475. Local Authority Youth Mapping identifies where the youth are located and the activities that require strengthening. The Youth Revolving Fund is in place to support income generation by organised groups and brigades. Local authorities are mandated to contribute 10% of their funds to this revolving fund. There are 40 Vocational Educational Training Centres around the country that train youth in new skills. 476. The youth consider themselves the most vulnerable group in the country as they feel they are manipulated in different ways by various interests. In stakeholder consultations, politicians were accused of seeing their value in terms of political muscle yet they provide no platforms for young people to contribute to national political and planning processes. ll. Recommendations 477. The APR Panel recommends that the United Republic of Tanzania: • Enact legislation to provide for rehabilitative services and support for prosecuting child offenders, in line with relevant provisions in international covenants; [Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, CHRAGG, CSOs] • Set up a readily accessible special fund with low interest rates to assist the youth in entrepreneurial activities; [Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development, Central Bank of Tanzania] and, • Design an internship system that gives youth a chance to learn new job skills whilst accumulating experience. [Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Ministry of Labour Employment, and Youth Development] Objective Nine: Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable groups including Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees l. Summary of the CSAR 478. The CSAR states that the rights of vulnerable groups are embedded in the URT Constitution. However, enforcement has remained difficult for many reasons, including low institutional and resource capacity. Rights of refugees 479. Tanzania ratified the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1969 Africa Refugee Convention, and has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees in the region over the years from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The country remains the largest refugee host country in Africa with over 520,000 refugees (100,000 children are under five years, 200,000 are children and youth of school age). Refugee children have access to health, education and other social services and amenities, such as water and recreation facilities. 480. However, the URT government regards refugees as a burden for the following reasons: (i) environmental degradation; (ii) the rise in the incidence of violent crime; (iii) the general security threat they pose to the country; and, (iv) overburdened national infrastructure coping with a huge number of refugees in the face of dwindling financial resources. 481. The 2003 National Refugee Policy strongly advocates the repatriation of refugees and the creation of ‘safe zones’ in their countries of origin. Although Tanzania has tried to implement the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, it failed to conform to some of the standards set out in the Convention and, thus, scaled back hospitality to refugees. Refugees were denied entry into the country, while others were ‘involuntarily’ forced to leave Tanzania. The 1998 Refugees Act introduced many ‘claw back’ clauses seeking to promote and protect refugee rights. At the same time, those rights were taken away by the imposition of restrictions on the enjoyment of those rights. 105