Tanzania has a very young population. In 2000, the median age
in the country was 16.8 years. Forty-five percent of the population
is below age 15. The 2000-2001 National Labor Force and Child Survey
found that 4.7 million children ages 5-17 were engaged in economic
activities. Of them, an estimated 1.2 million were engaged in commercial
agriculture, mining, sex work, and domestic service. A
multi-agency government task force coordinates anti-child labor
programs. There are public awareness campaigns regarding the dangers
of child labor and exploitation. Tanzania is one of three countries
participating in an ILO-supported, U.S.-funded pilot program to
eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The program brings together
government agencies, trade unions, and legal and social welfare
organizations to combat child labor, including trafficking.
 Tanzania is a source country for women and children trafficked
for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Tanzanian girls are internally
trafficked for forced domestic servitude and, to a lesser extent,
for sex work in the Middle East, South Africa, and Europe. Tanzania
is a destination country for women and children from India, Kenya,
Burundi, and DRC who are trafficked for forced agricultural labor
and forced sex work.
According to the U.S. Department of State, the Government of Tanzania
does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking, although it is making significant efforts to do
so. Tanzanian law criminalizes trafficking for sexual purposes,
but the country lacks a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that
addresses trafficking for the purposes of forced labor. Forced labor
is, however, prohibited by the Tanzanian Constitution.
School attendance ratios are low in Tanzania, with only slightly
more than half of primary-school-age children attending primary
school. Attendance is higher for children in Zanzibar than for those
on the mainland (67 percent versus 53 percent). It is also higher
for urban than for rural children and for older children. Educational
attainment is higher in Zanzibar than on the mainland. (Compulsory
education in Zanzibar incorporates three years of secondary education.)
The 1999 TRCHS found that overall, 40 percent of women in Tanzania
have never been to school, compared with 31 percent of men. In the
past, girls who became pregnant were expelled from school. A 1996
law permits pregnant adolescents to continue their education following
maternity absences. In practice, however, pregnant adolescents are
often still forced out of school. No specific law or policy has
been enacted to combat the practice of expelling pregnant adolescents
from school, although the Minister of Education has stated that
it is not proper for educators to do so. The government has thus
far failed to issue a binding pronouncement to schools to stop the
practice of expelling pregnant girls.
^TOP CHILD MORTALITY >
UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, TANZANIA: Focus on child labour.
2003: Dar Es Salaam.
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