Navigating emerging remedy pathways: Policies, practices, and tools to address human rights issues and support rightsholders in Africa
(with case studies from agriculture and mining)

Background 

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In recent years, new policy and legal frameworks for corporate responsibility and accountability have emerged especially in the European Union (EU). While initiatives were often diluted in long political negotiations, and there was only limited consultation with stakeholders from Africa and other regions, laws like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) are considered key achievements in terms of rightsholder protections and a level-playing field for business. At the same time, some of these frameworks are currently being reopened and revised in ways that risk making them less accessible for rightsholders and stakeholders in the region.  

We believe that there is a need to share information and updates on these policies and laws, as well as on emerging corporate practices, so that stakeholders are better informed of the opportunities and challenges that they present for workers, communities and businesses in Africa. 

The session will explore how existing and emerging frameworks – especially the CSDDD and local corporate accountability laws/mechanisms such as mining law innovations requiring companies to conduct meaningful stakeholder engagement – can be leveraged to support corporate due diligence action, shared responsibility between global brands and local suppliers, and rightsholders’ access to remedy. The session will provide an up-to-date overview of key provisions, company obligations and practices, as well as practical implications for access to remedy for rightsholders in Africa.  

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Key Objectives

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• To build participants’ knowledge of existing and emerging due diligence and corporate accountability frameworks, including the EU’s CSDDD, the UK Modern Slavery Act, OECD guidelines, and African standards, including their basic strengths and weaknesses

• To explore the practical application of these frameworks, how they are used by workers, communities and companies to engage on salient social and environmental issues, and how they can provide remedy after harms occur in supply chains – with a focus on the agricultural and mining sectors in Africa

• To identify practical challenges to access to remedy, and get participants’ views on informative resources such as the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s planned ‘Remedy Tool’, which aims at fostering a better understanding of available remedy pathways and limitations
  
   

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Guiding Question

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• What are the main national and international policies and laws that (will) govern/drive corporate accountability and shared responsibility for human rights in Africa and along global value chains?

• With a focus on agriculture and mining: How are these frameworks implemented in practice, how will they play out for rightsholders, and what are emerging (good) corporate practices?

• What are practical challenges and solutions to ensuring access to information and remedy for those harmed by corporate human rights and environmental abuses?

• What do we need going forward to ensure corporate due diligence and accountability frameworks be relevant to the African context and incentivise business to respect human rights, as well as ensure there are strong remedial pathways and awareness of those?
   

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Expected Outcomes

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• Increase in participants’ knowledge on current policy and legal frameworks to promote respect for human rights, on corporate practice, and on pathways to remedy after harm has occurred​

• Improved awareness of the strengths and limitations of current frameworks and practices, enabling more informed engagement and advocacy

• Information on the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s work on co-developing a ‘Remedy Tool’ and on how to feed into this process

• Identification of what is missing at international, regional, and/or national level to ensure corporate accountability along global value chains, reflection of African contexts, and rightsholder needs

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