nature of reporting as different ministries and agencies share responsibilities for monitoring progress on
ratifications and managing compliance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the coordinating ministry while line
ministries - with support from the Ministry of Justice and the Law Reform Commission - take responsibility for
incorporating the ratified instruments into national law.
110.
Human Rights instruments, unlike other instruments, impose reporting obligations on Member States. The CRM
established that Tanzania does not have a good record of reporting on compliance with the ratified human
rights instruments. For those instruments that it has ratified, the updated status of Tanzania’s compliance with
reporting obligations as at 2008 showed a number of long overdue reports (Table 3.3). These include reports on
the ICESCR (due since 1990), the ICCPR report (since 2002), to CEDAW (since 1998) to CERD (since 1987), and
those to the CRC (since 2004).
Table 3.3: Reporting Status of Human Rights Instruments
Instrument
1
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW)
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
2
3
4
5
6
2007
Year Report was
considered or will
be considered
2009
2007
2009
2004
2005
Report last
submitted
No.
Racial Discrimination (CERD)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(CESCR)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
CRC Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed
Conflicts
7
CRC Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography
8
9
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Report
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
2004
To be considered in
November 2012
2006
2007
2008
2007
2007
2008
2004
2009
Source: Legal Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, March 2012.
111.
Persistent delays in reporting and submitting reports to treaty monitoring bodies is worrying and should be
addressed. The CRM was informed that the reasons for this include: lack of a permanent and capable staff
assigned to focus on drafting reports; and, an expanded workload for key Ministries. The challenge for Tanzania
is to complete the backlog of reports based on an uneven schedule, and with a rising number of initial and
separate periodic reports as more instruments are ratified.
112.
The CRM noted Tanzania’s successful participation in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) where it presented a
national report on the state of human rights to the 12th Session of the Human Rights Council. The ultimate value of
the UPR lies in the extent to which recommendations are fully and promptly implemented and do improve human
rights at the national level. Overall, there was no evidence about which UPR recommendations Tanzania supported
and how Government and other national actors such as Parliament and CSOs intended to implement them.
113.
Tanzania urgently needs to ratify the instruments listed below to address the following concerns: natural
resources management; water and environmental pollution; the impact of climate change; sustainable livelihoods
for the youth and their need to participate in decision-making; the potential impact of terrorism in the region;
and, insecurity from piracy along the East African coast. The instruments below would assist in the sustainable
management of natural resources, managing any conflicts that may arise as investments increase, combating
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