Link to Article: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/tanzania-president-hassan-should-do-more-to-guarantee-human-rights/
Summary: Recently, Freeman Mbowe, Tanzania’s opposition leader, was freed from detention. He was arrested on terrorism charges which were dropped before his release. Now Amnesty International, a human rights organization, is calling on Tanzanian authorities to stop using the law to target opposing groups and critical voices. After Mbowe’s release he meet with President Samia Suluhu Hassan and they both pledged to work together in order to “build the nation through trust and mutual respect built on the foundations of justice” Many people thought that the sudden arrest of Mbowe was unjust and showed that Tanzania authorities were abusing their power in order to silence critical voices. With the release of Mbowe, Sarah Jackson, an Amnesty International Deputy Director says this, “We now call on President Hassan to honor the pledge she made last week, and ensure that the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly of everyone, including the political opposition, will be respected, protected, and promoted going forward.”
Analysis: Tanzania’s current situation shows some stark differences in human rights from country to country. Tanzanian citizens don’t have the same freedoms as American citizens have, especially in the freedom of speech department. Mbowe was given terrorism charges, a very serious charge, for speaking out against the government and was imprisoned for 8 months because of his opinion. Amnesty International has done their job in exposing the wrongdoings of the authorities and showing the world what they are doing and now it’s the international community’s job to ensure that they uphold Tanzania to these standards to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
How this relates to class: This shows how international organizations work. Amnesty International is an organization that is dedicated to uncovering human rights violations and bringing international attention to them. In this case it shows how the Tanzania Authorities are using their power to silence critics by arresting them. Amnesty brought the needed attention to this and now on the surface things are looking a little bit better.