Tanzania: Maasai Indigenous Peoples face forced evictions by UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR)   Aug. 2026 (UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination)   Tanzania must immediately halt forced evictions of Maasai Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands in Ngorongoro and Loliondo, and address reported law enforcement abuses, including arbitrary arrests and excessive use of force, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said today.   Acting under its Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure, the Committee expressed alarm at longstanding reported violations, including forced evictions and relocations, as well as restrictions on access to ancestral lands, territories and natural resources.   The Committee expressed deep concern over reports that plans and measures aimed at expanding conservation and tourism projects have resulted in the displacement and relocation of large numbers of Maasai Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands in Ngorongoro and Loliondo without adequate and meaningful consultation and without their free, prior and informed consent.   It was gravely concerned about reports that Maasai Indigenous Peoples opposing evictions and relocations have repeatedly faced arbitrary arrests and detention, reprisals, intimidation and harassment. The Committee also cited reports of racial profiling and racially motivated excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.   “Restrictions on access to grazing areas, water sources and cultural sites, together with the reduction or deterioration in the provision of health care, education, water and other essential services in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, have adversely affected their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and pressured them to relocate from their ancestral lands,” the Committee said.   The Committee also highlighted hate speech and stigmatisation against Maasai Indigenous Peoples, including portrayals of them as obstacles to conservation and development in Tanzania.   Furthermore, human rights defenders, members of civil society organisations, activists, lawyers and journalists working to promote the rights of Maasai Indigenous Peoples have allegedly faced intimidation, harassment and reprisals in connection with their human rights work, it said.   The Committee called upon Tanzania to immediately stop forced evictions of Maasai Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands and territories in Ngorongoro, Loliondo and other affected areas.   Where forced evictions cannot be avoided, it said, affected families and individuals should be provided with adequate alternative housing and compensation, and should have access to effective remedies.   It also called on Tanzania to guarantee that any conservation, tourism, infrastructure, development or relocation initiative affecting Maasai Indigenous Peoples is undertaken only after meaningful consultations and with a view to obtaining their free, prior and informed consent.   The Committee asked the State Party to “ensure that the Maasai Indigenous Peoples enjoy their rights without discrimination, including their rights to equality before the law and to effective participation in decisions affecting them.”   It urged Tanzania to restore and improve access to essential services, including education, health care, water and sanitation, to refrain from restricting such services to induce relocation and to ensure access to grazing lands in areas inhabited by Maasai Indigenous Peoples.   It also said Tanzania should ensure accountability and end impunity, including by conducting effective, thorough and impartial investigations into all reports of human rights abuses and violations against Maasai Indigenous Peoples.   The Committee also urged Tanzania to ensure a safe environment for human rights defenders, civil society organizations, activists, lawyers and journalists working to promote their rights.   The Committee further urged Tanzania to publish without delay the findings and recommendations of the two presidential commissions established in February 2025 to examine land use, relocation and conservation policies in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and to ensure the meaningful participation of Maasai Indigenous Peoples in decisions concerning the area’s future.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/08/tanzania-maasai-indigenous-peoples-face-forced-evictions-law-enforcement
	OECD: adopt and enforce binding measures to hold multinational companies to account for human rights by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre   June 2026   "Open letter to members of the OECD Responsible Business Conduct Committee".   Over 100 human rights and environmental organisations – including Indigenous Peoples’ and Afro-descendant peoples’ representative organisations – from more than 55 countries have sent an Open Letter to members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Responsible Business Conduct Committee (RBC):   We – a broad range of Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, Afro descendant Peoples’ organisations, territorial and human rights defenders and rights-holders directly affected by corporate activities, along with our local and international civil society allies – write to you ahead of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Inclusive Platform for Due Diligence Policy Cooperation meeting, taking place in Paris during the Responsible Business Conduct week (RBC week), 29 June – 2 July 2026.   We collectively call for greater ambition by OECD member states to adopt and enforce binding measures to hold multinational companies to account for individual and collective human rights violations and environmental destruction, and to ensure the provision of remedy...   Such measures must be aligned with international human rights law instruments, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and jurisprudence protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, lands, territories and resources, and to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)....   We further call for such requirements to be a condition of accession to the OECD...   For centuries, the dominant models of extraction, production, transnational trade and multinational businesses have had profoundly negative impacts on human rights, cultures, lands, wellbeing and the environment...   Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples and other land-connected communities are experiencing increasing violence, intimidation and killings, and the alarming closure of civic space, including the repression of protest and use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation...   Our message to OECD member states is that adopting measures that impose binding obligations on multinational businesses, including financial institutions, is not only long overdue but is crucial to ensure the prevention of imminent human rights and environmental abuses, as well as to ensure effective remedy for harms.   Such measures must create clear accountability for corporate actors throughout their value chains and ensure that affected rights holders can access justice when harms occur...   We call on you to ensure these principles, and the need to align OECD Guidelines with international human rights law, form the basis of discussion during the Inclusive Platform for Due Diligence Policy Cooperation meeting, and other relevant discussions held during the RBC week.   We further underscore that the proposals and processes relating to national-level corporate accountability laws must be undertaken through meaningful and effective consultation with the concerned Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples or other land connected communities in line with the relevant international human rights law, including Article 19 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples..   http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/indigenous-peoples-afro-descendant-peoples-and-communities-urge-oecd-states-to-adopt-mandatory-corporate-accountability-measures-in-open-letter/ http://www.forestpeoples.org/publications-resources/news/article/open-letter-to-the-members-of-the-oecd-responsible-business-conduct-committee http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/business-human-rights-environment/business-and-human-rights/oecd-member-states-must-show-greater-ambition-on-50th-anniversary-guidelines-responsible-business-conduct   * Guidance on the right of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consent in the context of business activities - Report of the United Nations Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises   In this report, the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises examines the right of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in the context of business activities. It notes some positive normative developments in the protection and respect of FPIC by States and businesses, while acknowledging persistent gaps in its implementation. The report clarifies related State obligations and business responsibilities under the three pillars of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.   Its Annex provides practical guidance for operationalizing FPIC across business project lifecycles. It underscores the importance of FPIC as an essential safeguard to guarantee the protection and respect of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and to build trust between States, businesses and rightsholders:   http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc6236add2-guidance-right-indigenous-peoples-free-prior-and-informed Visit the related web page
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