"Improving monitoring, research and dialogue on Business and Human Rights in Tanzania"

IPIS...[has launched] its new project on Business & Human Rights with the Tanzanian Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) and Business and Human Rights Tanzania (BHRT). Tanzania is  bearing the fruits of the accelerating economic growth and rising influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), but is  also struggling with the enormous challenges in the area of business and human rights (B&HR) this brings along. These span diverse issues including labour, health and safety conditions, gender discrimination, forced evictions, excessive violence against civilians, environmental pollution and child labour. In spite of these severe challenges, most Tanzanians are unaware of their rights, as well as the diverse duties and responsibilities of state actors and companies under the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles for B&HR…The project aims at building local and national capacities for improved reporting, fact-finding, monitoring and follow-up of corporate human rights harm in order to enhance protection, prevention, accountability and remedy.  To achieve this, IPIS and its partners will engage in three main interconnected activities:

1.    Incident reporting, fact-finding and follow-up: Through a three-pronged approach, IPIS, CHRAGG and BHRT will work to improve the reporting, fact-finding and follow-up of corporate human rights harm, with particular attention to the protection of vulnerable groups….

2.    Research, mapping: IPIS, CHRAGG and BHRT will contribute to filling existing data gaps regarding the scope, scale and nature of the corporate impact on human rights…

3. Multi-stakeholder dialogues: In order to tear down walls and build mutual understanding between the different target groups, multi-stakeholder dialogues form a key project component. These will also be an exercise in awareness-raising, and ensuring that the action is borne by a wide network of stakeholders. These include civil society, state actors, workers’ organisations, industry organisations, research institutes, foreign state actors, international organisations, etc.