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By Dr Howard Ayo

On the 9th and 10th of November 2023, the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development together with the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Resource Rights Africa and other stakeholders jointly convened the 5th annual symposium on business and human rights in Uganda.

This year's theme focused on 'assessing Uganda's journey in access to justice for business and human rights'. It is at this symposium where different stakeholders come together every year to take stock of their commitments to business and human rights in Uganda.

Usually, the focus is on the State, which of course, is their primary duty under international law to promote, protect, respect, and fulfill human rights. Other stakeholders do not carry similar duties except the responsibility to respect human rights. 

I am not a strong advocate for symposia because I cannot easily connect the added value in terms of the impact it brings for the indigent persons. As you all know, various resources are required to organize such an event and usually cost millions of shillings.

But I can tell you that at the hotel, we got served very delicious five-course meals, made new friends including development partners, and learned quite a few lessons from other partners working on business and human rights. 

The beauty with this year's symposium is that the space and place provided extended beyond the State boarders to include stakeholders from outside Uganda.

However, this model locked out our mothers, fathers, and children from the countrysides, thus missing the opportunity for meaningful participation and influence the direction of Uganda's national action plan for business and human rights.

I hope the subsequent symposia will be hosted at sub-regional levels in Uganda because they certainly have capacities to do even better. 

I will also share a few other selected positive lessons from this year's symposium. First, I thank Honorable Minister Norbert Mao for clarifying to Ugandans that we now have in place a Cabinet Committee on Human Rights and the National Human Rights Action Plan for Uganda.

The latter has been 12 years in development, although Uganda reported in 2016 and 2022 at the UN Human Rights Council that this framework was already in place and being implemented. We hope that at least this year 2023; we have it published as a Christmas gift for Ugandans.  

Regarding the Cabinet Committee on Human Rights, I think it works very well for business and human rights accountability/reporting in Uganda.

Despite an action plan on business and human rights, we currently lack a reporting and accountability framework beyond the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development and this Committee should step in and close the gap.

For the Parliament and the Judiciary, it is important to note that the current national action plan for business and human rights treats you as third parties and for a better word 'others'.   

Second, I want to applaud the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development for leading the development, adoption, and implementation of Uganda's first national action plan for business and human rights.

What the readers need to know is that Uganda and Kenya are the only two countries in Africa to have in place such a foundational measure for business and human rights.

Third, reports and lessons by the Uganda Human Rights Commission, ActionAid International, and Resource Rights Africa show that operations of business enterprises in Uganda are still harmful to human rights.

These include sexual and gender-based violence, forced evictions, arbitrary arrests and unlawful detentions, environmental pollution, child labor, human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

Evidence provided by these stakeholders and others shows those disproportionately affected by operations of business enterprises in Uganda includes, inter alia, human rights defenders, women, children and older persons in the Albertine, northern and Karamoja regions.

One of the most intriguing cases presented at a side event was that of the women artisanal miners in Karamoja who are trading sex for gold.

This case illuminates the plight of women in business and human rights in Uganda, especially those involved in the supply chains. 

At this symposium, I presented research on the state of business and human rights in Uganda. The theme for my presentation was 'Align the Wheels: The State of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights for Uganda'.

The reasoning behind this theme is that the current action plan does not go far enough to address the existing business and human rights conditions and driving factors in the country.

This action plan misses a lot on issues that are inherent in the domestic legal order, institutional mechanisms, and practices. 

Ever since the adoption of Uganda's first national action plan on business and human rights in 2021, a substantial amount of resources (funds and technical) have been allocated to its implementation.

However, there is a complete lack of accountability by stakeholders implementing this policy. I have carefully used the word 'stakeholders' because the actors involved extend beyond the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development and Uganda Human Rights Commission to include ministries, departments and agencies, devolved governments, civil society, and business enterprises.
 
Because of a lack of a clear accountability framework under the current national action plan on business and human rights, the symposium remains the only available mechanism for stakeholders.

However, as we all know, such an event can never be exhausted in two days because of what we call a 'crowding-effect'.

Therefore, we might need to think strategically about State-led accountability mechanisms for business and human rights in Uganda. 

The first call that I made during my presentation was to Honorable Minister Norbert Mao to strengthen the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.

I told the Honorable Minister and the audience that there is a need for clarifying Article 257(10)(a) of this Constitution, particularly the 'words referring to natural persons which include a reference to corporations'.

The emphasis is on distinguishing between natural persons and legal persons, and this is what this Article fails to address.

It is important to note that corporations do not take the same range of rights and duties as natural persons. Therefore, we need to make this clear under the Constitution of Uganda, including the application of the Bill of Rights to legal persons. 

Also, I made another call on the need to address inherent barriers to business and human rights in the following pieces of legislation. These are the Companies Act 2012, the Investment Code Act 2019, the National Environment Act 2019 and the Land Act 2010.

The research shows that these selected legislations defeat the implementation of the national action plan on business and human rights since they do not directly impose human rights duties on business enterprises in Uganda.

For example, it is not a requirement under these legislations for business enterprises to conduct human rights due diligence as part of their core functions. Instead, due diligence by business enterprises is treated in terms of risks that accrues to the shareholders' equity. 

In addition, these legislations do not impose any duty on business enterprises to account for their human rights impact with which their operations are directly linked.

During the discussion that I had with a participant working with a Multinational Company in Uganda, I was told a very interesting story about how 'human rights' is used as a smokescreen for their negative impact on the rights-holders and the environment.

Further, the participant stated we use corporate social responsibility as a tithe for our human rights accountability.  

Quite saddening was also an issue of participation and inclusion under the national action plan for business and human rights processes for Uganda. I highlighted evidence of the lack of participation and inclusion of rights-holders, especially victims of human rights abuses, women and children in the business and human rights processes for Uganda.

While this might trigger the alarm bells, it was more interesting to note that most of those participating in the symposium had never seen and interacted with the national action plan on business and human rights for Uganda.

This is the same for rights-holders, district local governments, and cities in Uganda.  
I conclude by making the following recommendations for State institutions, business enterprises, civil society, academia, and rights-holders: 

(A) The State should prioritize addressing business and human rights issues inherent in the 1995 Constitution, the Companies Act 2012, the Investment Code Act 2019, the National Environment Act 2019 and the Land Act 2010. 

(B) The State should carry out a mid-term review of the current national action plan for business and human rights, clarifying its reporting and accountability mechanisms. 

(C) Business enterprises should work towards strengthening their policy commitments to human rights. 

(D) In addition, civil society organizations should strengthen their accountability mechanisms, especially implementation and coordination efforts under the national action plan on business and human rights in Uganda. 

(F) Stakeholders, especially the non-state actors, such as business enterprises, civil society organizations, local governments, cities, human rights defenders, and others, should embrace the political commitment to business and human rights. 

(G) Last and importantly, strengthen participation and inclusion of diverse groups, including lower governments in the national action plan on business and human rights decision-making processes in Uganda. 

Dr Howard Ayo is a senior researcher, and Executive Director at the Norms Africa Development (NORMS).

His primary research interest lie in business and human rights, economic, social, and cultural rights, corporate social responsibility and governance, and sustainable development. E: Ayo-H@normsafricadevelopment.org X: @Howardaayo