always forthcoming. National stakeholders have also raised questions about the legal or factual independence of CHRAGG. 279. The CRM confirms the CSAR observation that the appointment of commissioners by the President and the presidential powers to direct or order the CHRAGG on any matter in the public interest has undermined its independence. The CRM also established that a constraining political environment is not conducive for CHRAGG to effectively discharge its role as a human rights watchdog. Government is not complying with the institutional requirements to respond promptly, without any prior justification being given, to the commission’s inquiries and recommendations on completion of its investigations (refer to Nyamuna case). The Parliament of Mainland Tanzania did not discuss any of the Annual Reports of CHRAGG, while the Zanzibar House of Representatives did so for the first time in 2011. 280. The CHRAGG budget, which comes from a consolidated fund, has been dwindling and inadequate allocations from the Legal Sector Reform Programme Fund hamper its mandate, adversely affecting efforts to take service provision beyond current offices in Lindi, Zanzibar and Mwanza. As a result, CHRAGG has been unable to sustain implemention of its medium-term service delivery strategy, nor give timely responses to issues at the community level (as in the case of the Loliondo and Kipaw evictions), nor even to educate the public on their rights or provide remedies for human rights violations. In meetings with stakeholders, it emerged that the public is unable to get to CHRAGG services and tends to seek assistance from CSOs such as the Legal and Human Rights Committee. Box 3.1: Best practice: the URT Declaration on Jurisdiction of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights Despite the challenges of protecting and promoting human rights, the United Republic of Tanzania should be commended for being one of the first countries in Africa to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights which came into force in respect of URT in February, 2006. The URT made a declaration under Article 34(6) of the Protocol in June 2009 thus accepting the jurisdiction of the African Court in respect of direct access by individuals and NGOs. To date only five African countries including Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Mali have made the optional declaration. The first case against the United Republic of Tanzania was filed on June 2, 2011 by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) on independent candidacy. Knowledge and awareness on human rights 281. The CRM observed that the majority of people in Tanzania, especially in the rural areas, do not sufficiently know their rights, thereby impacting on their ability to enforce and claim them. Although CHRGG and CSO civic education programmes have better informed growing numbers of citizens about their rights in communities where they organised programmes, particularly in urban areas, civic education has not reached rural areas where over 70 per cent of Tanzanians live. In some regions, such as Pemba, the CRM learnt that voter education reached the public a few weeks before elections – civic education has therefore, not been adequate. It meetings with stakeholders, it emerged that CSOs provided most of the civic education through radio programmes and workshops. That notwithstanding, there were strong calls from Mbeya, Mtwara and Zanzibar for sustained civic education on human rights that is essential for deepening democracy and ensuring inclusive development. 282. The CRM is concerned that the mindset and understanding of the leaders and citizens on human rights was biased towards civil and political rights. There was little recognition of the economic and social rights of the people. Consequently, the leaders and citizens regarded the social and economic needs as services and not as human rights. This hampered discussions on socio-economic rights during the CRM. The social and economic rights discourse has not been positive. This is attributed to the biased understanding of human rights that has contributed to limited progressive and innovation action to protect economic and social rights through litigation, advocacy, or community and individual initiative. 283. Fast-changing market conditions, technological development and economic growth in which private sector is a central driving force, tend to compromise respect of human rights. During the CRM interactions, citizens felt that Tanzania had no culture of respect for human rights as yet. The CRM was informed that public and private institutional behaviour had compromised this, particularly in relation to land rights, the environment and labour rights. Moreover, although, as noted in Chapters Four and Six, the economy is growing at an annual average of 7 73