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Advancing Civil Human Rights Culture in Tanzania

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Religion and Civil Human Rights in Empirical Perspective

Part of the book series: Religion and Human Rights ((REHU,volume 2))

Abstract

This contribution investigates the traditional difficulties faced in advancing human rights culture in Tanzania. It describes the sorts of problems, causes and deeper reasons that hinder the advancement and application of human rights in Tanzania. What is the nature of these problems? And what are the possible solutions? Despite the fact that in theory, Tanzania fully embraces human rights, the country falls short when it comes to applying them. We will argue that specific cultural traditions and customs are to blame for human rights abuses. Strict and conservative beliefs and practices in Tanzania do not align with human rights. More specifically, traditional family values and gender-role stereotypes; arranged (child) marriages; belief in witchcraft; and extrajudicial killings and unjust law enforcement are all implicated in causing harm to human rights culture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A definition of political rights would be the ability to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right to equal access to public services. Those include freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion /worship, freedom to participate in political life, and the right to take part in governance (cf. Article 21, 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966).

  2. 2.

    https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2015#.VYEywUaRD3Y

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Clement Fumbo

  2. Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Carl Sterkens

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  1. Clement Fumbo
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  2. Carl Sterkens
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Correspondence to Clement Fumbo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Theology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Hans-Georg Ziebertz

  2. Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Carl Sterkens

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Fumbo, C., Sterkens, C. (2018). Advancing Civil Human Rights Culture in Tanzania. In: Ziebertz, HG., Sterkens, C. (eds) Religion and Civil Human Rights in Empirical Perspective. Religion and Human Rights, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59285-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59285-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59284-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59285-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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