In views adopted under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women held the United Republic of Tanzania accountable for multiple violations of women’s rights, particularly as relates to their inheritance and property rights.
Enforcing the Committee recommendations will require concrete steps by Tanzania towards meeting its obligations under CEDAW. In its decision, the Committee explicitly states that in compliance with the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, within six months of receipt of the Committee views and recommendations, Tanzania should submit to the Committee a written response, including information on any action taken in line with the Committee ruling.
This decision is a key victory for women’s rights, particularly as pertains to equal inheritance rights. It is significant in this context that various studies reveal that women’s rights to own and inherit property, including land, are vital to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Professor Susan Deller Ross, Director of the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, one of the groups that represented the applicants, said that the decision is, “is really huge, because it affects millions of women.” If enforced, the ruling will have an important impact in Tanzania. Moreover, the decision will also likely influence developments in other countries where women face similar egregious violations of their rights. It is to be noted that the problems the Tanzanian case addressed are widely prevalent in many parts of Africa and Asia.
The adoption of the Committee views is timely because the Committee will review the compliance of Tanzania with CEDAW in 2016 during its periodic review. The current recommendations of the Committee may be addressed during such periodic review and state (in)action commented on by civil society through the submission of parallel reports, which could provide an added impetus for their effective implementation.
(Updated November 2015)
Women’s Legal Aid Centre (non-profit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania); International Women’s Human Rights Clinic (Georgetown University Law Center, United States). [Both groups represented the two women in this case]