'Torture by govt security officials has killed many'

BY WARYOBA YANKAMI

Director for human rights from the CHRAGG, Francis Nzuki

In the wake of celebrating the World Human Rights Day, the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) has stated that many citizens have continued to die in the hands of government security organs as a result of torture.

The statement surfaces despite the government always saying it respects and observe the rule of law and human rights.

Director for human rights from the CHRAGG, Francis Nzuki made the remarks when interview by The Guardian on the sidelines of the Universal Peer Review workshop on Wednesday. 
Nzuki said in a period of four years, from 2006 to 2010 at least 80 citizens were killed by government security organs, including the military, police, prisons, immigration, and wildlife security unities.

He however couldn’t give figures for those who died in the hands of government security organs from 2011 to date, saying investigating and compiling such cases take time.

The Universal Peer Review workshop brought together United Nations representatives to Tanzania, delegates from the European Union, Civil Society Organizations and CHRAGG to mark the World Human Rights Day.

Nzuki said all of such killings resulted from torture by officials of government security organs though didn’t include statistics for tortures and killings during the recent ‘Operesheni Tokomeza’ (anti-poaching operation) and ‘Kimbunga’ operation (operation to eliminate illegal immigrants).

He said the Commission has not conducted any investigations on the halted anti-poaching operation due to shortage of funds and will therefore rely on investigation report by the commission formed by the President.

“The Commission came across financial challenges hence preventing it from carrying its own investigation. We will therefore have to rely on the report by the commission formed by the President,” he said.

According to Nzuki, the law requires the Commission to prepare cases of reported incidents and present them to the Attorney General and to the Director of Public Prosecution.

The Commissioner for Human Rights and Good Governance, Ali Hassan Rajabu noted that the commission is facing challenges in its efforts to oversee and protect human rights. He mentioned some of the challenges as financial constraints, poor norms and superstition.

For his part, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Tanzania and the EAC Ambassador Filiberto Ceriani-Sebregondi said Tanzania accepted the majority of recommendations in the 2011 Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

The Ambassador said among the UPR recommendations, Tanzania rejected the death penalty, agreed to increase the minimum age for marriage for girls to be 18 instead of 14 and also agreed to penalize marital rape and protect the rights of all minorities.

Ceriani-Sebregondi encouraged the government to reconsider the recommendations that it agreed to implement in the last review.

“A total of 153 of UPR recommendations were issued, the Tanzanian government accepted 96 recommendations on the spot, putting on hold 53 of them, while 4 were completely rejected right away,” recalled the envoy.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN