zania's Clawback On Rights
Tanzania's
President John Magufuli took office in October 2015 promising to stamp
out government corruption and to be accountable to ordinary citizens.
Instead, in a country that had been considered a leader in the region on
human rights, he has restricted free expression, association, and
assembly.
On Thursday, 65
independent organizations sent the president a letter urging him to
protect "rights which are crucial to civic space." The groups highlight
recent cases of harassment of journalists, human rights activists, and
opposition politicians and say that recent laws and regulations
criminalize freedom of expression on both social and traditional media.
The range of concerns raised in Thursday's letter illustrate the rapid clawback in rights in Tanzania.
Journalists have
been attacked physically, abducted, arbitrarily arrested, detained, and
prosecuted, the groups said. Political opposition members have been
prosecuted for insulting the president during political rallies, and the
groups alleged that some have been attacked, and in at least some
instances, killed.
The organizations
drew particular attention to recent regulations that require bloggers
and online streaming services to pay an exorbitant annual US$900 fee.
The groups also criticize the 2015 Cybercrimes Act, which gives the
government dangerously broad authority to ban articles and social media
posts.n
a depressingly typical example, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority fined five television stations in January for broadcasting
"offensive and unethical" content after the stations aired a Tanzanian
human rights organization's media statement detailing allegations of
abuses in 2017.
The government
should "create an enabling environment for civil society and the media,"
the groups said. And they urged the president to protect freedom of
expression and the media by seeking amendments to restrictive
legislation and investigating attacks on journalists and others.
It is clear that
people are increasingly afraid to speak out in Tanzania these days for
fear of well-documented reprisals. The Tanzanian government, and those
supporting it, should take active steps to reverse the rapid decline in
freedoms and restore Tanzania to its place as a leader in East Africa
committed to protecting human rights.
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