Tanzania’s record on women’s rights to face scrutiny by UN Committee

GENEVA (23 February 2016)  – Tanzania’s record on women’s rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 26 February. Tanzania has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is required to be reviewed regularly by the Committee on how it is implementing the Convention.

Among the possible issues for discussion by CEDAW and a delegation from the Tanzanian Government are: Harmful practices including female genital mutilation, polygamy, killing of women accused of witchcraft, ritual killings and attacks on women and girls with albinism;  lack of a specific law on domestic violence; trafficking of girls for domestic work and sexual exploitation; high dropout rates from school among girls, mandatory pregnancy testing;  discrimination against women living with HIV; discrimination against rural and indigenous women, including Masai women; measures taken to repeal or amend discriminatory customary law and to harmonize competing legal systems governing succession and inheritance.  

The review will take place in Room XVI at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 -17:00 (12:00 – 19.00 in Dar es Salaam) and will be webcast live at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.  The Committee will also hear from NGO representatives.  More information, including Tanzania’s submitted written report, at:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1007&Lang=en

The Committee will hold a news conference to discuss its findings on Tanzania and the other States being reviewed – Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Mongolia, Czech Republic, Vanuatu and Haiti – on 7 March. This will be at 13:30 in Press Room 1, Palais des Nations.
CEDAW’s findings will be published on 7 March here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1007&Lang=en

ENDS

Media requests: Liz Throssell +41 (0) 22 917 9466 / +41 79 752 0488  ethrossell@ohchr.org

Media accreditation for the Palais des Nations:   http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background:

CEDAW is composed of 23 independent human rights experts drawn from around the world. Members serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. More information:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx

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