Resolution on Business and Human Rights in Africa - ACHPR/Res.550 (LXXIV) 2023

03-21-2023

Jacob Odeh

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has called on the African Union (AU) to update its policies on business and human rights, taking into account soft law instruments and the new context of the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The Commission also urges the AU to incorporate a human rights-based approach to development into its updated African Regional Blue Economy Strategy. The topic of business, trade, and human rights will be mainstreamed into the Commission's regular public sessions' agenda. The ACHR is aware of the detrimental effects that large corporations can have on communities' and peoples' rights, as well as the need for a strong regional framework to stop and remedy violations of business-related human rights. It advocates for the development of mechanisms for their efficient implementation as well as the successful domestication of relevant regional human rights standards on business and human rights. The Commission also emphasizes the responsibility of states to enact measures for ensuring that commercial establishments respect human rights as well as the duties that corporations, particularly multinational ones, have to rights holders.

The Commission reiterates its prior resolutions regarding the necessity of stronger environmental and human rights protections as well as the demand for efficient systems for holding non-state actors accountable for human rights abuses in Africa. It refers to the Background Study on the Operations of the Extractive Industries Sector in Africa and its Impacts on the Realization of Human and Peoples' Rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which explains the contents of Articles 21 and 24 of the African Charter as well as the corresponding rights and obligations thereunder. The Commission also emphasizes the significance of sound resource management for achieving sustainable natural resource. In order to promote sustainable resource development on the African continent and to realize the economic, social, and cultural rights of African peoples, the Commission also emphasizes the significance of good resource governance.

Sources and further reading:

Resolution on Business and Human Rights in Africa - ACHPR/Res.550 (LXXIV) 2023. (2023, March 16). African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/550-resolution-business-and-human-rights-africa-achprres550-lxxiv-2023