Tanzanian authorities intensified clampdowns on the political opposition in 2024. Police arbitrarily arrested, detained, and carried out extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of party leaders and supporters during rallies and other people near the North Mara gold mine. The government continued the forced eviction of Indigenous communities in Ngorongoro.
Restrictions on free expression, including social media censorship and arrests under cybercrime laws, persist. Tanzania lacks robust data protection legislation, while lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights are suppressed online and through violence. Although child protection laws have been reformed, they still fail to adequately address corporal punishment and child marriage.
Arrests and Harassment of Opposition
Over a week in August, police arbitrarily arrested hundreds of opposition party Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) supporters ahead of an international youth day celebration in Mbeya. Those arrested included Chadema party chairman Freeman Mbowe, former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, and several journalists.
On September 23, police rearrested and later released on bail Mbowe, Lissu, and other party members ahead of a rally in Dar es Salaam to protest the government’s alleged inaction regarding the abduction of at least five Chadema party affiliates. The police had prohibited the protests, threatening to “deal with” people who did not comply.
Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances
On June 23, Edgar Edson Mwakabela was abducted by plainclothes men. Mkwabela told the media that he was detained overnight at a police station in Dar es Salaam, before being taken to Arusha, where he was beaten and interrogated about his role in mobilizing a boycott by traders. His abductors abandoned him in Katavi National Park, about 1,200 kilometers from Dar es Salaam, four days later.
On July 15, police in Tanga confirmed that they had detained Kombo Twaha Mbwana, a Chadema official, for a month before producing him in court, beyond the legally permitted 24 hours. The authorities accused him of using an unregistered SIM card and on September 5, a court denied him bail. The whereabouts of officials Dioniz Kipanya, missing since July 26, and Deusdedith Soka, who was abducted by unidentified men alongside Jacob Godwin Mlay and Frank Mbise on August 18, remain unknown.
On September 7, the body of Ali Mohamed Kibao, a Chadema party official who was abducted by suspected security agents the previous day, was found beaten and doused with acid.
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
The Tanzanian government continued to implement a resettlement plan that forcibly displaces Indigenous Maasai herder communities from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). The communities were forcibly relocated to Handeni district, Tanga region, about 600 kilometers away, with little or no consultation. Since 2021, authorities substantially reduced the availability and accessibility of public services, including schools and health centers, in the NCA.
A Human Rights Watch report in July found that the restrictions, including access to cultural sites and grazing areas, and a ban on growing crops, have severely impacted residents’ lives and livelihoods, forcing many to accept relocation. In August, President Samia Suluhu Hassan ordered the lifting of restrictions on some of those services following peaceful protests by tens of thousands of Maasai.
Technology and Rights
Tanzania continued to impose restrictions on free expression online and maintain a raft of laws and regulations that facilitate surveillance, including the Cybercrimes Act, the Criminal Procedure Act, and the Electronic and Postal Communication Act, which can compel third parties to disclose personal data. The Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Communications) regulations require online content providers to create systems to “identify source of information or content.”
On July 4, Shadrack Chaula was convicted of cybercrimes and sentenced to two years in prison or a fine of five million Tanzania shillings (about US$1,800) for posting a TikTok video in which he allegedly burned a photo of President Hassan and “insulted” her. Chaula was released on July 8 after paying the fine, but has reportedly been missing since August 2.
On August 30, Netblocks, an organization that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the internet, confirmed that Tanzania had restricted access to social media platform X, limiting access for users.
Tanzania does not have a dedicated regulatory authority for data protection or privacy, resulting in fragmented oversight across different institutions, including the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority.
Police Misconduct
Since February 2024, police have been credibly implicated in the killing of at least six people, with several others injured, during clashes near the North Mara Gold Mine in Tarime district. Police accused the victims of “invading the mine” and engaging in illegal small-scale mining. Police have made no arrests related to these abuses.
The government provides about 152 police officers to ensure security based on a 2022 agreement with the North Mara Gold Mine Limited. Rights groups and community members have alleged that the police commit arbitrary detentions, beatings, shootings, and torture of residents of communities around the mines. Police accuse the residents of theft from the mine and its surrounding waste rock dumping sites.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
On June 1, Mauzinde, a transgender woman and activist in Zanzibar, was found beaten with both of her ears cut. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that Mauzinde had been “tortured and sexually assaulted by 12 men.”
The internet censorship monitoring nongovernmental organization OONI reported that Tanzania has ramped up its digital censorship of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) websites, media, and dating apps, including by blocking the websites of LGBT rights organizations.
The Sexual Offenses Special Provisions Act of 1998 punishes consensual adult same-sex conduct with up to life imprisonment.
Children’s Rights
In June, Tanzania amended its Child Protection Laws to include protection against online sexual abuse and criminalize publication of child sexual abuse material. Legislators failed to prohibit corporal punishment in schools, and did not include provisions to prohibit child marriage, despite a 2019 Court of Appeal decision upholding an earlier ruling that declared the practice unconstitutional.
Thousands of pregnant or parenting girls continue to experience stigma and exclusion in schools. The government has not taken sufficient steps to implement and operationalize the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child’s 2022 Communication, which found that Tanzania violated pregnant or parenting girls’ rights to education, non-discrimination and freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Tanzania has not effectively implemented its 2021 circular on re-entry of parenting girls to school.