Africa’s Innovative Human Rights System: Bridging the Accountability Gap in the Extractive Industry

The accountability gap in Africa’s extractive sector is not a result of the absence of binding legal frameworks or investment regulations. The African human rights system has advanced global jurisprudence by introducing and applying innovative human rights and investment norms. Despite the robust human rights regime, including legally binding regional norms for redressing human rights abuses, local communities continue to suffer the consequences of extractive MNCs’ egregious human rights abuses without access to remedies. Corporate impunity is often fueled by governments’ reluctance or inability to hold these corporations accountable and by local communities’ limited access to effective remedies. While extractive MNCs in Africa are legally obligated to respect human rights, the continent needs a robust enforcement mechanism and the political will to hold defaulting enterprises accountable. Hence, I propose strategies to implement the region’s rich human rights and investment initiatives and to narrow the accountability gap in the extractive sector.