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United Dems Takes Stand
Against
Tanzania’s Human Rights Abuses
2/14/14 UDSSC Press Release
Tanzania has a record of human rights abuses against LGBT citizens, women, children, religious groups including Christians, the disabled, various ethnicities and others. The most horrific human rights abuses include the dismemberment of albino persons for use in ritual witchcraft. Pregnant school girls have been threatened with court trials. Female genital mutilation is common. Lax labor laws allow children to be used in dangerous industries such as gold mines and even as sex slaves. Tanzania is a hub of human trafficking for forced labor and prostitution for men, women and children. Citizens have been illegally detained by police and military; some have disappeared or been murdered.
Tanzania has been identified as one of the worst nations in Africa when it comes to LGBT rights. Tanzania’s record of human rights abuse has been condemned by the US State Department and the U.K., which threatened to pull international aid to the country. The infractions have been shown by several reports of the United Nations Human Rights Council as being most frequently directed against LGBT persons who may be incarcerated, beaten, or murdered. Tanzanian law punishes consensual sexual conduct between adult males with 30 years to life in prison. There are no hospitals where LGBT people can access treatment. The government has no programs to prevent HIV infection among the LGBT community. The U.S. Department of State's 2011 Human Rights Report found that "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons faced societal discrimination that restricted their access to health care, housing, and employment". LGBT person’s freedoms of association have been infringed as they are prevented from forming any groups. The government has refused to enact any laws which may go against societal norms, which include stoning gay persons in public.
In September of last year, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete travelled to Vallejo and met with Mayor Osby Davis and a contingent of about 100 invited citizens. It was his second visit to Vallejo. In 1998, he came at the invitation of the Vallejo Sister City Association, while serving as Tanzania's minister of foreign affairs. Vallejo has been a Sister City to Bagamoyo, in Tanzania, for over two decades. Kikwete is from Bagamoyo. Mayor Osby Davis, Mayor, Vice Mayor Robert Sampayan, and members Pippin Dew-Costa, and Rozzana Verder-Aliga voted to fund the trip. Councilmembers Katy Meissner and Robert McConnell voted against it. Councilmember Jess Malgapo was absent.
RELATED LINKS
Love in a Time of Fear: Albino Women's Stories From Tanzania
Tanzania: Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions of Gay and Lesbian Activists
Top Five African Countries Least Tolerant of Gay Rights
Tanzania: Human Trafficking Getting Worrisome
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