Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:54:28.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Presence through absence? Understanding the role of capital in the African Human Rights Action Plan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2021

Obiora Chinedu Okafor ,
Sanaa Ahmed ,
Sylvia Bawa  and
Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu
Obiora Chinedu Okafor*
Affiliation:
Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada
Sanaa Ahmed*
Affiliation:
Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Sylvia Bawa*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, York University, Toronto, Canada
Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu*
Affiliation:
College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
*
Email: ookafor@osgoode.yorku.ca
Email: sanaa.ahmed2011@gmail.com
Email: bawa@yorku.ca
Email: ibironke.odumosu@usask.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examines the African Human Rights Action Plan (AHRAP) through the lens of Upendra Baxi's germinal theory on the emergence in our time of a ‘trade-related, market-friendly human rights’ (TREMF) thesis that is challenging the specific understandings of ‘people-centric’ human rights that are predicated in the letter and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDH). Baxi contends, instead, that the dominant strands of the contemporary understandings of human rights are – for the most part – designed to protect the interests of global capital. That said, human rights frameworks in low-income countries need to be studied with a view to what they say and don't say about global capital. Despite its attempt to facilitate a progressive realisation of human rights in Africa, the AHRAP does not rise far enough above the TREMF paradigm to re-locate itself within the UDH one. This is due to the AHRAP not adequately theorising and analysing the role of capital in the (non)realisation of human rights in Africa. By allowing trade and market practices to slip to a significant extent beyond its purview, the AHRAP privileges – to a significant degree – the needs/interests of capital over the human rights of ordinary Africans. That is, the victims of the excesses of capital in Africa are reincarnated in the AHRAP document by the fact of their exclusion from it.

Keywords

Africahuman rightsthe African Human Rights Action Planglobal capitalvictimsabsencepresenceexclusions
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 579 - 600
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for the short-term ‘SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant’ that funded the larger study on which this article is based; and express their appreciation to the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto, Canada, the Nathanson Centre for Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security of the same university, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, for additional funding that helped make the project possible. The authors are also grateful to Kiana Blake, Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, Feyisayo Oni, Akosua Phebih-Serwah and Rahina Zarma, for their excellent assistance in the research and other project activities on which this article is grounded.

References

REFERENCES

Adebajo, A. 2009. ‘South Africa in Africa: Messiah or mercantilist?’, South African Journal of International Affairs 14: 29–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 2001. Decision on communication of The Social and Economic Rights Action Center and the Center for Economic and Social Rights/Nigeria (155/96), para 9. Decision made at the 30th Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights, Banjul, 13–27 October 2001, Case No. ACHPR/COMM/A044/1.Google Scholar
African Union (AU). 2015. Agenda 2063: the Africa we want (popular version). <https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/33126-doc-03_popular_version.pdf>, accessed 1.11.2018.,+accessed+1.11.2018.>Google Scholar
African Union (AU). 2016. Declaration of the Assembly on the Theme of the Year, Assembly/AU/Decl.1 (XXVII) Rev.1. <https://au.int/web/sites/default/files/decisions/31274-assembly_au_dec_605-620_xxvii_e.pdf para 2>, accessed 1.11.2018.,+accessed+1.11.2018.>Google Scholar
African Union (AU). 2018. African Human Rights Goals: 10 Goals in 10 years for Human and Peoples’ Rights in Africa: Action Plan of the Human and Peoples’ Rights Decade in Africa, 2017–2026.Google Scholar
Agbakwa, S. 2003. ‘A line in the sand: international dis(order) and the impunity of the non-state corporate actors in the developing world', in Anghie, A., Chimni, B., Mickelson, K. & Okafor, O.C., eds. The Third World and International Order: Law, Politics and Globalization. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Althusser, L. 2015. Reading Capital, transl. Brewster, B. & Fernbach, D.. London: Verso Books.Google Scholar
Amao, O. 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights and the Law: multinational corporations in developing countries. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 2017. Nigeria: Shell complicit in the arbitrary executions of Ogoni Nine as writ Served in Dutch court. <https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2017/06/shell-complicit-arbitrary-executions-ogoni-nine-writ-dutch-court/>..>Google Scholar
Amodu, N. 2020. Corporate Social Responsibility and Law in Africa. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M. 2015. ‘Canadian mining company accused of exploiting Eritrea's forced labour', The Guardian. <https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/19/eritrea-mining-nevsun-forced-labour>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Anderson,+M.+2015.+‘Canadian+mining+company+accused+of+exploiting+Eritrea's+forced+labour',+The+Guardian.+.>Google Scholar
Araya v Nevsun Resources Ltd, 2020 SCC 5.Google Scholar
Baldwin, R.E. & Evenett, S.J.. 2012. ‘Beggar-thy-neighbour policies during the crisis era: causes, constraints, and lessons for maintaining open borders’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy 28, 2: 211–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barry, C.M., Chad Clay, K. & Flynn, M.E.. 2013. ‘Avoiding the spotlight: human rights shaming and foreign direct investment’, International Studies Quarterly 57, 3: 532–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxi, U. 2005. ‘Market fundamentalisms: business ethics at the altar of human rights’, Human Rights Law Review 5, 1: 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxi, U. 2006. The Future of Human Rights. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baxi, U. 2015. ‘Human Rights responsibility of multinational corporations, political ecology of injustice: learning from Bhopal thirty plus?’, Business and Human Rights Journal 1, 1: 21–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bittle, S., Snider, L., Tombs, S. & Whyte, D., eds. 2018. Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful: Marxism, crime and deviance. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis Group.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breed, L.M. 2001. ‘Regulating Our 21st-Century Ambassadors: A New Approach to Corporate Liability for Human Rights Violations Abroad’, Virginia Journal of International Law 42, 4: 1005–36.Google Scholar
Chimni, B.S. 2004. ‘International institutions today: an imperial global state in the making’, European Journal of International Law 15 : 1–37.Google Scholar
Choc v. Hudbay Minerals Inc. 2013 ONSC 1414.Google Scholar
Chukwuemeka, E., Anazodo, R. & Nzewi, H.. 2011. ‘African underdevelopment and the multinationals – a political commentary’, Journal of Sustainable Development 4, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Commonwealth Secretariat. 2007. Commonwealth Model National Plan of Actions on Human Rights. <https://read.thecommonwealth-ilibrary.org/commonwealth/social-issues-migration-health/commonwealth-model-national-plan-of-action-on-human-rights/the-commonwealth-model-national-action-plan_9781848598997-4-en#page9>..>Google Scholar
Couch, C. 2011. The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Das v George Weston Limited, 2017 ONSC 5583.Google Scholar
Deva, S. & Bilchitz, D., eds. 2013. Human Rights Obligations of Business: beyond the corporate responsibility to respect? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doorey, D. 2018. ‘Lost in Translation: Rana Plaza, Loblaw, and the Disconnect Between Legal Formality and Corporate Social Responsibility.’ Unpublished Paper. <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3265826>.CrossRef.>Google Scholar
Economic Community of West African States. 2008. Supplementary Act A/SA.3/12/08 Adopting Community Rules on Investment and the Modalities. < https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/3266/download>..>Google Scholar
Ejims, O. 2019. ‘The 2016 Morocco–Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty: more practical reality in providing a balanced investment treaty?’, ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal 34, 1: 62–84.Google Scholar
Ewelukwa, U.U. 2011. ‘South-south trade and investment: the good, the bad and the ugly – African perspectives’, Minnesota Journal of International Law 20, 2: 513–87.Google Scholar
Frieden, J. 1981. ‘Third World indebted industrialization: international finance and state capitalism in Mexico, Brazil, Algeria, and South Korea’, International Organization 35, 3: 407–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giuliani, E. & Macchi, C.. 2014. ‘Multinational corporations’ economic and human rights impacts on developing countries: a review and research agenda’, Cambridge Journal of Economics 38, 2: 479–517.Google Scholar
Gutto, S. 1993. Human and Peoples Rights for the Oppressed. Lund: Lund University Press.Google Scholar
Irogbe, K. 2013. ‘Global political economy and the power of multinational corporations’, Journal of Third World Studies 30, 2: 223–47.Google Scholar
Kelly, M. & McKay, J.. 2020. ‘A new ‘new’ multilateralism?’, in Jakupec, V., Kelly, M. & Makuwira, J., eds. Rethinking Multilateralism in Foreign Aid: beyond the neoliberal hegemony. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kennedy, D. 2018. A World of Struggle: how power, law and expertise shape global political economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kirchgaessner, S. 2018. ‘Top Amazon Boss Privately Advised US Government on Web Portal Worth Billion to Tech Firm.’ < https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/26/amazon-anne-rung-government-services-authority>..>Google Scholar
Labonté, R. & Stuckler, D.. 2016. ‘The rise of neoliberalism: how bad economics imperils health and what to do about it’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 70, 3: 312–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambooy, T. & Rancourt, M.. 2008. ‘Shell in Nigeria: from human rights abuse to corporate social responsibility’, Human Rights & International Legal Discourse 2: 229–76.Google Scholar
Lee, C.K. 2018. The Specter of Global China: politics, labor, and foreign investment in Africa. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mann, H. 2013. ‘Reconceptualizing international investment law: its role in sustainable development’, Lewis & Clark Law Review 17: 521.Google Scholar
Martinez, I. 2017. ‘Beggar-thy-neighbour tax cuts: mobiity after a local and wealth tax reform in Switzerland.’ Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), working paper series no. 2017-08, 1–73.Google Scholar
McLean, E. 2015. ‘Multilateral aid and domestic economic interests', International Organization 6918552165, 1: 97–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morocco and Nigeria. 2016. ‘Reciprocal Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/5409/download>..>Google Scholar
National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. 2011. ‘Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling – Report to the President.’ <https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-OILCOMMISSION/pdf/GPO-OILCOMMISSION.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Ndikumana, L. & Boyce, J.K.. 2011. Africa's Odious Debts: how foreign loans and capital flight bled a continent. Chicago: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odumosu-Ayanu, I.T. 2013. ‘South-south investment treaties, transnational capital and African peoples’, African Journal of International and Comparative Law 21, 2: 172–201.Google Scholar
Odumosu-Ayanu, I.T. 2014. ‘Government, investors and local communities: analysis of a multi-actor investment contract framework’, Melbourne Journal of International Law 15: 473–514.Google Scholar
Odumosu-Ayanu, I.T. 2019. ‘Investor responsibility towards local communities in extractive industry projects in African countries.’ <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/08/02/investor-responsibility-towards-local-communities-in-extractive-industry-projects-in-african-countries/>..>Google Scholar
Ofodile, U.E. 2013. ‘Africa-China bilateral investment treaties: a critique’, Michigan Journal of International Law 35: 131.Google Scholar
Okafor, O.C. 2007. ‘Assessing Baxi's thesis on the emergence of a trade-related market-friendly human rights paradigm: recent evidence from Nigerian labour-led struggles’, Law, Social Justice and Global Development 10: 1–16. <https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/1537/>.Google Scholar
Okafor, O.C. 2009. ‘Attainments, eclipses and disciplinary renewal in international human rights law: a critical overview’, in Armstrong, D., ed. Routledge Handbook of International Law. London: Routledge, 303–15.Google Scholar
Oloka-Onyango, J. 1995. ‘Beyond the rhetoric: reinvigorating the struggle for economic and social rights in Africa,’ California Western International Law Journal 26: 1–74.Google Scholar
Orock, R.T.E. 2013. ‘Less-told stories about corporate globalization: transnational corporations and CSR as the politics of (ir) responsibility in Africa’, Dialectical Anthropology 37, 1: 27–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ovadia, J.S. 2016. ‘Local content policies and petro-development in Sub-Saharan Africa: a comparative analysis’, Resources Policy 49: 20–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, D.L., Gelleny, R.D. & Sacko, D.H.. 2001. ‘Money with a mean streak? Foreign economic penetration and government respect for human rights in developing countries’, International Studies Quarterly 45, 2: 219–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggiero, V. 2017. Dirty Money: On Financial Delinquency. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandbrook, R. 2011. ‘Polanyi and post-neoliberalism in the global south: dilemmas of re-embedding the economy’, New Political Economy 16, 4: 415–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SERAP v. President of Nigeria & 8 Ors [ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12].Google Scholar
Sheffer, M.W. 2010. ‘Bilateral investment treaties: a friend or foe to human rights’, Denver Journal of International Law & Policy 39: 483.Google Scholar
Shivji, I. 1989. The Concept of Human Rights in Africa. Dakar: CODESRIA.Google Scholar
Sikka, P. 2011. ‘Accounting for human rights: the challenge of globalization and foreign investment agreements’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting 22, 8: 811–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simma, B. 2011. ‘Foreign investment arbitration: a place for human rights?’, International & Comparative Law Quarterly 60, 3: 573–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sklair, L. 2002. Globalization: capitalism and its alternatives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) & Another v Nigeria. 2001. AHRLR 60.Google Scholar
Tombs, S. & Whyte, D.. 2015. The Corporate Criminal: why corporations must be abolished. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UN General Assembly. 2015. ‘Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea.’ <https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G15/114/50/PDF/G1511450.pdf?OpenElement>..>Google Scholar
UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. 2011. ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework.’ Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/31).Google Scholar
UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR). 1993. ‘Principles Relating to the Status of National Institution (The Paris Principles).’ <https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/StatusOfNationalInstitutions.aspx>..>Google Scholar
UN Office of the Human Commissioner for Human Rights. July 2019. ‘Legally Binding Instrument to Regulate, in International Human Rights Law, the Activities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises.’ <https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/WGTransCorp/OEIGWG_RevisedDraft_LBI.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Wallace-Bruce, N. 2001. ‘The multilateral agreement on investment: an indecent proposal and not learning the lessons of history’, Journal of World Investment 2, 1: 53–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissbrodt, D. & Kruger, M.. 2003. ‘Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regards to human rights’, American Journal of International Law 97, 4: 901–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiegratz, J. 2010. ‘Fake capitalism? The dynamics of neoliberal moral restructuring and pseudo-development: the case of Uganda’, Review of African Political Economy 37, 124: 123–37.Google Scholar
Wood, R.E. 1980. ‘Foreign aid and the capitalist state in underdeveloped countries’, Politics & Society 10, 1: 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zghidi, N., Mohamed Sghaier, I. & Abida, Z.. 2016. ‘Does economic freedom enhance the impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in North African countries? A panel data analysis’, African Development Review 28, 1: 64–74.Google Scholar