Maasai in Tanzania: Human rights organizations strongly condemn arbitrary arrests

The human rights organizations Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) and FIAN Germany have expressed concern over the arbitrary arrest of five members of the Maasai community. The men were detained on the evening of October 6 in Arusha, Tanzania, and have since been released. The charges against them remain unknown. They were lured to a hospital under false pretenses and arrested there by the police.

These arrests are part of an ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, detentions, and house searches targeting Maasai activists and members of the Maasai community. In recent months, the criminalization of the Maasai has reached unprecedented levels. Since August, more than 30 people have been arrested in the Ngorongoro District alone. In Loliondo, there has also been an increase in the confiscation of livestock and targeted attacks on individuals.

The Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA), of which STP and FIAN are members, called for solidarity with the Maasai following the arrests and urged people to stand against all forms of discrimination and repression by the Tanzanian authorities. The STP and FIAN call on the German Foreign Office and the German Embassy in Tanzania to advocate for an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the arrests. At the same time, Germany and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) must suspend their financial support for nature conservation projects in Tanzania—as the STP, FIAN, and MISA have repeatedly demanded—as long as systematic human rights violations against the Maasai continue and the rights of the affected communities are not effectively protected.

The recent arrests occurred while the 153rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was taking place in Arusha from October 5 to 9. Parliamentarians from around the world have gathered there under the theme “Strengthening Good Governance and Empowering Communities through Inclusion, Trust, and Opportunities for All.” The ongoing human rights violations against the Maasai stand in stark contrast to this stated goal. Members of the German Bundestag Katrin Fey, Dr. Lena Gumnior, Dr. Rolf Mützenich, and Claudia Roth, who are in Arusha as members of the German delegation, had called for the immediate release of those detained.