Tanzania and Zanzibar

Since the election of the late John Pombe Magufuli as president in October 2015, the authorities in Tanzania have restricted basic rights through repressive laws and decrees. Critical journalists, opposition politicians, and outspoken activists have faced threats, arbitrary detention, and harassing criminal charges. Authorities have also violated the rights of LGBT people and their advocates. While the government expanded access to free secondary education, it reinforced a discriminatory ban on pregnant students. It stalled legal reforms to increase the age of marriage to 18 for boys and girls. Elections in 2020 were marred by widespread repression. Police arbitrarily arrested and detained scores of opposition leaders and supporters, security forces killed at least four in Zanzibar, and authorities suspended television stations and news outlets, and blocked social media.