Enlightenment on human rights and business

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.