TANZANIA EXPERIENCE IN
ADDRESSING GENDER BASED
VIOLENCE
PRESENTED AT A WORKSHOP
AFRICAN REGION SECURITY ORGANS
CAPACITY BUILDING ON VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
NATURE AND EXTENT OF GBV
• Tanzania like other African countries GBV is
a problem which need multisectoral efforts
to address it.
• We categorise GBV into two categories:
o those of criminal nature and,
o those of civil nature (adultery, bigamy etc)
• Security organs directly deals with these of
criminal nature while the rest is addressed
by other institutions in a way of civil
cases/petitions
• The type of GBV related crimes which are
mostly committed include rape, wife
battering, early/school pregnancies,
indecent assault, incest, just to mention a
few.
EXISTING INTERVENTIONS FOR GBV
PREVENTION AND RESPONSE
• The Ministry of Community Development,
Gender and Children was established mainly
to address women and children related
issues
• There is a National Gender Policy of which
led to the developed a five years Strategic
Plan of Actions (SPA) addressing Gender
and children related issues
• The strategic Plan of Actions outlined a
number of objectives and activities
• In implementing the SPA, there are a
number of stakeholders who are engaged in
addressing issues relating to Women and
Children rights
• These includes Human Rights Activists,
Professionals like Tanzania Women Lawyers,
Tanzania Media Women Association,
WiLDAF, Tanzania Gender Networking
Programme, Women Legal Aid Center, Legal
and Human Right Centre and others,
• They undertake various tasks such as
providing legal aids, awareness campaign,
dialogue with various groups of people,
advocacy, creation of network, dissemination
of educative legal material and sensitization
• Capacity building for police officers on GBV
related issued
• Inclusion of the GBV related material in the
Police Training Curricula
• Operationalization of the police gender desk
for 24 hours daily
• Community policing through media and
outreaching program
• Mobile police stations
INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL
COMMITMENTS RATIFIED
• Tanzania is among of the country ratified
most of the International and Regional
Human rights related Instruments except the
recent UN HRC Resolution of June 2011
NATIONAL LAW AND POLICIES
RELATED TO GBV PREVENTION AND
RESPONSE
• The Tanzanian Constitution 1977 amended
from time to time has a chapter on human
rights
Enactments:
• The Sexual Offences Special Provision Act
1998, introduced and criminalized various
acts, by bringing a broader definition of rape, it
imposed 30 years imprisonment for rape and
life imprisonment for gang rape and others.
Enactments…
• Amendment of the Evidence Act to
accommodate uncorroborated evidence of a
single child victim/witness of a rape/sexual
offences.
• The Land Act 1999, provides the right over
the registered land
• The Village Land Act 1999, outline the rights
over un-registered land. Both Acts recognize
the right of a woman to own and inherit land,
Enactments…
• Land owned or acquired by the married
couple during the subsistence of their
marriage, no one has the right of the land
over the other. The law require a spouse to
sign the transaction involving transfer of
ownership as evidence that she/he was
consulted and consented
• Law of Child Act 2009 brought in a common
definition of a child to mean, any person
below the age of 18 years, it also outlined
the role of various stakeholders including a
social welfare officer on child protection
• National Gender Policy
MECHANISM AND STRUCTURE ESTABLISHED
FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING LAWS
• The Juvenile Court
• Police Gender Desk
• Children Protection Team at the district level
comprised members from the Local
Government, Health, Judiciary, Social
Welfare Officer, Prosecutor, and the Police.
• Radio educative programmes
• School programmes “Our safety first”
Usalama wetu Kwanza
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
• There are ward and village council which
address all type of wrongs
arising/committed within their locality and
where necessary forward them to the police
machinery or the primary court.
EXISTING GAPS AND CHALLENGES
• Ignorance of legal knowledge as the legal
terminologies are very technical and in
English language
• Poverty is also another problem for the
families who depend on the economic
support from the perpetrator
• Cultural values is another barrier as some
tribes believe FGM is not a crime
• Inadequate financial support to carry out the
activities
• Contradictions of the law for example the
Law of a Child 2009 define a child as a
person below the age of 18 years while the
Law of Marriage Act 1971 allow marriage of
a girl of 15 years.
• In adequate number of judiciary personnel.
In some districts you may find one
magistrate serves two courts.
WOMEN IN PEACEKEEPING
• Formally it was hard to find women police
from Tanzania serving at the peacekeeping
missions due to lack of qualifications.
• We appreciate the initiatives of the Pearson
Peacekeeping in Canada for their tireless
support in building women’s capacity which
enabled Tanzanian Women Police to qualify.
• Currently there are 46 women in the mission
and 25 are waiting for the deployment after
successfully undergone the test.
CHALLENGES
• The main challenge is driving the 4WD
manual vehicle to the required standard
• Family ties
• Language to some extent is another barrier
especially when they attend oral tests due to
the pronunciations
STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME
• Regional Police Commanders have been
asked to encourage women officers to learn
driving 4WD vehicle especially for those
aspiring to go for peacekeeping
• Inclusion of peacekeeping materials in the
training curricula for both at the initial
training and at the higher learning police
training institutions is intended to build the
officers capacity.
LESSON LEARNT AND WAY FORWARD
• GBV is still a serious issue which need
coordinated and integrated efforts to
address it
• It needs both political as well as community
will
• Knowledge of Peacekeeping is important to
security organs not only for UN
Peacekeeping Missions but also for keeping
peace within our own country. The
knowledge is a tool which must be invested
to all security officers.