Human Rights, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Interacting Markets in Africa

Abstract

Abstract

This project deals with human rights (HR) focusing on collective human rights and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of businesses in the context of regional economic communities (RECs) in Africa. Regarding multinational corporations, there has been a growing attentiveness on the matter of corporate social responsibility. This is shown by the aspiration of several court decisions in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America in which multinational companies have been legally held accountable for their actions in African host states. Most academic attention has been towards market and trade integration research, whereas areas such as renewable energy, climate change and environmental issues have relatively been neglected. Albeit, these areas raise important questions and research opportunities that are dealt with in this project. Coupled with the fact that human rights of the respective communities (e.g. food and water) might be negatively impacted by the actions of multinational corporations, collective HR and CSR are crucial not only in the scholarship but also in the application in practice. An issue that occurs in African states and the communities is the heterogeneity of different legal systems, which is also referred to as “legal pluralism”. Wherefore, the evolution of collective human rights is being analysed. Furthermore, religious perspectives are taken into account in regard to human rights and corporate social responsibility, whereby the focus is on the Muslim community.