July 22, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

Tanzania government should immediately end the oppression of civic space and give the rights to freedom of expressions. 

Three special human rights experts wrote in a report and stated that Tanzania government should keep the promise on the transparency of information. However, at the end of April, the government did not release the statistic of COVID-19 cases. In addition, the government should give the right to assembly in the early October.

The human right environment worsens in Tanzania. Experts strongly address that the government should stop the further actions to limit the civic space based on the Basic Rights and Duties Enforcement Act. This act ultimately prevents victims to appeal a lawsuit to fight for their rights. Experts stated that this legislation will automatically mute the voice of oppression and injustice. 

The government is notorious for the negative reputation of human rights. In 2016, special human rights experts had already reported that there were repetition actions to arrest the opposition members and activists. 

The freedom of transforming information is another huge issue in Tanzania. The law in Tanzania even defines the free media and the usage of statistic. Journalists are faced with huge pressure from the government because they will receive huge fines when they criticize the government. 

Recently, the Tanzania government has already arrested opposition leaders for accusing the unlawful assembly. The crackdown continues and even the training of Tanzanian Human Rights Defenders Coalition was interrupted by local police officers.