Founder of ECOWAS Business News & ECOWAS & AU Policy Expert E K Bensah Jr has been Invited as a speaker at this event, where he will be speaking about Integrating human rights in the implementation of the AfCFTA and status of discussions on trade and human rights.
An alumnae of ULB-CERIS Diplomatic School of Brussels, where he completed his dissertation in 2003 questioning “Can ECOWAS & ASEAN Respond to the West’s push for Global Trade Liberalization?”, Mr Bensah remains one of the pioneers of comparative regional integration.
The Role of AU Mechanisms in advancing trade and responsible business practices
The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law plan to jointly host a multistakeholder roundtable focused on the interaction of regional trade and regional human rights mechanisms in Africa.
The objective is to account for the evolution and current situation of African regional mechanisms (ARMs) in the area of trade and human rights, particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the AU human rights mechanisms (AHRMs), the impacts these mechanisms have on policy and the practical enjoyment of human rights, development and responsible business conduct, and the most notable and recent initiatives bearing realising the mandates of ARMs. These discussions on ARMs are placed in the broader context of SDGs, green and just transition, and the right to development.
The outcomes are expected to clarify the strengths and innovations around ARMs, the challenges and gaps ARMs encounter, and possibilities for collaboration and partnerships. The roundtable is a first step towards a baseline of actionable information for action and collaboration of stakeholders interested in ARMs and their contribution towards a mutually reinforcing trade-human rights agenda in Africa.
Background
Africa, home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world, is witnessing a notable spread of business enterprises across a range of fields. Owing to its richness in resources and raw materials, the continent continues to increasingly attract large scale extractive industries while African countries, in pursuit of achieving their developmental goals, continue to expand their involvement in large and medium scale manufacturing. Both domestic and foreign investment in a variety of sectors also continue to surge in the continent.
While business enterprises carry the potential to boost economic growth, create employment opportunities and generally avail conducive conditions for the realisation of a range of human rights and freedoms, unregulated or poorly regulated businesses may have adverse impacts on human rights. The negative implications of harmful business activities on the full enjoyment of human rights may vary from displacement of – mostly indigenous – communities, to exploitative and hazardous working conditions, child labour, environmental degradation and others.
Within the framework of its institutional set-up, the AU can effectively address business and environment related human rights concerns. Operating under their respective mandates, AU’s human rights mechanisms (AHRM) – the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACmHPR), the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights (ACtHPR) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) – have the potential to play a meaningful role in ensuring that business enterprises conduct their activities in a responsible manner that takes human rights and environmental considerations into account, and in strengthening corporate accountability for human rights abuses and violations resulting from harmful business practices. The Working Group of the ACmHPR on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa (WGEI) and ACERWC’s Working Group on Children’s Rights and Business also stand to contribute concretely in this respect.
Launched in 2019, the AfCFTA has a promising potential to facilitate inter-African trade and by doing so, to boost the economies of African countries thereby contributing significantly to alleviating poverty. As the AfCFTA becomes operational and as it fosters a vibrant trading environment in the continent, it naturally also brings concerns around the incorporation of human rights standards in the relevant rules governing trading under this Agreement. With that in mind, in one of its recent resolutions, Resolution No. 20/2024, the ACERWC’s Working Group on Children’s Rights and Business offers guidance on the integration of a child rights-based approach in the implementation of the AfCFTA. Similarly, the ACmHPR, in ACHPR/Res.551 (LXXIV) 2023, underscores the need for mainstreaming human rights in the negotiations for implementing the AfCFTA Agreement.
At the international level, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), endorsed through resolution A/HRC/RES/17/4 of the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, present authoritative and comprehensive framework on preventing and addressing the harmful effects of business activities on human rights. In 2014, the UN Human Rights Council also established an ‘open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (IGWG)’ which is leading the process for the adoption of a legally binding instrument to regulate business and corporate activities. Aligned with its support for establishing a binding regulatory regime at the national, regional and international levels
to deal with human rights concerns arising from the operations of businesses, ACmHPR’s WGEI is also in support of the process for the adoption of the UN binding treaty.
While its counterpart, the EU has just recently adopted a directive (EU CSDD) regulating the human rights and environmental impacts of EU and non-EU companies and raising critical questions regarding applicable frameworks to regulate intercontinental trade between Africa and Europe, the AU has developed a Policy Framework on Business and Human Rights although the document is yet to be adopted. Nonetheless, other key commitments and frameworks provide guidance on regulating responsible business practices in the continent. The Nairobi Declaration adopted recently at the conclusion of the 3rd African Business and Human Rights Forum held in October 2024 is a critical example encapsulating shared commitments of representatives of African governments, the private sector, civil society actors, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), academia, rights holders, and other stakeholders, towards promoting responsible business conduct and corporate accountability in Africa. Among other key tenets, this Declaration is anchored on the recognition of the intertwined nature of sustainable development, human rights, and respect for the environment and the implications of environment and sustainable development on the protection of human rights. Despite its enabling institutional framework and the existence of relevant normative standards, AU’s work in advancing responsible practice and corporate accountability of business enterprises has been limited. Multiple factors challenge the effectiveness of the AHRM for promoting responsible practice and accountability of businesses, ranging from lack of sufficient awareness and understanding of the nexus between business and human rights among relevant actors including lawyers; minimal use of strategic litigation for adjudicating business-related violations at human rights bodies; and absence of sufficient monitoring and follow-up of existing decisions on related matters. Furthermore, while the AfCFTA Agreement presents a unique opportunity not only to foster and deepen trade between Africa and the EU, but also to accelerate realisation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), there is need to address important questions concerning implications of the EU CSDD in the implementation of the AfCFTA.
Against this backdrop the round-table discussions will centre on:
- The impacts AHRMs have on policy and the practical enjoyment of human rights, development and responsible business conduct – challenges and opportunities
- The most notable and recent initiatives bearing realising the mandates of ARMs within the general frameworks of SDGs, just transition and the right to development and in relation to the EU CSDD.
- The impacts AfCFTA have on policy and the practical enjoyment of human rights, development and responsible business conduct – challenges and opportunities
- The most notable and recent initiatives bearing realising the mandates of AfCFTA within the general frameworks of SDGs, just transition and the right to development as well as in relation to the EU CSDDD.