UN offers micro-grants for human rights projects

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have invited registered community-based organisations to apply for a number of small grants available to facilitate local human rights work which is vital to the sustainable improvement of people's lives. Up to six micro-grants, each to a maximum value of US $5,000, are being offered in Tanzania, under a joint UNDP/OHCHR project called Assisting Communities Together (ACT). ACT funds are intended to assist activities which require a relatively small amount of support to be implemented, but which nevertheless can make an important impact on the promotion and protection of human rights at the local level, according to the UN human rights agency. "The small grants available for Tanzania are targeted mainly at smaller organisations, perhaps in rural areas, that might not otherwise get funding for their activities," a UNDP human rights officer, Malin Krook, told IRIN on Thursday. "Human rights awareness in general is very low, and this is an effort to get to small-scale awareness-raising programmes in different areas, especially those targeted at women and children," she said. A number of applications had already been received, though the deadline for application was 15 March, she added. [For application procedures and contact details, go to http://www.tz.undp.org/news/hract.html] UNDP Tanzania has said it will give particular preference to applicants involved in human rights education, advocacy and training at a grass-roots level, as well as those advocating for the rights of women and children. Among the issues raised by international rights organisations in relation to Tanzania have been: the alleged used of children under the age of 18 in the armed forces; the reported use of excessive force by security forces, especially during political violence in Zanzibar in January 2001; and flawed elections in recent years, as well as the non-implementation of a much-debated Zanzibar constitutional reform agreement of 1999. There has also been concern over reported forcible roundups of refugees in northern Tanzania, their alleged forcible expulsion to their countries of origin in some instances and ill-treatment in others, according to Amnesty International. [http://www.amnesty.org/] Furthermore, there had been no progress on a promised Tanzanian human rights commission, the organisation stated in its 2001 country report. Nongovernmental organisations have also campaigned on restrictions on the freedoms of speech and assembly, and against female genital mutilation, which is still widely practised. In addition, though Tanzania has limited human rights problems compared to other African countries, people's general awareness of their rights - and public officials' awareness of the public's rights - is nowhere near as high as it might be, according to humanitarian sources. General issues of concern, according to sources in the capital, Dar es Salaam, include: awareness of and respect for human rights among law enforcement officers, especially in the police force and prison service; the public's access to justice; and the need to institutionalise respect for human rights awards in the judiciary and constitutional processes.