Help defend and protect LGBTQ+ rights in Tanzania

We would like to thank you for being part of our activism and also excited to bring you updates from Tanzania,

Since September 2015 LGBT Voice started engaging in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process by making a submission and then started seeking support from the delegates,we sent emails with our recommendations and also held one to one meetings with a few diplomats and also made calls to some Embassies before the session was held.

The 25th Working Group Sessions were held on 9^th May and Tanzania received SOGIESC recommendations. This is the great work that our organization made The next step is to meet with our government and explain to them why it is important to accept these recommendations.

We have also started mobilizing and regrouping LGBT activists across the country so that we can have a well coordinated activism system that will be effective and successful.

To commemorate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on the 17th of May, we held an event in Bukoba and shared released recommendations to the government for implementation: “The recommendations are based on the nature and extent of LGBT rights in Tanzania”.

The aim for sharing these recommendations with activists  was to create awareness and allow them to use the recommendations as a tool for drawing the attention of decision makers, media, the public, opinion leaders and local authorities to the alarming situation faced by lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex (LGBT) people in Tanzania.

Our plan is to use the recommendation to encourage dialogues with among LGBT groups concerning human rights violations facing LGBT people in Tanzania and assist the government in creating measures to protect and promote social and cultural rights of the LGBT community

The recomendations

• Repeal all laws criminalizing homosexual conduct and reject additional proposed laws that would criminalize “promotion” of homosexuality.
• Draft and implement formal, written policies for local police on police conduct and non-discrimination that includes sexual orientation and gender identity issues and provide mandatory training on these policies. 
• Specifically, issue a directive that individuals should only be detained if there is proof that they have engaged in activity that violates the law, and expressly prohibit detention based solely upon perceived sexual l orientation or gender identity or expression.
• Advance national Standards of Practice for providing health care to LGBTI individuals and require all public health care workers to receive comprehensive diversity training, including training on sexual orientation, gender identity, and the rights of LGBTI people.
• Establish LGBTI-friendly health care facilities to provide a welcoming environment for LGBTI people.

Our future work will be to push the government to implement these recommendations together with the SOGIESC recommendations from the 25th session of the UPR.

I kindly request you to continue supporting our work because the situation of LGBT rights in Tanzania is alarming and there are no resources available now, we still need to rent an office for our head quarters in Dar es Salaam and support three new offices in Arusha, Mwanza and Mbeya regions.

We are proud of our supporters because for the last three years your generosity has made us who we are

We introduced the LGBTQ rights fund project to bring new resources and new opportunities to support local activists as a key to the expansion, rejuvenation and sustainability of LGBTQ's movements and organizations, both now and in the future. Because currently there are no resources to support local activism and speed the fight against homophobia and Transphobia that is increasing in our community; we do believe that obtaining resources will fill the gap and provide more access to fundamental human rights and equal access without discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation

There are many individual LGBTQ activists and groups representing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer people nationwide but the work on the ground is very difficult, because activists suffer police harassment and intimidations at the same time fearing going to jail but they can not afford to hire legal officer to handle their cases

 Most LGBTQ activists have not been trained on organizational, informational and personal security and they are not highly educated, they work on voluntary basis with the little knowledge they have. There is an urgent need for training LGBTQ activists and also facilitating them to have offices where they run their activities effectively

Our plan is to provide grants 8 groups in 8 districts of Tanzania main land so that they can be able to pay office rent and train their members on organizational, informational and personal security that will help build stronger activists before the end of 2016.

Let me take this opportunity to appeal to the general public for support, so that we can be able to build a strong LGBT movement in Tanzania.

 A comment from Sagina: “Imagine coming out as Gay and working as an activist in a country where homosexuality is criminalized with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, having no permanent home no office, no computer no phone. I’ve been working as an activist for the last three year but I find it difficult to do what I should because of limited resources. Thanks to LGBT Voice for creating this project, hopefully we will get resource to help us work effectively”.