By Lilian Museka
Accra, Ghana: Over 50 Africa Union member states are participating in a two-day high-level forum on Business and Human Rights in Ghana. The event is envisaged to provide dialogue and exchange to advance the business and human rights agenda in the region.
The forum will also will be addressing the African business and human rights community and feature priority issues in responsible business practice, emphasizing opportunities and growing momentum worldwide, especially in Africa, towards improving corporate accountability for human rights including through mandatory human rights due diligence regulations.
The Forum is envisioned as an annual event aiming to devise a coherent continental platform for discussing how to promote and ensure responsible business conduct in Africa.
It will provide an invaluable opportunity for stakeholders, including AU member states, businesses, and civil society, to learn about progress and challenges, share best practices, identify needs, and engage in peer learning through constructive dialogue.
While officially opening the forum, Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister for Justice Hon. Godfred Dame said despite many laws being in place in many African countries, human rights violations continue to be witnessed with most perpetrators getting away with the crimes.
In his remarks, read by Hon. Diana Asonaba Dapaah, Ghana’s Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice noted that the acts were violations of human rights and called on African heads of state to ensure the strengthening of regulations both at the national and regional levels to address the challenge.
He urged All African countries to Fastrack their National Action Plans (NAP) on Business and Human Rights, calling on the business community to equally embrace and take up a corporate responsibility in addressing human rights violations.
The National action plans articulate a state’s priorities and actions to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Eamon Gilmore, EU Special Representative for Human rights, Eamon Gilmore praised the forum by acknowledging the fact that it had a strong commitment to addressing human rights violations.
“The EU welcomes the development of the policy document to encourage African states to adopt their NAPs to ensure the advancement of human rights. Businesses must equally be willing to engage and corporate in promoting the agenda because prosperity should be built on increased freedom and not force,” he said.
Switzerland Ambassador to Ghana, Amb. Simone Giger acknowledged that due to increased cases of human violations, there was a need to promote responsible business and this can be achieved through the implementation of policy frameworks.
She noted that human rights are key for sustainable business and crucial in maintaining customer satisfaction. She added that the forum was important in laying a roadmap to address violations of human rights in the continent.
The forum is being attended by various stakeholders both physical and virtual from the business community, civil society and human rights institutions, the legal fraternity, trade unions, and international organizations including development partners.
It was organized by AU and other partners including Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), among other partners.
