... Over the years EACOP has engaged in several meetings and videoconferences with both FIDH and your partner Oxfam... During these interactions, we have consistently shared with you our methodology and progress on key topics such as Human Rights, Land Acquisition and Environment & Biodiversity. This includes our Grievance Mechanism process. We encourage the reporting of grievances or issues through our established Grievance Mechanism, which has enabled us to address and resolve almost 1,000 cases in Uganda to date.

The concerns raised in your report are difficult to follow up as the allegations are often anonymous or anecdotal. Should you bring forward specific grievances from individuals who are EACOP PAPs or from EACOP impacted communities, we commit to investigating, with confidentiality and sensitivity, and do our utmost to resolve them. This commitment extends to the allegations mentioned in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of your draft report. However we do not recognise allegations such as ‘recurring patterns’ or ‘people resettled to significantly smaller houses’. On the contrary we are proud of how we have conducted the land acquisition and resettlement program and believe it to be a very positive example in the region. EACOP is firmly committed to adhering to relevant international standards and best practices in carrying out its activities. This includes meeting the IFC Performance Standards and Equator principles, the Voluntary Principles on Security & Human Rights (VPSHR) and the UN Guidelines on Business and Human Rights. These are complimented by a number of internal policies – available on eacop.com, amongst which are EACOP’s

- Human Rights Policy

- Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Policy

- Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy

- Statement on Human Rights Defenders...