Source: Tanzania Daily News
HUMAN rights activists in the country are demanding that the government obliges and makes comprehensive reproductive health services available, in order to fulfill people's rights to life and health.

The Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA) Executive Director, Ms Tike Mwambipile, said in a statement that by doing so, the government will help to reduce maternal mortality; preventing HIV and ending pre-natal sex selection. "When it allocates the budget and implements policies, the government should address the rights to reproductive health of the most vulnerable women, men and youths," she said.

TAWLA is committed to a series of actions aimed at improving reproductive rights in the country by providing legal aid services to women as well as campaigning for women and children's human rights. Ms Mwambipile said that denials of reproductive rights interfere with women's ability to enjoy a broad range of human rights, including the right to life, privacy, health, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

She said that in Africa, stereotypes concerning women's societal roles and harmful traditional attitudes and practices contribute significantly to women's inability to exercise their reproductive rights and therefore, deny their ability to enjoy other rights equally.

"Tanzania has a binding obligation under international and regional laws to guarantee and protect women's right to equality and non-discrimination by virtue of their ratification or accession to human rights treaties.

As state parties, the government must adopt all necessary measures, including through the judiciary, to ensure this right," she said. Ms Mwambipile pointed out that for lawyers litigating reproductive rights cases in the region, citing this right is crucial to demonstrate the scope of harm or discrimination suffered by women when reproductive rights are denied.

According to the director, government's obligation is to ensure that discriminatory practices, including cultural and ideological opposition to reproductive rights, do not expose women to the risk of unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and pregnancy-related death. Tanzania has constitutional provisions which recognize the right to equality and nondiscrimination for women.

The right to non-discrimination and respect for difference requires the government to ensure equal access to health care for everyone and to address the unique health needs of women, men and adolescents. "The right to non-discrimination implies that reproductive health services should be accessible to all groups, including adolescents, unmarried women, indigenous people and migrants, including refugees. It also implies that services should be available to meet the distinct needs of women and men," she said.

Ms Mwambipile said that there have been a number of recommendations from the African Commission on Human and People's Rights that the government should do. These include taking urgent steps to domesticate the African Charter and other international human rights instruments that the country has ratified, to give Tanzanians the opportunity to enjoy the full range of rights guaranteed in these treaties.

Other recommendations are to speed up the review of the Law of Marriage, and formulate laws to penalize domestic violence and marital rape and to enact a law to criminalize torture and to speed up the ratification of the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

The right of everyone to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is an inherent human right as recognized in major human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), amongst others. The right to reproductive health is an integral element of this right.

Because reproductive health has different implications for females as compared to males, it also encompasses a gender perspective. Moreover, the right to reproductive health depends on the enjoyment of other rights, including the right to appropriate information.

• Tanzania