International, Regional and National Business and Human Rights (BHR) Developments: Simultaneously Centering and Decentering Africa’s Marginal Position in the Quest to Reduce the Transnational Corporate Accountability Gap?

Esther Kiobel and three other widows of four Nigerian activists executed in 1995 recently
announced, “not without disappointment and frustration” that after years of trying to
unsuccessfully pursue justice against corporate giant, Shell, they had decided to end their
battle for justice. This case epitomizes the struggles experienced by global south rights-
holders to bring large Transnational Corporations (TNCs) to account for violations of human
rights and the environment in the global south countries where they operate. TNCs have for a
long time “enjoy[ed] substantial rights secured through numerous trade and investment
agreements while their human rights and other obligations remain less clear and more
difficult to enforce.” This has allowed them to externalize the negative impacts of their
transnational corporate activities to vulnerable rights-holders such as local communities and
indigenous groups who suffer massive violations as a result. Current efforts to reform
international investment law have been critiqued for not doing enough to change this status
quo.

The burgeoning field of Business and Human Rights (BHR) offers some useful insights into
how ongoing attempts to rein in the rogue Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC)
simultaneously empower and disempower Africa in the processes of BHR law making,
interpretation and implementation. This contribution will critically analyse the international
process of drafting a Legally Binding Instrument (LBI) in BHR, the proposed European
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and national efforts in countries
such as Germany and France to enact and implement mHRDD laws. Ultimately, the contribution
will argue that despite comparable developments being made in African countries, the BHR
conversation seems to privilege and center European voices rather than African ones.