also among several state parties to the AfCHPR which signed the Declaration allowing their citizens and NGOs to file cases directly before it.
However, in November 2019 Tanzania ditched the same Declaration, raising eyes on the commitment of the host country to the Court’s mandate. The government’s version of the pull out was that the provision (Declaration) had been implemented “contrary to the reservations it submitted when making this Declaration”.
This was done after what the deputy minister described as “internal consultations” within the government for the “national interests.”
Tanzania then joined three other state parties to the African Court Protocol - Rwanda, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire in ditching the controversial clause.
However, Mr. Mbarouk said despite drawing ire from the human rights activists, Tanzania was still committed to the AfCHPR core mandate.
“The impression that we have withdrawn (wholly) from the Court is misguided”, he said, noting that the government maintains cordial relations with the judicial organ.
The African Court President Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud said the Court would continue to build trust with the state parties.
She admitted, however, that withdrawal of some countries from some clauses was a blow to the Court whose Protocol has been signed by 31 of 55 AU states.
The Retreat, taking place at Gran Melia hotel in Arusha, has been convened to take stock of the Court’s achievements and challenges in 15 years of its existence.
