Issues

A dramatic increase in the youthful profile of Tanzania’s population has been an emerging trend for years. The trend was confirmed in 2002 with alarming national statistics: a full 55% of Tanzania’s population falls in the very narrow 0-19 age bracket, whereas 45% of the population spans the 20-80+ range.(1) In fact, as recently as 2005, it has been shown that a whopping 45.8% of Tanzania’s population is actually under the age of 15.(2) Undeniably, the predominant youthfulness of Tanzania’s population begs the question of its emerging issues in national development, and increasingly, it is acknowledged that the health, protection and education policies and services which exist (or fail to exist) for Tanzania’s children indicate cause for concern.

In a recent report on Tanzania, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) explicitly notes that: health-care services and health insurance schemes are inaccessible to the poorest children and families; a high percentage of children under five are chronically malnourished and without access to medicine; there is insufficient attention to developmental, reproductive and mental health issues of adolescents; there is insufficient quality education at all levels and the physical environment of many schools is very poor; discrimination against certain groups of children (e.g. pregnant teenage girls) exists in legislation and in practice; there is no national plan of action linked to intersectoral policies and strategies for children; and, there are no juvenile justice standards at any correctional or judicial level.(3)

Currently, street children are rounded up by the city authorities in Arusha without regard for their rights, protection, safe-handling and/or the underlying causes that bought them to the streets. This type of superficial and sanitised approach to a complex social problem actually exacerbates pre-existing and related issues of police prejudice toward marginalised youth, lack of police training and sensitisation to the situation of street children, and the need for appropriate child protection and juvenile justice services in Tanzania. As such, the street child round-ups currently practiced in Arusha are urgently problematic for several reasons: firstly, because significant and severe violations of human and child rights occur during the round-ups; secondly, because the antiquated Tanzanian law used to justify street child round-ups actually conflicts with tenets of the UNCRC; and thirdly, because local and national governments consistently fail to understand and address vulnerable social groups, and to establish an appropriate juvenile justice system.(4)

Tanzania’s youth are subject to repressive attitudes and norms toward children in general. Child labour, for instance, largely escapes judicial scrutiny because it is shrouded in secrecy and because impoverished parents give consent for their children to be employed and to drop out of school.(5) Similarly, the lawful use of corporal punishment in the home, in urban and rural schools and in the penal system is widely prevalent and supported - 85% of Tanzanian parents approve the use of corporal punishment in schools.(6) Problematically, punitive attitudes toward children blend with secrecy and "taboo" to produce alarming situations of physical, verbal and sexual child abuse. The fact is that child sexual abusers can take advantage of the stigma and embarrassment associated with disclosure which typically ensures secrecy and concealment by the child and his/her family.(7) The UNCRC notes that appropriate mechanisms for containing and preventing the abuse of children in Tanzania are insufficient and recommends systematic training for all professional groups working for and with children, especially law-enforcement officials, teachers (rural and urban) and social workers.(8)