Tanzania and Zanzibar

Since his election as Tanzania’s president in October 2015, President John Pombe Magufuli has restricted basic rights through repressive laws and decrees. Critical journalists, opposition politicians, and outspoken civil society activists have faced threats, arbitrary detention, and harassing criminal charges. The government banned at least three newspapers for alleged criticism of the president. Authorities have also violated the rights of LGBT people and their advocates. While the government made some progress in expanding access to free secondary education, it reinforced a discriminatory ban on pregnant students.  It further stalled on a legal reform process to increase the age of marriage to 18 for boys and girls.