Human Rights Council should address Tanzania crackdown

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 37 other non-governmental organisations this week sent a letter to member and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council, asking them to address the crackdown on human rights in Tanzania at the 41st session of the council.

A banner of Tanzanian President John Magufuli hangs on a wall around a tanzanite mine, in April 2018. CPJ and other organizations are calling on the Human Rights Council to address a crackdown on journalists, human rights defenders, and other groups in the country. Credit: CPJ/AFP/Joseph Lyimo.

Journalists, opposition and dissenting voices, human rights defenders, and LGBTI people have come under increasing pressure as the government enacts draconian laws, threatens independent journalism, and restricts freedoms of opinion and expression, the letter said.

Last year, CPJ and a coalition of non-governmental organizations wrote to member and observer states about the situation in Tanzania. However, conditions in the country under the presidency of John Magufuli have continued to deteriorate, CPJ has found.

Read the letter in full here.