ll. Findings of the CRM Rights of Refugees 491. The CRM stakeholder consultations in various parts of Tanzania confirmed the general perception among Tanzanians that refugees are responsible for many of the ills and social problems in Tanzanian society. Even other illegal immigrants are believed to have taken advantage of the refugee situation to enter the country. 492. The CRM noticed that host local communities were incensed by what they term ‘destruction of the environment’ by refugees and government failure to compensate them for it. For instance, refugees are blamed for the deforestation in Kigoma, while the general rise in regional crime is also attributed to their presence. Refugees are also generally viewed as fuelling natural resource conflicts, accused of illegal hunting and timber felling. 493. The CRM is concerned about open intolerance for refugees in all areas that hosted them. The team noted that the presence of refugees was tolerated only so long as they stayed confined to their camps. In both Kigoma and Songea, stakeholder consultations revealed that locals preferred to see refugees go back to their countries; sooner rather than later. What particularly incensed locals was the emphasis on refugee rights over host community rights. 494. Consultations with stakeholder groups, including parliamentarians, revealed that the country was not prepared to integrate refugees into host communities. The CRM believes that this attitude may well degenerate into xenophobic outbursts and should to be checked and contained. Rights of the disabled 495. The CRM found no reliable statistics on the exact number of people living with disabilities in the country. Figures that are available are disputed. Indeed, the 2008 Tanzania Disability Survey Report has not been updated.83 496. The CRM observed that implementing the 2004 National Policy on Disability remains a challenge for many reasons, including the lack of infrastructure and resources to cater for the different needs of the disabled community. For instance, most private companies in Dar es Salaam do not employ persons with disabilities84 and more than half of the disabled children do not attend school because of limitations caused by their disability and lack of money85. Moreover, a lack of special teachers adversely affects the quality of inclusive education. 497. The CRM also learnt that the disabled cannot vote because no special arrangements were made for them to exercise their rights unencumbered. For instance, according to the National Voter Registration, 142,403 people with disabilities - 13,985 of whom were blind - registered for the 2005 elections.86 Although the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) form was designed so people with any category of disabilities could be identified by computer data, there were no Braille facilities for visually-challenged registered voters. Other groups struggle to register as people have to cover long distances to get to registration centres and many cannot walk.that far. 498. Stakeholders accused Government of not being fully committed to catering for the handicapped, as basic services are not provided in a way that facilitates easy access. They noted that most public buildings do not have easy access facilities for the physically challenged. The deaf, in particular, cannot convey their concerns for a lack of sign language interpreters. 499. The URT Constitution has no clear provisions for people with disabilities. They have no direct participation in political processes as the disabled are represented via the Special Parliamentary Seats reserved for women. The disabled are, thus, subsumed under women. Likewise, the community of people living with disabiities resents being lumped in the category with vulnerable citizens, since they do not consider themselves to be a homogenous group of the vulnerable. As with other categories, there are vulnerable people within their community who should Tanzania Disability Survey Report, National Bureau of Statistics and the Dept. of Social Welfare, URT, Dec 2009. Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania - An Assessment of the Proportion of Persons with Disabilities in the Work Place 2010, Disability Aid Abroad, CCBRT and Radar Development, Sept 2010. 85 Tanzania Disability Survey Report, National Bureau of Statistics and the Dept. of Social Welfare, URT, Dec 2009. 86 The 2005 Elections in Tanzania Mainland, Peoples with Disability Report of the Tanzania Election Monitoring Committee (TEMCO). 83 84 107