AN ASSESSMENT OF TANZANIAN COURTS ON REGULATION OF NON-INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICTS

Abstract

Non-international armed conflicts (NIAC) are traditionally perceived to be illegitimate practices that ought to be dealt under the domestic criminal laws while maintaining state sovereignty over all internal matters. The practice has caused absence of international humanitarian law (IHL) provisions in domestic legislation of many states the fact which brings the role of national courts in IHL implementation and enforcement into direct application. In that regard, this paper assesses the effectiveness of Tanzanian courts in regulating legal issues during non-international armed conflict. The assessment discloses that the absence of IHL provisions in the legislation of Tanzania may cause courts’ failure to regulate legal issues in compliance with IHL governing non-international armed conflicts. Furthermore, the situation may cause a series of implications during and in aftermath of non-international armed conflicts. On that note, studies have revealed that in other situations, courts may simply follow the lead of the executive and ignore the potential of IHL application. The paper makes recommendations to fill up these legal loopholes. Therefore, it is time for Tanzania to rethink on the existing statutory lacunae and select a more effective and principled basis for IHL applicability.