IN an effort to reduce violence against children, women, and men, the government has begun holding meetings with key legal stakeholders to consider removing bail on rape and sodomy crimes.
This was revealed in Dodoma on Thursday during the meeting that brought together experts and legal stakeholders from ministries and government institutions with the goal of formulating suggestions for the Criminal Procedure Law.
Ms Happy Msimbe, Acting Director of the Legal Services Division at the Ministry of Social Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups said the opinions collected will be used to support the case for declaring rape and sexual offences to be non-bailable crimes in order to lessen such crimes and protect children, women, and men from acts of violence.
Along with that, she continued, the session sought to examine and revise other laws that relate directly to children in order to bring them into compliance with the reality of society and aid minors who are the victims of violent incidents.
Ignas Mwinuka, an officer with the National Prosecution Office, stated that the intention to have no bail in the crimes of rape and sodomy has also been examined in various laws, including the laws of Zanzibar, which have set the offence of rape without bail to help protect children and women from such actions.
According to the study they conducted, he said that some of the defendants who are released on bail have been disappearing, while others have destroyed or made peace with the parents or other family members of the victims.
“Some of the crimes such as sodomy if you ask public opinion they agree to the fact that such perpetrators should not be granted bail as the acts are against traditions and morals,” he said.
Also, the stakeholders and the experts have discussed the best way to ensure that the community gets education to fight acts of violence by providing information about such acts that occur in the community.
The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups through the Legal Services Division.
According to Tanzania Police data, there were 11,499 reported incidences of violence against children between January – December 2021, down from 15,870 incidents during the same period in 2020. (The decrease is 4,371 incidents equal to 27.5 per cent).
Regions that lead with such actions were Arusha (808), Tanga (691), Shinyanga (505), Mwanza (500) and Ilala Police Region (489). In addition, the crimes leading to the largest number are rape (5,899), pregnancy for students (1,677) and sodomy (1,114). On the other hand, research by the government and UNICEF shows that 60 per cent of incidents occur at home and 40 per cent occur in schools.