Enlightenment on Human right and business
The human rights strategy for Africa adopted in
2011, has acknowledged the importance of mainstreaming human rights in business
as a means to widely advance democratic governance and the respect of human
rights in Africa. A consultation organized by the department of political
affairs of the African union commission took place in Abuja from December
18TH-21th on developing an AU policy for the implementation of the UN guiding
principles on business and HR in Africa.
It is important therefore to understand what
the UN guiding principles connote, the link between HR and business, access the
readiness of Africa in the domestification and implementation
of its own policy.
Bearings of the UN guiding principles
The UN guiding
principles on business and HR are grounded on;
a A.
The state
i. i.
The
states’ duty to protect enacting laws and policies which protect and enhance
HR.
ii. ii
States’
duty to respect HR by committing to polices and Due diligence and
iii. iii
Fulfill HR
and fundamental freedom via state based judicial mechanisms, state based but
non judicial and non state based mechanisms
B. Business
enterprises as specialized organs of society performing specialized functions
required to comply with all applicable laws and t respect HR
C. The need
for rights and obligations to be matched to appropriate and effective remedies
when breached
Link between HR and business and the readiness of Africa for contextualization of UN guiding principles
2016 was declared by AU as year of HR with special focus on the woman.
So tying down with the calendar of action, UN guiding principles present an
opportunity for AU commission to strengthen its work on business and HR.
·
Issues of
child labor becoming frequent of most companies
·
Environmental
degradation, health issues, land disputes, loss of natural habitat, labor
exploitation are a sad reality in Africa.
·
Failure
of the state to respect and protect HR
·
Remedy
processes are often unsatisfactory or boycotted by the concerned
·
International
HR laws do not impose direct legal obligations on businesses
·
The
unclear definition of the social/moral responsibility of the state and business
owners
·
Companies
are making huge profits in violating HR
e.g. human trafficking
·
Society
often doesn’t have information on the impact of businesses
·
Lack of
law enforcement for HR
·
no
implementation of certain fundamental HR due to no rectification by some states
·
lack of
indicators to relay HR and business e.g. measuring the negative impact of
businesses
·
companies
investing in conflict areas e.g. financing wars
·
need for a
regional approach of these polices as some companies are richer than some
states so regulating their activities can be very tough
After the colonial times, there is a new scrabble for Africa as she is
the richest continent in extractable natural resources. The contextualization
of UN guiding principles is for particularity out of global shared values to
ensure the protection of its people.
Even though most businesses share the Friedman doctrine of maximizing
profit, there must be a firm determination to move towards ‘’healthy ‘African
businesses as a common responsibility.
Challenges of implementing this policy in Africa
- -
challenge
of ineffective management
- -
different
region al/sub regional accounting standards
-
- different
tax laws
- -
loopholes
in tax system encouraging fraud
- -
competitive
pressures
- -
technological
changes challenging survival of businesses
- -
dissatisfied
and disconnected workforce
- -
fear of
loss of investors in Africa
- -
remedy
mechanisms not efficient as corruption is still deeply rooted
- - wide communication gap at all levels of society
Notwithstanding
all these challenges, with the obvious need to develop AU policy on business
and HR, strategies will sure be put to place to ensure an effective implementation
of this policy for the good of mother Africa.
