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CHALLENGES FACING THE COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN PROMOTING AND PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN TANZANIA By Adeline Frank Mhilu A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Administration (MPA) of
Mzumbe University
This study set out to examine the challenges facing the Commission for Human rights and Good Governance in promoting and protecting Human Rights in Tanzania. The intention was to analyze functions of CHRAGG in promoting and protecting of human rights, to determine challenges facing the CHRAGG in promotion and protection of human rights, to assess the effectiveness of the law in promoting and protecting human rights and to make recommendations on new legislation in promoting and protecting human rights. The methodology for the study included administering questionnaires and conducting discussions with managerial and non-managerial staff of the Commission. Also the questionnaires were distributed to university students, lectures and community members. The results indicate that the Commission encounters various challenges in promoting and protecting human rights examples including lack of funding making the commission dependent on donors, failure by the commission to enforce its decisions, lack of independence, ambiguous legislation, low level of education among the citizens making it hard for the commission to get information when there is violation of human rights, bad customs that lead to poor participation of the citizens when the commission makes interventions on the matters that violate human rights and shortage of staff. On the basis of these results, the study recommends that there is need for Commission not only to be independent, but seen to be independent, there is a need for the Commission to consider partnership with donors and cooperate with sister organizations with appropriate guidelines, reviewing legislation, there is need for the Commission to step up efforts of educating the public to increase awareness on human rights issues. Also there is need for the Commission to collaborate with other institutions and law-enforcement agents of human rights such as Police Force.