AU Set On Making African Businesses More Responsive To Human Rights

The responsibility to sanitise the business environment on the African continent, to strike a balance between the needs of businesses and the rights of the people to a fair life and environment, and to offer a better safety net to Africans by making businesses more responsive to human rights has led to the drafting of the African Union Policy on Business and Human Rights.

This draft document, offering a framework, not only for the prevention of human rights abuses but their remediation when these occur across the continent, will formally be presented for adoption by the Heads of states and governments in the Africa Union in due course.

These leaders would then be equally expected to re-present the document for approval and implementation at the various national levels.

The consideration and validation of the draft of the Policy Framework was the subject of a gathering of over 50 participants comprised of representatives of the African Union (AU) member states, regional economic commissions (RECs), national human rights commissions, businesses, the media and civil society at the African Union Secretariat in Addis Ababa between March 21 and 22.

In a welcome statement, Mbari Aristide, the Acting Head of Democracy, Governance, Human Rights and Elections Division of the AU Department of Political Affairs, who welcomed participants to the event, underlined the AU’s commitment to the promotion of human rights in the continent through its developmental roadmap, Agenda 2063.