Date of publication:

01/07/2026

United Republic of Tanzania (the)

Do domestic laws and policies provide for the recognition of refugee status on a prima facie basis?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Asylum-seekers
Analysis

Tanzania has a long history of granting asylum on a prima facie basis, particularly in response to mass influxes of refugees from neighboring countries such as Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The prima facie approach—also known as group recognition—allows for the collective granting of refugee status to persons belonging to a specific group fleeing generalized violence, conflict, or persecution, without the need for individual refugee status determination.

Although prima facie recognition is not explicitly detailed in Tanzania’s primary refugee legislation—the Refugees Act No. 9 of 1998—it is a long-established practice that aligns with the country’s obligations under the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. Article I (2) of the OAU Convention, which Tanzania has ratified and applies in practice, broadens the definition of a refugee beyond the 1951 Convention to include persons fleeing external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events seriously disturbing public order.

Tanzania has used this approach multiple times in its history, including during the 1972 and 1993 influxes of Burundians, and most recently during the 2015 political crisis in Burundi. The prima facie process is typically applied when the government, in consultation with UNHCR, issues an administrative declaration recognizing a group as refugees based on their nationality and the prevailing conditions in their country of origin.

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    The Refugee Act

    Legal provision

    Section 4.1 - Definition of Refugee, cessation and exclusion

    Subject to the provisions of sub-sections (3) and (4) of this section and for the purposes of this Act a refugee is any person who: (a)is outside the country of his nationality or if he has no nationality, the country of his former habitual residence, because he has or had a well founded fear of persecution by reason of his race, religion, nationality membership of a particular social group or political opinion and is unable or, because of such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the Government of the country of his nationality, or, if he has no nationality, to return to the country of his former habitual residence; (b)owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality; (c)belongs to a group of persons which by notice in the Government Gazette has been declared to be refugees for the reasons set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) above.

    The National Refugee Policy

    Legal provision

    Section 9 - Determination of Refugee Status

    Tanzania has a tradition of providing a safe haven to people who flee persecution and conflicts in their countries of origin. It is or this reason that the system of refugee status determination has been put in place to assist the government to offer the required protection to those who deserve. In granting refugee status, the government decides on an applicable procedure (through individual status determination or declaration of a group basing on factors which forced asylum-seekers to flee and seek asylum). So far the government has been using the individualized system of status determination which works well despite the fact that resources have continued to be the major obstacle in making it more efficient and effective. For large influxes it has been more convenient to use the group recognition or the prima facie approach through Ministerial Orders issued by the Minister responsible for refugee affairs. The government of Tanzania will work out mechanisms that will require all refugees to present themselves to authorized officers for documentation.