No legislation in Tanzania against domestic violence

BY DAVID KISANGA

As Tanzania is about to celebrate the International Day of a girl child, the nation must acknowledge that most of its schools and communities have failed to protect the very basic rights and dignity of girls in fact, as posted by the ministry of community development, gender and children on their site, Tanzania has no specific law against domestic violence.

Gender based violence is rampant, with domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, physical and psychological intimidation. The comments were made yesterday in Dar es Salaam by Paul Lusato who is the Plan International Tanzania (PIT) Programme Support Manager.

To get an idea of the direness of the situation, the Tanzania gender facts violence shows that 3 out of 10 girls have experienced gender based violence, 49 percent of sexual abuses occur at home, 23 percent while travelling to or from schools and 15.1 percent occur in the schools.

Plan International Tanzania is expecting to launch a girl campaign that aims at fighting gender inequality, promoting their rights and lifting them from poverty. Deputy Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Ummy Mwalimu will officiate the launching in Dar es Salaam on Thursday.

The ‘Because I Am a Girl’ campaign aims at creating an environment free of gender based violence for girls both in and out of schools.

He underscored that Plan International recognises that discrimination against girls and women is one of the main underlying causes of child poverty although girls and boys have the same entitlements to human rights.

According to Lusato, among other things, the campaign will work to increase skills, knowledge and awareness of girl’s vulnerability to gender based violence within the family, school and communities.

The campaign also aims at providing girls with skills and confidence to actively participate in relevant structures and forums to influence issues concerning their own development and protection at community, district and national levels.

The ministry of community development, gender and children has posted research findings on their website based on a qualitative gender-based violence assessment conducted in Tanzania in 2005 and a follow up visit in 2008.

The findings from the assessment indicate that many forms of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence and rape, are seen as normal and are met with acceptance by both men and women- although the justifications for acceptance differs between women and men.

Women and girls are also frequently blamed for causing or provoking gender-based violence. In part due to blame and shame, women and girls rarely report gender based violence to authorities or seek other kinds of treatment or support.

On the other hand, at the policy level, there are signs of support to actively address GBV. For example, President Kikwete has publicly stated that gender-based violence should be included in the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, Tanzania’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), the National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction, lists violence against women as one of its indicators of poverty.

Tanzanian law has shown some progress in preventing and punishing GBV crimes. For example, the Sexual Offence Special Provisions Act of 1998 poses harsh penalties for perpetrators of sexual violence. However, gaps remain in the legal system. In particular, domestic violence is only minimally and vaguely addressed in The Law of Marriage Act-although without specified penalties and through the penal codes on general violence and assault.

Another mile stone is, the Inspector General of the Tanzania Police Force, Saidi Ali Mwema, instituting the Tanzania Police Female Network (TPFNet) and with it came the creation of gender desk to respond to cases of GBV at police stations.

Despite these incipient reforms, the number and quality of services and resources available to survivors of gender-based violence remains minimal. While service providers interviewed, including doctors and police, said that they respond to GBV when presented with a case, there are no protocols for working with survivors.

Legal aid services run by small nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) with limited budgets are available in cities throughout the country, but there is a wide gap in health, counseling, and social welfare services for GBV survivors. There are just two known established shelters for GBV survivors-the Young Women Christian Association and House of Peace-both, both located in Dar es Salaam.

When over half the nation is been abused, little progress can be made and as such, advised the PIT Programme Support Manager, Tanzania must step up and end gender based violence.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN (09/10/2012): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=46717