Tanzanian violations flagged at UN

Thirty-eight global human and civil-rights organisations are calling on the Tanzanian Government to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. In an open letter written to the Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council, the organisations are asking for action against Tanzania at the council's 41st session in June and July. ‘While we do not believe that at this point, the situation calls for a resolution, warning signs of a mounting human rights crisis exist,’ says the letter, which was signed by the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network, Amnesty International, Article 19, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Centre for Civil Liberties - Ukraine, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists, among others. The East African reports that the signatories said the space for human-rights defenders, civil society, journalists, bloggers, the media, gays and opposition and dissenting voices continued to shrink. However, government spokesperson Hassan Abbas said Tanzania was not answerable to NGOs ‘that churn out cheap propaganda’.