Corporations, Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility in Africa (PDF)

The roles of corporations, generally and multinational ones particularly, in our individual and collective lives are sometimes veiled but salient, and with far reaching implications. The development and spread of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) around the core question of how business should interface with society has occurred virtually simultaneously with the contemporary focus on human rights. On its own terms too, CSR discourse in the academic and professional spheres appear to have reached tipping points but concerns about the role of corporations in many countries have grown in nearly geometric proportions. CSR and human rights, interestingly, engage at their core, a concern for society; either at the level of the individual, groups, communities or the state. They also share, even if only to varying extents, a normative interest in some form of accountability for power as a mechanism for promoting social well-being. Yet, notwithstanding fairly strong normative basis for expecting corporations to buy-in to human rights, corporations and human rights have found it difficult to mix. The flagrant violations of human rights across the globe have occurred (and continue) with complicity of powerful (typically but not only) multinational corporations (MNCs).On a positive note, the international system has witnessed a sustained engagement with corporations in the last two decades. This engagement is fast developing into a movement on business and human rights with, not surprisingly, some reference to CSR. Developing economies are worst hit in terms of the towering of powerful multinational corporations above states and societies. Specifically, African concerns and experiences are still under-represented and less understood in the global discourse on the implications of the activities of corporations. This is despite the significant, sometimes, overwhelming impact of the activities of corporations, especially multinational ones, on national economies, lives, ecosystems and environment of the continent. Thus, rigorous academic engagements with the multifaceted issues that are relevant to the concerns remain very important to facilitate understanding of problems developments of relevant law and policy to deliver on real and informed solutions. This ebook features contributions which adopt a variety of approaches (empirical, qualitative, quantitative, socio-legal, etc) in addressing this theme. It is hoped that these contributions provide crucial insights on, and further engender rigorous analysis and understanding of some of the key concerns on the theme.