Date of publication:

11/03/2025

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies provide for the recognition and recording of vital personal events of forcibly displaced and stateless persons that occurred outside the country of residence? 

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Stateless persons
Analysis

In Tanzania, the recognition and recording of vital events—such as births, marriages, divorces, and deaths—that occurred in another country for forcibly displaced and stateless persons are not explicitly detailed in domestic laws and policies. This lack of clear legal provisions creates uncertainty regarding the formal acknowledgment of such events within Tanzania's civil registration and legal systems.​

The Births and Deaths Registration Act governs the registration of vital events within Tanzania. However, it does not explicitly address the procedures for recognizing or recording events that occurred outside the country, particularly for forcibly displaced and stateless individuals. This omission can lead to challenges in establishing legal identity and civil status for these populations.​

 

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    Births and Deaths Registration Act

    Legal provision

    Section 18.1 - Provisions relating to medical certificates of cause of death

    The Registrar-General shall, from time to time, furnish to every district registrar printed forms of certificates of cause of death by licensed and registered medical practitioners, and every such registrar shall furnish such forms gratis to any such medical practitioner residing or practising in such registrar's district.

    Section 11 - Duty to register births

    In the case of every child born alive after the commencement of this Act, the registration of whose birth is compulsory, it shall be the duty of the father and mother, and, in default of the father and mother, of the occupier of the house in which to his knowledge such child is born, and of each person present at the birth, and of the person having charge of such child, to register the birth within three months of the birth.

    Law of Marriage Act

    Legal provision

    Section 43.2 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    When a marriage is celebrated by a minister of religion according to the rites of a specified religion, it shall be his duty forthwith to register it.

    Section 43.2 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in Islamic form or according to rites recognized by customary law in Tanzania, it shall be the duty of the Kadhi or registration officer, as the case may be, forthwith to register it.

    Section 43.4 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in Islamic form or according to rites recognized by customary law in Tanzania, the parties shall, within thirty days after the date of the marriage— a. attend before the Kadhi or registration officer for the district in which the marriage was contracted; and b. furnish such particulars as may be prescribed, and it shall be the duty of the Kadhi or registration officer to register the marriage.

    Section 43.1 - Duty to register marriages and procedure to be followed

    Where a marriage is contracted in civil form, it shall be the duty of the district registrar forthwith to register it.

    Section 100.1 - Registration of divorces

    Every district registrar shall maintain a register of annulments and divorces in the prescribed form.