2:
General Measures of Implementation
Article 1
Over the years, Tanzania has shown its commitment to international humanitarian laws
including those related to children’s rights. Among others, Tanzania has:
·
Ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) without reservation
(1991)
·
Ratified the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (2001)
·
Ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (2003)
·
Acceded to the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in
Armed Conflict (2004)
·
Acceded to the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography (2003)
·
Ratified the Convention Governing Specific aspects of Refugee Problems in
Africa and the UN Convention on the Status of Refugee (2003)
Despite having acceded or ratified the above, Tanzania is a common law country, and
international and regional treaties have to be specifically adopted into domestic
legislation before they become binding within the State. This is usually done by enacting
a piece of ‘stand alone’ legislation or, more commonly, amending existing legislation
through ‘consequential amendments’.
To date, most of the treaties have not been
domesticated.
Despite this, the Tanzanian Government considers the Charter to be a major human right
instrument, as important as the CRC, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Some of the provisions spelt out in the
Charter are already embodied in Tanzanian legislation.
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