Grievance and redress mechanisms: What should I do when my rights are infringed?

The laws and contracts governing relations between investors and local communities create rights and obligations. It is important that communities can get redress if their rights are violated. This would include rights established by contracts, but also other rights which were not necessarily contemplated at the signing of the contract. A conducive environment for investors and local communities would be one where mechanisms to settle potential disputes are functional and known by the parties well in advance. Yet sometimes dispute mechanisms are not in place, or they are unclear or unknown to many people, especially local communities living in rural areas. The land laws of 1999 introduced dispute settlement mechanisms for land matters that are independent of standard litigation processes. However, there is no specific redress mechanism for investment related disputes that arise between investors and local communities.

The Tanzania Investment Act, 1997 establishes a dispute mechanism between the government and investors but has not provided mechanisms to settle disputes between local communities and investors. This brief discusses the nature of redress mechanisms relevant to investment related disputes. It pays particular attention to the redress mechanisms under SAGCOT for matters of compensation and resettlement.