Thank you,
Norway thanks the United Republic of Tanzania for its presentation of the national UPR report.
Norway congratulates the government of Tanzania on its peaceful and well organized elections in 2010, as well as on its decision to start a process of re-writing the national constitution. We recommend that the process of reviewing the constitution is conducted in an open and accountable manner, which includes the general public as well as the National parliament and Zanzibar’s House of Representatives. Norway further recommends that a clear modality of direct access of the public is established to give input in the review process. We also recommend that Tanzania adopt new legislation that guarantees the freedom of the media as well as the right to information. Lastly, we recommend that the right to assembly is respected throughout the review process.
We congratulate Tanzania for making available national statistics on gender based violence. We are encouraged by the lively discussions on gender based violence going on in the country and recommend the government to step up its efforts to protect women and girls from sexual violence, also in marriage.
Women’s right to land is another important issue. In line with the recommendations from CEDAW, Norway recommends Tanzania to take appropriate measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against rural women with respect to ownership of land.
We share the government of Tanzania’s concern over the reports of assaults on albinos and are particularly concerned over the extra-judicial killings of elderly women. While these women are often accused of witchcraft, the underlying cause of the assaults on these women is issues regarding the ownership and access to land. We recommend that the Government of Tanzania does more to provide updated and precise statistics on these crimes, and that murder of elderly women based on accusations of witchcraft is defined as a specific category in police reports.
Related to land rights is the issue of forced evictions of local inhabitants and nomadic pastoralists in areas that become earmarked for environmental protection, hunting, mining or other uses. It has been documented by religious leaders of Tanzania that some of the mining companies continue to ignore the rights of communities living in the area around the big mines, using excessive means of violence and contaminating local water sources.
Norway recommends that the government of Tanzania hold responsible alleged perpetrators of forced evictions and pollution of drinking water in the area around the big mines.
Thank you.