Source: Tanzania Daily News
THE government has achieved tremendous success in enforcing various international and regional conventions in the fight against the discrimination of women and children.

Speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, a principal officer in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, Ms Mwanaidi Ali Mohamed, said ratification of the treaties had brought about positive changes in the sector.

She gave an example of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which the government ratified in 1984 and has been the source of major changes as far as gender issues were concerned.

She said following ratification of the convention, various laws and regulations were amended to give an equal and fair playing field for both women and children.

Ms Mwanaidi said the Isles government had taken a special initiative under which it had formed a special task force that is to review all laws and regulations which appear gender discriminative.

"These are what we call as actions taken towards implementation of the convention because when you ratify it, it means you have to set in place mechanisms which will facilitate their operations according to the country's needs," she said.

She outlined other areas as the tremendous increase in the number of girls attending school, compared to the time before the convention's ratification, saying now stiff penalties were being imposed on parents and guardians who deny their children the right to education.

Moreover, she said, pregnant schoolgirls were now able to resume school after delivery while those men found guilty of impregnating them faced stiff penalties.

• Tanzania