COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERS REPORT OF TANZANIA

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today concluded its consideration of the combined initial to third periodic report of Tanzania on that country’s implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Introducing the report, Angellah Jasmine Kairuki, Deputy Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs of Tanzania, said the country had been able to increase per capita income, improve food self-sufficiency and enhance the gross domestic product. The Government had taken measures to realize all Tanzanians’ right to health, which notably led to a decline in infant mortality and a reduction of maternal mortality. Policies had been adopted on compulsory education enrolment, secondary education and education programmes for girls and, as a result of its impressive performance in the educational arena, Tanzania was given a United Nations award for meeting the Millennium Development Goal on attaining universal primary education five years ahead of the 2015 deadline.

Committee Experts asked questions about the non-recognition of indigenous people, which contrasted with the existence of over 126 tribes in Tanzania, and teenage pregnancies, which were among the challenges faced in realizing the right to education of girls and young women. Other enquiries concerned measures taken to prohibit female genital mutilation and raise awareness of its negative consequences, pregnancy-related school drop-outs, and how the Government ensured that rural populations – especially women – enjoyed the same rights as others. Experts raised concern about the situation of child labour and domestic violence in the country.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Kairuki reassured Committee Experts that the Government would continue to work progressively to better promote human rights in Tanzania. Authorities would keep up the momentum on reporting obligations, not only regarding to this Committee but also other treaty bodies. In the coming days and months they would disseminate the outcome of the interaction with the Committee to stakeholders. The Government would take up very positively the recommendations and concluding observations resulting from this dialogue.

In preliminary concluding remarks, Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay, Committee Chairperson, Mr. Pillay invited Tanzania to improve the means for the legal protection of all rights contained in Covenant. He was pleased that Tanzania would positively consider the recommendations of Committee and hoped that the authorities would not only take these recommendations into account but also implement them. A lot remained to be done about poverty, the very low social security coverage, the ineffective enforcement of labour standards, the high rates of maternal and infant maternity, and forced evictions in both urban and rural areas.

The delegation of Tanzania consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Registration Insolvency Trusteeship Agency, the High Court of Zanzibar, the Judiciary, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlement, the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Water, the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration, the President’s Office, the National Social Security Fund, the Zanzibar Social Security Fund, the Social Security Regulatory Authority, the Public Service Remuneration Board, the Attorney General’s Chambers of Zanzibar, the Division of Public Prosecution, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions of Zanzibar, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the National Environmental Management Council, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, the Tanzania Commission for AIDS and the Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m. this afternoon when it will begin its consideration of the third periodic report of Ecuador (E/C.12/ECU/3).

Report of Tanzania

The combined initial to third periodic report of Tanzania can be read via the following link: E/C.12/TZA/1-3.

Presentation of the Report of Tanzania

ANGELLAH JASMINE KAIRUKI, Deputy Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs of Tanzania, said it was well-known that the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights was highly dependent on the eradication of poverty. Through a participatory approach, the Government had developed the National Development Vision 2025 for Mainland Tanzania and Vision 2020 for Zanzibar. Through these strategies, national resources had been budgeted for and allocated to various actors within the public institutions. The strategies accorded priority towards economic growth and poverty reduction, quality of life and social well-being, as well as good governance and accountability. The first phase of the implementation of the strategies had ended in 2010, with achievements including an increased per capita income, an enhanced food self-sufficiency rate and a growth of the real gross domestic product.

Tanzania’s dynamic and independent judiciary played an important role in protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms and served as a remedial mechanism whenever human rights had been violated. Likewise, the Government continued to implement policies, legislative and administrative measures to ensure non-discrimination. The Constitutions of both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar expressly prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other grounds.

The Government had taken measures to realize the right to health of all Tanzanians. Authorities had improved health services and constructed and rehabilitated facilities throughout the country. Reproductive and child health services continued to be a priority: infant mortality had declined from 96 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1996 and 2000 to 51 deaths in 2010, and maternal mortality had also been reduced significantly. The Government also continued to implement the National AIDS Control Programme. It provided treatment services and care to people living with HIV/AIDS as well as offering counseling and voluntary HIV testing. As a result, HIV prevalence among the 15-24 years old declined from 7.4 per cent in 2005 to 5 per cent in 2010. In 2011, a total of 14.9 million people had received voluntary HIV counseling.

Considerable improvements had been made in attaining the right to education, Ms. Kairuki went on to say. Tanzania had adopted policies and enacted legislation on compulsory education enrolment, secondary education, access to education for those who had missed the opportunity of formal education, as well as education programmes for girls. Enrolment in pre-primary schools had increased to 925,465 pupils in 2010, an increase of 3.3 per cent as compared to 2009. Likewise, primary school enrolment had augmented from just over 96 per cent in 2005 to 99 per cent in 2010. As a result of this impressive performance, Tanzania had received a United Nations award in 2010 for meeting the Millennium Development Goal on attaining Universal Primary Education five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Equally important, the number of students in secondary schools had increased by 11.7 per cent from 2009 to 2010 and it was heartening that some 44 per cent of these students were girls.

Teenage pregnancies was one of the challenges Tanzania faced in realizing the right to education for girls and young women, said Ms. Kairuki, indicating that the Government had adopted a re-entry policy to address this problem. Other measures included the introduction of sexual and reproductive health education in primary and secondary school curricula, the provision of life-skills manuals to all girls, the construction of hostels for girls, and the introduction of adult and non-formal education systems for dropouts. The Government was furthermore in the final process of reviewing its education and training policy of 1995 to accommodate the emerging challenges in this area.

Authorities had drawn up institutional, policy and legislative mechanisms to administer the right to food and food security. A milestone was the establishment of the food security department which oversaw the strategic grain reserve. It was also worth mentioning that from 2005 to 2010 Tanzania had recorded a self-sufficiency ratio of 112, meaning that it was self sufficient in terms of food. In 2009, Tanzania had embarked on an initiative to accelerate agricultural transformation. This comprised policy instruments and strategic interventions addressing the sectoral challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities to modernize and commercialize agriculture. Market prices of seeds and fertilizers had also been subsidized to increase food production.

In concluding, Ms. Kairuki reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. In spite of all efforts, work remained to be done to fully realize the rights enshrined in the Covenant. The Government was aware that the primary duty to guarantee fundamental freedoms and human rights lay with it in the first instance.

Questions by Experts

ASLAN KHUSEINOVICH ABASHIDZE, Committee Member acting as Country Rapporteur for the Report of Tanzania, noted the significant delay in submitting the report and underlined that reporting was among the key obligations that State parties entered into when acceding to the Covenant. He hoped that Tanzania would uphold its commitments in the area of human rights, particularly the timely submission of reports to human rights treaty bodies.

Mr. Abashidze said through the constitutional amendments international human rights instruments became a part of the Tanzanian Constitution. But did this take into account all rights enshrined in the Covenant and had the special commission analyzing draft bills concluded that this was the case? He was aware that the Constitution was being revised and wondered whether the new Constitution would include provisions allowing the full incorporation of relevant international provisions into the country’s legislation.

The Constitution prohibited discrimination on any basis and this was also taken up in a number of national laws. However, the Universal Periodic Review and treaty body results had shown that gender equality and equal rights of vulnerable groups, such as people suffering from HIV/AIDS, was in question. Did Tanzania not feel that it was time for a single legislative act on discrimination to bring together the various relevant parts on discrimination? The Country Rapporteur noted that all limitations to the enjoyment of human rights had been removed from the Constitution through the recent amendments, wondering which sections exactly had been removed and whether limitations were still in the books elsewhere.

Mr. Abashidze wondered for what reasons and under what conditions evictions were carried out. Did people living on ancestral lands hold documented property rights or were their rights rooted in customary law and, if so, could these documents be made to bear before the courts? For what reasons were evictions carried out?

The Expert wondered whether Tanzania had clear rules for the protection of the environment and whether these rules were scrupulously applied, including by mining companies and with regards to water. Access to clean water was fundamental for people, it was underscored.

A Committee member lauded the establishment of the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance. How many cases of violations of economic, social and cultural rights had been brought before the Commission last year and could this be broken down by categories?

It was noticed that Tanzania had made progress in terms of gender equality. But how did authorities reach out to women living in rural areas who might not be aware of the new laws and policies? How did they raise the awareness of women and girls and who were the main actors in this endeavour? Gender equality was not only legal equality, but equality of results, the Expert said, and this was reflected in statistics. Did Tanzania have such statistics?

An Expert noted that 45.8 million people were living in Tanzania and Zanzibar according to the delegation. Assuming that the population may increase, would the increase of the population not make it more difficult to achieve the objectives of the poverty reduction strategy, the Expert wondered.

Committee members asked several questions on the status of human rights education, whether there had been new case laws on the application of the Covenant and to what extent civil society was involved in the preparation of the report. They enquired what the percentage of Muslims was in Tanzania and what measures were taken to ensure that Islamic and customary law did not negatively impact the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

The delegation was asked whether decisions taken under customary law could be appealed and if so through which structures.

Response by the Delegation

The delegation reassured Committee members that the delay in reporting was not the result of neglect. Apart from a lack of resources, there had been organizational shortcomings, including the lack of a specific institution and mechanism for coordinating reporting obligations. This had now been rectified and dealt with and a fully fledged Division of Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights had been established to coordinate human rights reporting obligations.

Tanzania’s Constitution included a specific chapter on basic human rights and this was seen as sufficient to provide for the rights contained in the Covenant. The delegation could not commit the Government to what would be provided in the new Constitution – this would be decided by the public. When the Constitution was ready, a copy would be sent to the Committee.

Discrimination provisions were scattered in different legislation, the delegation said, adding that it took the Committee’s advice and would see whether this could be consolidated in a single law. It was emphasized however that the Constitution did provide for the right to non-discrimination.

The last amendment of the Constitution did away with human rights limitations. But as human rights were not absolute, some limitations still existed. What mattered was whether limitations were appropriate. Whoever felt that his or her rights had been violated could seek redress before the courts.

The Government had taken initiatives so that people owning land based on customary right could use their land titles as evidence before the courts.

In terms of environmental protection, the delegation pointed to the Environmental Management Act of 2008 whose provisions also applied to mining companies. Whenever toxic water was discovered, the Government tried to identify the actors involved and hold them to accountability.

The delegation hoped that the next population census would help find solutions to eradicate poverty. Tanzania did not see population growth as negative; it was rather expectable and unpreventable. The Government was giving its best, through reproductive health and family planning, to help people to provide for themselves. The delegation did not think that population growth would make it difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Human rights education was part of the civics subject taught in secondary school, said the delegation.

The Government was aware that rural women must be informed of their rights. Several organizations were working in rural areas, including the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance. Awareness raising and human rights training was notably conducted through public-private partnerships, with attempts to expand the regional coverage.

There were no case laws on the Covenant, because it had not been specifically incorporated, said the delegation, but there were cases on the rights contained in the Covenant.

There were two types of evictions: evictions of people who were giving way to a particular development or plan and the eviction of illegal settlers. Illegal settlers who took hold of protected areas received no compensation. When evictions were made to establish mining regions or protected areas, however, land owners were compensated on the basis of the market value of their land, in accordance with the land acquisition act. People were also paid disturbance allowances and given other suitable land instead.

Islamic law guaranteed all rights, be they economic, social and cultural rights or other rights and freedoms, the delegation said. Islamic courts essentially dealt with disputes among Muslims regarding questions of heritage, marriage and divorce; the decisions of these courts could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

There were no surveys to determine the number of Muslims as Muslims and non-Muslims were living together in harmony in Tanzania.

Questions by Experts

Information available to the Committee suggested that at least 50 per cent of workers fell in the informal sector of the economy and therefore had no employment benefits and social security. Furthermore, the State party said nothing about forced work in prisons and its report was laconic about paid holidays and minimum wages.

While Tanzania provided no information about labour inspections, other information suggested that there were very few labour inspectors. The mediation and arbitration commission had a role to play in cases where job security was lacking – where did it operate, what was its role and could it impose sanctions?

Mining and building companies apparently did not always allow workers to form unions. What was the role of the mediation and arbitration commission in this regard? The report, the first in 27 years, did not mention this issue, the Expert noted. He also asked for further information about collective bargaining and collective agreements and the right to strike and the limitations thereto. The Committee needed a clearer picture of the situation of the labour market in Tanzania.

Tanzania had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol in 2009, which was commendable. Also, in 2010, the Government had adopted an act on persons with disabilities. Were there any mandatory quotas for companies to employ a certain number of persons with disabilities?

A Committee Expert asked for statistical information on proceedings relating to deaths at the workplace, for instance in the mining industry; the list of conditions preventing strikes; and how the State reacted to private sector attempts to prevent the formation of trade unions.

Response by the Delegation

Responding to these and other questions and issues, the delegation said even though there was no survey on this, they could say that gender-based salary discrepancies did not exist – salaries were based on other criteria such as seniority and meritocracy. However, there was an employment gap between men and women due to cultural reasons and because women were sometimes not very well educated.

Strikes may be resorted to by anyone who claimed a dispute of interest after other means such as mediation had been exhausted. Such matters were considered by the labour commission.

The role of the mediation and arbitration commission was to regulate the relationship between workers and employers. The commission observed the realization of fair labour practices, including in terms of limitations of organizational rights. When labour contracts were terminated, the commission could help to mediate. It also educated both employers and workers to live together peacefully.

There were indeed quotas helping people with disabilities to get jobs. Every enterprise in Tanzania should try to ensure that no less than 3 per cent of its workforce consisted of people with disabilities.

Labour inspectors were given access to companies to inspect implementation of ILO standards.

There were issues of coverage of informal workers by social security funds, but the Government was taking measures to ensure that at the end of the day they also reaped the benefits of their work.

Despite the economic situation in Tanzania, the Government had set minimal industry-specific salaries, which were increased every year. In the public sector, for instance, the minimal salary was 135,000 Tanzanian Schilling. In the private sector the salaries were defined by sector-specific boards.

There was no forced labour in Tanzanian prisons, the delegation said. After conviction, a prisoner underwent an integration and rehabilitation process, a medical examination and various briefings. Then they did indeed take part in farming and gardening activities, as well as in vocational trainings, but this was not forced labour. The objective was to help prisoners get jobs upon release from prison.

It was true that there was an anti-trade union policy and that was where the labour inspectors stepped in. Whenever a faulty employer was identified, strict measures were taken. Dismissing an employee due to participation in a trade union was considered an unfair practice, leading to appropriate measures as stipulated in the law such as re-instating the employee.

Questions by Experts

A Committee member appreciated that Tanzania had made good progress in relation to HIV/AIDS but asked for more information on efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

Reports suggested that children were working in mines, notably for the extraction of gemstones. What was the Government doing to stop mining companies from abusing people’s right to health?

Tanzania clearly had a problem with domestic violence, an Expert noted. Could the delegation outline the Government’s actions in this regard and provide concrete evidence such as case laws? Further information on marital rape and prostitution, especially child prosecution, would also be appreciated, along with comments on abortion.

A Committee member expressed concern about the situation of child labour in Tanzania and said the report lacked statistics on this subject. Could the delegation provide information on the magnitude of the phenomenon? Related to this was the issue of street children and, here again, the Experts lacked sufficient knowledge about the situation of this vulnerable group and what was being done to improve their plight.

As the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals was drawing closer, the Committee would be interested in hearing Tanzania’s experience of working with such international targets. Furthermore, what were its views on the post-2015 development agenda from the viewpoint of the rights contained in the Covenant?

An Expert said he would welcome receiving disaggregated data on discrimination to see whether the changes were for the better or for the worse. There were also high numbers of maternal deaths and access to abortion seemed challenging even in cases where this was legal – could the delegation comment on this?

Women seemed to have the same right to own land as their male counterparts. However, Tanzania was still facing customary law based land possession issues and the law reform commission made several recommendations. Could the delegation outline those recommendations and indicate to what extent they had been implemented?

Committee members asked about measures to prohibit female genital mutilation and raise awareness of its negative consequences; reasons for early pregnancies, particularly in schools, and what could be done to tackle this issue; and what authorities were doing to ensure that marginalized groups such as people living in rural areas enjoyed the same rights as others.

An Expert said he had information suggesting that pregnancy testing conducted among school girls was mandatory as of the age of 12, which caused many girls to drop out of school. As a result, not as many girls attended school as ought to. What measures was the State taking to ensure that girls were not forced to leave school due to this programme?

Children in rural areas were more likely to suffer from hunger – how did the authorities make sure that rural children did not become the victims of hunger? There was also a lack of qualified medical personnel and medical services were often very far away.

Responses by the Delegation

Female genital mutilation had been criminalized in 1998 and relevant provisions had been incorporated into the Penal Code. Any person found guilty would be punished with terms of not less than five years and not more than 15 years and/or a fine. In addition, the perpetrator must pay compensation to the victim. There had been efforts to curb female genital mutilation through the training of the persons who carried out the mutilation, awareness raising campaigns, including one launched by the President, the establishment of information desks at police stations and a national plan of action. These measures, along with behaviour change initiatives, had helped people understand the negative effects of female genital mutilation.

The primary and secondary education curriculum covered sexual and reproductive health and life skills manuals were provided to school girls, the delegation said with reference to early pregnancies.

Tanzania did have a programme for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and every positively tested woman was given counseling and information about how to avoid having the child born with the disease.

Child labour was not allowed by Tanzanian labour law and the Government was doing a lot to monitor this and improve the situation. A pilot progamme supported by USAID reached out to labouring children, attempting to bring them back to school and offering their families a cash incentive. Twenty-two thousand children had been removed from child labour situations and provided with education and 12,000 kids had been enrolled in vocational training institutions. Nine out of 25 regions of Tanzania had been reached and district committees had been formed, working hand in hand with the national committee which operated as an advisory board to the Government on child labour. Three cases of child labour infringements had recently been identified and action was pending.

The Penal Code criminalized all acts of domestic violence and the Government was training prosecutors, law enforcement officers and the judiciary to understand this matter. The establishment of a specific Government unit dealing with sexual gender based violence and domestic violence was currently being considered. So far Tanzania had no punishment for marital rape in its books but the Committee’s comment was noted and might be taken into account in the future. There was the risk, however, that disputed cases of alleged cases of marital rape would be difficult to clarify.

Authorities did take the issue of street children seriously and had conducted an assessment in two regions last year. The resulting statistics were very shocking indeed and the Government was seeing what it could do in response.

To tackle maternal death and improve maternal health, the Government had increased the relevant budgets and trained more doctors and midwifes to tackle the shortage of healthcare workers providing these services. Other health initiatives such as the seven-year plan to address maternal death had also contributed to improving the situation.

The Government felt for disadvantaged people and would provide a house to each if it had the funds. Unfortunately, however, at this stage it did not have the means to do so.

The delegation promised to get back to the Committee regarding its views on the post-2015 development agenda and statistics on child labour.

The Government was not aware that girls were dropping out of schools due to pregnancy tests. These tests had been conducted for a long time and there seemed to be no relation between testing and drop-outs.

The Government understood that every Tanzanian had the right to food. It was therefore doing its best to increase self-sufficiency in terms of food. For areas suffering from food shortages, the authorities were trying to step in and provide more food to the people at large.

Questions by Experts

More than half of the Tanzanian population was under the age of 18, an Expert noted, which pointed to the importance of education. She was therefore pleased that Tanzania had nearly achieved universal primary education. As for the 66,000 drop-outs in 2010 that the State party had mentioned, could the delegation explain how many of them were boys and how many were girls? It had also been indicated that 5,300 girls had dropped out in 2010 due to pregnancies. What were the primary reasons for drop-outs, how many children dropped out due to child marriage or other reasons?

An Expert wondered how the non-recognition of indigenous people could be reconciled with the existence of over 126 tribes in Tanzania, both in legislation and in practice. In relation to this, how was traditional and ancestral knowledge protected? Did the State recognize that such knowledge existed? An ethnically diverse country as Tanzania should protect its cultural heritage.

It was noted that Tanzania seemed to consider that the term indigenous people did not apply to Tanzanians as they were all indigenous. This had led to recommendations to protect the lifestyle of people such as hunters to make sure that they were not subject to forced deportation. Perhaps this policy should be reviewed.

A Committee member commended Tanzania for allocating 20 per cent of the State budget to education. This was a good achievement for a developing country. While the 20 per cent mark was maintained, the absolute figures had halved in recent years. Was this because the overall budget had been reduced?

Concern was raised that adolescent pregnancies disproportionally affected girls from low-income settings. Tanzania was encouraged to make internet access available to the people, particularly to marginalized or disadvantaged groups. More information was requested on traditional areas belonging to pastoralist communities.

Responses by the Delegation

Reasons for school drop-outs included – beside early pregnancies – the pastoralist culture, and the fact that these peoples moved from one place to another; parents may fail to understand the importance of education. Authorities were trying to help all parents understand the importance of education. The Government knew that some schools were expelling children for pregnancies – that was the policy. There were two schools of thought: one was that the pregnant girls could continue school despite motherhood and the other was that kids who had sexual experience should not be together with the others. Reflection on this was ongoing. There were various reasons for the pregnancies, possibly including rape. If funds could be found, Tanzania would conduct a study to determine the exact reasons.

Tanzania saw itself as one nation and it did not want to collect data segregated by tribes. Otherwise one tribe could claim that it had the largest population, which could trigger subsequent problems. What mattered most was the promotion and protection of all groups. Measures were aimed at all tribal groups in the country, as expressed during the Universal Periodic Review, said the delegation, adding that traditional knowledge was protected by law.

As far as access to the internet was concerned, the delegation said that Tanzania did have a policy on information and communication technologies and was on the way of connecting to the internet. There was a programme for virtual learning, whereby all schools would be connected to the internet, and the Government believed that 100 per cent connectivity could be reached.

Preliminary Concluding Remarks

ANGELLAH JASMINE KAIRUKI, Deputy Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Constitution Affairs of Tanzania, thanked the Committee for its leadership in steering the deliberations. Together they had examined the combined initial to third periodic report of Tanzania on how it was implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. What ensued was an intense and rich discussion and she sincerely hoped that this frank and transparent dialogue had been to the Committee’s satisfaction. It would not have been possible to do justice to the expectations of the Committee in just two days, but she believed that to a large extent her delegation had been able to respond. Regarding those questions for which this was not case, the delegation would provide answers within 48 hours, while consultation and dialogue on other questions would continue.

Some issues raised by the Committee necessitated human resources that Tanzania did not have and a gradual approach was therefore required. However, Ms. Kairuki reassured the Committee Experts that the Government would continue to work to better promote human rights in Tanzania. Authorities would keep up the momentum on reporting obligations, not only with regard to this Committee but also other treaty bodies. Tanzania valued the technical and financial support received from development partners and the United Nations system.

In the coming days and months, the Tanzanian authorities would disseminate the outcome of the interaction with the Committee to stakeholders and the Government would take up very positively the recommendations and concluding observations resulting from this dialogue.

ARIRANGA GOVINDASAMY PILLAY, Committee Chairperson, expressed hope that in future the State party would cooperate with the Committee on a regular basis by presenting its report on time. Hopefully, the dialogue would not only continue but also be enhanced. Mr. Pillay invited Tanzania to improve the means for the legal protection of all rights contained in Covenant. For instance, the right to education and the right to health should be incorporated into the bill of rights, which was part of the Constitution, through the ongoing reform process. He also encouraged Tanzania to consider all recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review, treaty bodies and special procedures in the strategic national human rights action plan which was in the process of being drafted.

Mr. Pillay was pleased that Tanzania would positively consider the recommendations of Committee and hoped that authorities would not only take these recommendations into account but also implement them. A lot remained to be done about poverty, the very low social security coverage, the ineffective enforcement of labour standards, the high rates of maternal and infant maternity, and forced evictions in both urban and rural areas.


For use of the information media; not an official record

ESC12/013E