In addition, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child underpins the work of the two ministries responsible for children’s affairs - in the mainland, the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children (MCDGC) - and in Zanzibar, the Ministry of Labour Youth, Women and Children Development (MLYWCD). The Government is currently looking into a proposal submitted by the MCDGC to establish a National Coordination body to be responsible for all matters related to child rights at all levels. The proposed body will be expected to establish a mechanism for the periodic evaluation of the implementation of this charter and will involve Government Ministries NGOs and civil society organisations for both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. In Zanzibar a coordinating body, the National Child Rights Committee (NCRC) was been established in 2002 for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the status of the implementation of international child rights instruments. Despite this, the impact of the Charter on the social, economic, political and legal framework of the country and on the lives of children is far from adequate. For example, to date it does not appear that in criminal cases of juveniles the CRC or ACRWC principles have been referred to or applied. 2 To date, it does not appear that any cases specifically related to child rights have been brought to court. In general, human rights litigation and child rights in particular remain the domain of a few individuals and NGOs. Development Context - Since Tanzania ratified the ACRWC in March 2003, the Government has been reviewing several key documents and pieces of legislation which relate to child rights including: · The Law Reform Commission (LRC) reports submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in 1994 · The Law of Marriage Act 2 Survey undertaken by the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG) in the Juvenile Court. Despite this, there is lack of information of criminal cases since law reports have not been published since 1997. 4

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