Respecting Human Rights in Land-based Investments
Last month, the Wallbrook Human Rights team attended the East Africa Conference on Business and Human Rights, to discuss best practices and challenges for integrating environmental and human rights considerations into land-based investments in East Africa.
Business representatives, community members, civil society organisations and government representatives in attendance highlighted a variety of salient human rights risks associated with land-based investments, primarily in the agricultural and extractive sectors across East Africa. We outline some of these risks below.
Land disputes
Gender-related land disputes are a key risk factor for businesses in the East African agriculture sector. Per example, women in Kenya and Tanzania face many barriers to land inheritance as result of customary laws and socio-cultural norms. Although laws prohibit discrimination based on gender, the perception that land ownership is reserved for men infiltrates society and institutions. As such, women’s land rights may not be recognised and they may be excluded from land related consultations and resettlement. Women who attempt to exercise their property rights may also be stigmatized or ostracized by their communities.
Child Labour
Child labour is a prominent risk in East Africa’s agricultural sector. Ugandan organisations at the Conference cautioned that many smallholder farmers depend on the support of their children or so-called “family labour” to survive. “Child labour” is broadly defined in international human rights instruments and local legislation as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, their dignity or that is harmful to their physical and mental development. Civil society representatives at the Conference highlighted that not all instances of children working in agriculture constitutes harmful or unlawful child labour. Civil society representatives further stated that regulations such as the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive could have unintended impacts on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers who depend on sales to larger corporates if companies respond to the regulation in an overly risk averse manner and avoid all engagements with small holder farmers in Uganda's coffee sector.
Attacks on human rights defenders
Land-based investments in South Sudan are often linked with displacement, environmental pollution and harm to local communities’ livelihoods. According to South Sudanese civil society representatives
at the Conference, human rights defenders working on these issues have faced retaliation from private sector actors in response to their work. For instance, human rights defenders opposing oil extraction in South Sudan due to its adverse impacts on water sources, soil and livestock based livelihoods, have faced a myriad of attacks.
Next steps for businesses
Businesses operating in East Africa face context-specific human rights risks related to their operations. As highlighted by civil society, government representatives and local partners throughout the Conference, these businesses can be linked to adverse impacts related to disputed land, child labour, as well as those related to the safety of human rights defenders. These impacts can translate to reputational and legal risks, creating a need for effective oversight and human rights due diligence throughout the life cycle of a land-based investment.
Businesses can take various measures to identify and mitigate these risks, including:
Gender-sensitive human rights due diligence. Businesses operating in East Africa’s agricultural sector should integrate a gender analysis and human rights risk management mechanisms in order to hold suppliers and business partners accountable to gender equality standards.
Labour rights and supply chain due diligence. Businesses sourcing from smallholder farmers should conduct context-sensitive human rights due diligence aimed at ensuring that labour conditions on farms are in line with international standards. Human rights due diligence should also be done to assess and remediate the impacts of exiting a market or terminating contracts with these vulnerable suppliers.
Meaningful stakeholder engagement. Businesses should create meaningful consultation mechanisms, including key stakeholders such as communities and human rights defenders in the process of identifying and addressing the real and potential impacts of proposed activities.
Policy development. Following best practices outlined by the UNGPs and the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, businesses should make commitments on human rights, including zero-tolerance for attacks on human rights defenders which may occur in connection with their operations or their business relationships.