PROSTITUTIONS AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN TANZANIA

POSITION OF THE LAW IN TANZANIA ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND PROSTITUTIONS /COMMERCIAL SEX WORK

Introduction
International human rights law and the lesbian and gay rights movement have grown up together in the years since World War II. Both are still developing. Both are evolving from western initiatives to a world-wide presence.But there are international movement that advocate for the rights of Lesbians, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and Global Rights. According to the culture and morality in Tanzania prostitutions/commercial sex work and homosexuality are totally prohibited by the law.
1. Prostitutions
Prostitution is translated in Kiswahili as umalaya and the prostitute as Malaya. Umalaya is used to refer to the sex life of an individual considered to be promiscuous or loose in sexual relations. Prostitution is mainly urban-based and usually refers to women; in the traditional African culture, promiscuous or “loose” men are not considered as prostitutes.
Prostitution is illegal in Tanzania. Thus, such individuals are from time to time rounded up by police and the locations known to house prostitutes are raided. However, the victims of these raids are always females, as the male partners and patrons are left untouched.
There are several forms of prostitution. The “classical” Malaya women operate indoors. They stay inside their rooms and wait for men to visit them.
Prostitution involves barmaids, guesthouse workers, and promiscuous married women. These types of women have their own residences like the classical Malaya; however, they may or may not invite their clientele to their places.
A new form of umalaya has emerged in Tanzania in the late 1990s, nicknamed Uchangu Doa (the person is nicknamed Changu Doa or CD. The name comes from a species of fish from the Indian Ocean. Payment for services is negotiable and depends on the duration of the service, the economic and social status of the customer, status of the urban area, the location where the CD was encountered, time of the night, and education level of the CD. The longer the duration of services, the higher the price. CDs operate in large or well-known urban areas like Dar es Salaam, Arusha, or Dodoma.

The kind of prostitutions which is prohibited by Tanzania penal Code is earning trough prostitutions.That,implies only those who gain money out of commercial sex are liable under the law. The Penal code prohibits earnings through prostitutions according to sections 146-148.This is among the offences categorized as offences against morality.
2. Homosexuality
In Tanzania, sex acts between men are illegal, and carry a penalty of Life imprisonment. Sex acts between women are not mentioned in Tanzanian law. In particular, sections 154 to 157 of the Penal Code criminalize sexual activity between men, stipulating a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison; Sexual acts between women are not mentioned in the Penal Code.
(1) Any person who- (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or (b) has carnal knowledge of an animal; or (c) permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature, commits an offence, and is liable to imprisonment for life and in any case to imprisonment for a term of not less than thirty years. (2) Where the offence, under subsection (1) of this section is committed to a child under the age of ten years the offender shall be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Even the Law of Marriage Act of 1971 section 9 recognizes only one type of marriage, that is, marriage between male and a female. And marriage between people of the same sex is not recognized by the law.
A law imposing a prison term of up to 25 years for anyone convicted of having gay sex has gone into effect in Zanzibar... gay men could be sentenced to a quarter century… lesbian sex is seven years. The gay sex sentence is the same as that for murder. The law went into effect this week after it was signed by president, Amani Karume. Zanzibar‘s parliament, in a rare show of unity, passed the bill unanimously in April. There is no difference between sodomy and murder said Sheikh Muhammed Said, a Zanzibar Islamic leader. This is what we have been aspiring for, he said of the penalties.
3. Challenges
The United Republic of Tanzania acceded to the International Convention on Civil and PoliticalRights1 (ICCPR) on 11 September, 1976. These violations are based solely on a person‘s actual or suspected sexual orientation. The question is whether this behavior by a state party to the ICCPR is a violation of articles 2(1), 26, and 17 and whether it is a failure of the duty and obligation of the government to protect its citizens with no partiality.

Article 17(1) states that people should be free from arbitrary or unlawful interference with his [or her] privacy; family, home or correspondence. Article 17(2) additionally mandates that the law must protect all people from such interferences. The Constitution of the United Republic also provides for the guaranteed privacy of its people,

16. – (1) every person is entitled to respect and protection of his person, the privacy of his ownperson, his family and of his matrimonial life, and respect and protection of hi residence and private communications.
4. Conclusion
According to the culture and morality in Tanzania prostitutions and homosexuality are totally not practiced, and if the law prohibits such kinds of sexual behaviour in Tanzania, then the country doesn’t violates any rights as provided by ICCPR and other legal instruments. The rights of people are respected if they conducts themselves not against the culture and morality of their nations. That is why; homesexuality and prostitutions have been categorized as offences against morality.