Date of publication:

01/07/2026

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies provide for protection from expulsion of refugees?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Analysis

Tanzania has ratified several core international human rights treaties that prohibit the removal or deportation of individuals to countries where they face a real risk of serious human rights violations, such as torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, or threats to life and liberty. These include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (CAT), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). The country is also party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the OAU 1969 Convention, both of which support the principle of non-refoulement in contexts of persecution and broader threats to life or safety.

Domestically, the Refugees Act No. 9 of 1998 offers protections consistent with these international commitments, specifically prohibiting the removal of individuals to territories where they may face threats to their life, freedom, or physical integrity. Although the law primarily focuses on refugees and asylum-seekers, its provisions implicitly extend to any person at risk of serious harm if returned to another country. However, Tanzania does not have a separate law specifically governing the protection of all persons at risk of removal to situations of human rights violations (e.g., those not formally recognized as refugees). As a result, non-refugees—including undocumented migrants—may not enjoy the same legal safeguards unless they are able to access the refugee status determination process or benefit from ad hoc administrative discretion.

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    The Refugee Act

    Legal provision

    Section 12.2 - Permit to remain in Tanzania

    An authorized officer appointed in that behalf shall not refuse asylum seeker or refugee a permit under this section if the officer has reason to believe that the refusal of a permit will necessitate the return of the asylum seeker or refugee to the territory from which he entered Tanzania and that the asylum seeker or refugee will be tried or punished for an offence of a political character after arrival in that territory or is likely to be persecuted in that territory. The auhorised officer may however, subject to assigning a valid reason after approval of the Director refuse to issue a permit.

    The National Refugee Policy

    Legal provision

    Section 5 - General overview

    Considering that the primary principle of refugee protection is that no one is returned to a country of origin where he or she would face serious harm, the exclusion clauses will be applied objectively and with due regard to the principle of human rights and due process of law.

    Extradition Act

    Legal provision

    Section 16.1 – Restrictions on Extradition

    Subject to the provisions of section 17, a fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered and no person arrested under Part III of this Act shall be returned if the- (a) offence in respect of which his surrender is required or the offence specified in the warrant, as the case may be, is one of a political character or if it appears that the requisition for the surrender, or the application for endorsement of a warrant and the return of the person named in it, has in fact been made with a view to try or to punish him for an offence of a political character;