This paper looks at refugee law and practice in Tanzania. The first section contains a description of the main flows of refugees into Tanzania and the responses of the Tanzanian authorities. This is followed by an analysis of refugee law is broken down into three main elements, universal international law, primarily the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the regional OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa and municipal laws of particular relevance to refugees. The analysis describes the basic scheme envisaged by each element and compares it with Tanzania's actual practice. Finally, a comparative analysis of the schemes set up by the international, regional and municipal rules is provided. The obligation of non-refoulement represents an important area of overlap between both conventions and, to a lesser extent, the municipal rules. Beyond this, however, there are major differences between the various schemes. The 1951 Convention guarantees a relatively broad range of social and political benefits to a rather narrow group of individual refugees. The OAU Convention defines a refugee much more broadly and in a way that clearly envisages group determination but guarantees fewer benefits to those covered. It is submitted that compliance with both sets of obligations, which would require either an individual refugee status determination process or provision of the larger package of benefits to all OAU Convention refugees, is impractical in the case of Tanzania. This is reflected in the fact that both Tanzanian law and practice, which broadly conform to the OAU Convention, breach significant 1951 Convention obligations. It is suggested that for poorer countries hosting large numbers of refugees, like Tanzania, the 1951 Convention is essentially an inappropriate instrument and one which is substantially ignored in practice.

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Tanzania refugee law