U.S. Department of State 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report - Tanzania

Tanzania (Tier 2)

Tanzania is a source and possibly transit country for children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Girls from rural areas are trafficked to urban centers for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Domestics fleeing abusive employers as well as voluntary migrants unable to find work in urban centers sometimes fall prey to exploitation in prostitution. Boys are trafficked within the country for exploitative work on farms, in mines, and in the informal sector. Small numbers of girls are also reportedly trafficked to South Africa, Oman, the United Kingdom, and possibly other European or Middle Eastern countries for domestic servitude. Citizens of neighboring countries may be trafficked through Tanzania for forced domestic labor and sexual exploitation in South Africa and the Middle East.

The Government of Tanzania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government made progress over the last year in improving its law enforcement response to human trafficking, particularly through training of security personnel. In order to address trafficking in persons more effectively, Tanzania should investigate and prosecute traffickers more vigorously, implement its plans to harmonize all elements of its legal code pertaining to trafficking in persons, and build on the joint government-NGO efforts in education and awareness to result in a nationwide campaign.

Prosecution

The Tanzanian government's anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were modest during the reporting period. Although Tanzanian law prohibits human trafficking, these provisions are inadequate as they lack precise definitions and do not cover all forms of trafficking. In 2005, the government sent two officials to a seminar in South Africa on anti-trafficking legislation. The resulting national legislative review and recommendations prompted other officials to request outside technical assistance in producing draft legislation. Implementation of the Employment and Labor Relations Act of 2004 that specifically prohibits forced child labor began; during the year, 60 of the nation's 90 labor officers received three months of training on the new labor laws, including provisions concerning commercial sexual exploitation and forced child labor. No specific trafficking cases were fully prosecuted or convicted during the year. However, in May 2005, a man was arrested and charged with abusing and raping a trafficked domestic servant; the investigation is ongoing. In November 2005, police arrested a woman in Morogoro for abducting a 16-year-old girl and forcing her into prostitution and labor at a food stall; the case is pending prosecution. In addition, police in five regions rescued 53 trafficked girls and turned them over to an NGO for care. In June 2005, immigration officials detained a woman suspected of attempting to traffic two children to the United Kingdom. Although further police investigation revealed that the case did not constitute human trafficking, training provided to law\ enforcement officials in the previous reporting period resulted in increased awareness of trafficking, recognition of suspicious movements, and improved cooperation between police and immigration officials. Government officials who participated in a November 2005 conference on combating human trafficking subsequently trained 30 local officers on Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar archipelago, and 15 to 20 immigration officials in March on Pemba island. In March 2006, the government obtained training for 130 immigration cadets and 500 prison wardens on the nature of human trafficking and recognizing victims.

Protection

The government provided indirect care to trafficking victims during the reporting period. Police officers and railway officials referred trafficking victims to NGOs that provided protective services. An NGO established a free hotline in Dar es Salaam that police utilized during the year to report the discovery of trafficking victims. The government provided medical supplies, including HIV test kits and drugs for treating STDs, to NGOs that assist trafficking victims; between 1,800 and 2,200 girls, some of whom are trafficking victims, received these provisions in 2005. The government also trained more than 30 NGO staff members on health issues and provided trafficking victims access to health clinics. In 2005, 969 children were withdrawn from commercial sexual exploitation, 1,379 from domestic work, and 420 from mining through the involvement of labor inspectors and police in an ILO-IPEC program; some of these children were victims of trafficking.

Prevention

The government undertook modest prevention efforts. Knowledge of human trafficking spread beyond a central core of officials in a few ministries to groups of key officials in all relevant ministries. Local government officials at the district and ward-level worked with an NGO at 18 locations in 11 districts to educate bar owners on the illegality of employing underage girls. During the year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assumed the lead in coordinating national anti-trafficking initiatives and chaired the inter-ministerial committee on human trafficking, which met twice. In December, the committee appointed a police officer to be the Research Coordinator for Human Trafficking; he requested training of government officials and began advocating for the creation of an anti-trafficking office within the Ministry of Public Safety and Security. The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training assumed responsibility for operating over 300 educational centers for persons at risk of being trafficked, many of whom headed households or had never been to school.