2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

Interpretation provided in English and French

Session organized by the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA)

Webcast of the session:
Meeting link
Meeting number: 846 511 945
Password: nSk4CUJH

Introduction
The African regional dialogue to be held during the 8th session of 2019 Forum on BHR will focus on the need for more coherent and concrete action by States, including effective regulation, improved policy coherence, and leading by example in the various roles that States have as economic actors.

The first pillar of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) – the State duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse – emphasises that governments have the primary responsibility when it comes to safeguarding people from adverse impacts arising in the context of business activities and to fostering responsible business practice.

Experiences also demonstrate that collaboration between States and civil society can produce positive outcomes. Such initiatives should be promoted and supported. Regional organisations as well as civil society coalitions such as the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA) have a key role to support and promote such efforts..

This session focused on Africa will be led by representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) in West, Southern, East and Central Africa. They will present trends from across the region, including challenges and new research and initiatives.

It aims to provide a platform for CSOs to share perspectives from across the region with a view to identify ways forward for State action to promote responsible business that respects human rights. The discussion will feed into the following session led by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, which will include representatives from government and regional level as well as other stakeholders.


Objectives
The main objective of the Africa focused CSO-led discussion is to produce concrete action points on how to achieve progress in collaboration with governments, while noting that:

• As part of their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse, States must take appropriate steps to ensure, through judicial, administrative, legislative or other appropriate means, that when such violations occur within their territory and/or jurisdiction those affected have access to effective remedies.
• On the regional level, human rights advancement can benefit from unified approaches to common issues across borders and coordinated strategies developed in cooperation with corporations operating in multiple countries. The existence of such regional approaches can expedite effectiveness and efficiency through information access, monitoring and common understanding of challenges and solutions.
• As a regional coalition, ACCA should focus its efforts on building the capacity of local civil society organizations to hold governments accountable for properly managing and regulating corporate actors and to engage corporate actors to ensure respect for human rights.

The session will involve concrete trends and examples of key business-related human rights concerns in East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Speakers will also share lessons from national and regional initiatives to address business-related human rights challenges.

Participants
While the session is led by civil society organizations, the aim is to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue and representatives from national human rights institutions, business, governments, UN, and international organizations are encouraged to participate.
Presenters and format

The panel will consist of five members, from various CSOs in different sub-regions: . Mr Paul Mikongoti (East Africa), Dr Michel Yoboue (West Africa), Advocate Delphine Djirabei (Central Africa). Mr. Guillain Koko will be representing the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability, (ACCA).

The panel will be followed by dialogue with other participants.