Tanzania Human Rights Report 2023: Assessing Accountability and Rights Protection
Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) launched its Tanzania Human Rights Report 2023 on April 24, 2024. The report is LHRC’s 22nd since 2002 and highlights the situation of human rights in Tanzania, both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, touching on the positives and the negatives that transpired throughout the year. It has been prepared in collaboration with the Zanzibar-based Zanzibar Fighting Against Youth Challenges Organization (ZAFAYCO).
The report is the outcome of LHRC’s assessment of human rights situation in Tanzania in line with domestic, regional, and international human rights standards, including human rights conventions ratified by Tanzania and the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977.
This was made possible through use of various data sources, both primary and secondary, including field data and internal data generated through LHRC’s programmes such as the Legal Aid Programme. Secondary data included reports, speeches, and statements by Government and Non-Government actors and institutions. LHRC’s media survey also provided an important data source for this report, enabling triangulation of data, and laying a foundation for further research.
The 2023 edition of annual human rights report touches on some key issues around the three generations of human rights, namely: the civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; and collective rights. There are chapters for each of these three generations and additional chapters on: introduction; rights of special groups such as women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly; human rights mechanisms available at domestic, regional, and international levels and their role in human rights protection; and status of implementation of recommendations made in previous reports.
The report also contains recommendations within specific chapters covering the human rights situation. In total, the report has seven chapters in both Part One (Mainland Tanzania) and Part Two (Zanzibar). Some of the new additions in the report include issues such as artistic freedom, climate change concerns, and status of recommendations implementation in Zanzibar.
The theme for the 2023 human rights report is “Constitution: A Pillar for Accountability and Rights Protection” considering the calls and debates around accountability and the need for a new constitution to in 2023. Accountability is the cornerstone of the human rights framework, without which rights holders cannot hold duty bearers to account in accordance with their obligations. This makes this human rights principle such an important tool for enforcing human rights.
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