About this webinar

This practical webinar sees experts from organisations including Ardea International, The Botswana Mineworkers Union and Tiger Brands SA explore the barriers faced by companies with a presence in Africa, and African owned companies in addressing human rights issues in their ESG practices. (Recording now available.)

Attend to gain an insight into business and human rights issues such as forced labour and health and safety in the African climate, and how African businesses can address this.  Join to learn from experts about the unique challenges African businesses face regarding human rights and gain an insight into best practises such as implementing international frameworks as part of your ESG response and developing key policies to mitigate risk.

JOIN this FREE webinar to hear from a range of experts…

Speakers

Colleen Theron- CEO of Ardea International

Colleen is a tri qualified lawyer with over 25 years of legal and commercial experience of working with business, organisations and NGOs across sectors on both a strategic and operational level. She provides advisory services, training and online resources to both directors and employees on human rights, modern slavery and sustainability issues. Colleen has an LLM (with distinction) in Environmental Law from the University of Aberdeen. She sits on the advisory board for LexisPSL Environment and was nominated as one of the Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery influencers in the UK in 2018.

Daniel D. Bradlow- SARChI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations Emeritus Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law

Daniel D. Bradlow is South African Research Chair Initiative (SARCHI) Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and Professor Emeritus, American University Washington College of Law. He was previously Head, International Economic Relations and Policy Department, South African Reserve Bank; Chair, Roster of Experts, Independent Review Mechanism, African Development Bank; and consultant to numerous international organisations. He has published articles and books on topics including international law, and international financial institutions, finance and human rights, and global economic governance. A list of his publications is available at https://hq.ssrn.com/submissions/MyPapers.cfm?partid=283289 

Kitso Phillip Phiri-  Executive Secretary of Botswana Mining and Allied Workers Union (BMWU)

Kitso Phiri is a business and human rights lawyer with years of experience working with civil society organizations. His area of work mostly focuses on decent work, migration, universal health coverage, corporate legal accountability. Currently he serves as the Executive Secretary of Botswana Mining and Allied Workers Union (BMWU), leading the strategic implementation of the vision of the organization, through the operationalization of the Botswana Decent Work Country Programme.

Stiaan Wandrag- Sustainability and External Reporting Director Tiger Brands SA

Stiaan completed his M.Phil. at the University of Stellenbosch, with Human Rights as his thesis. He was the Responsible Care Leader for operations of The Dow Chemical Company in South Africa. He joined Sasol’s Safety, Health and Environmental Centre in 2006 in the role of Manager: Sustainable Development, being responsible for the annual Sasol Sustainable Development report. He joined Tiger Brands in 2018 as the Sustainability and External Reporting Director for the group, being responsible for the Sustainability Strategy, as well as all ESG engagements with investors and rating agencies. He is also responsible for the Human Rights policy. He is a member of the South African working group on Integrated Reporting.

The webinar will last 60 minutes and includes a question and answer session. At the point of registration you will have the opportunity to submit questions you would like to our speakers to respond to on the live webinar.

Unable to join us on the day? We will record this webinar. If you are unable to attend live, please register and we will send you a link to the recording after the webinar and a link to download the speakers’ presentations and other outputs.

Context

The risk of modern slavery is particularly high in Africa. Over 80% of sub-Saharan African countries feature in the two highest risk categories, including Kenya and Nigeria, two of the region’s three largest economies.  According to the African Union Ten Year Action Plan on Eradication of Child Labour, Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery in Africa (2020-2030), in 2016, 72 million African children were in child labour, and nearly 3 million adults were in forced labour; another 5.8 million people were in forced marriages. Therefore, African companies should engage in mitigating human rights violations in their own supply chains as well. Compliance and due diligence are not only limited to multinational companies headquartered in countries with human rights due diligence laws. Instead there are international guidelines and frameworks which African owned companies should implement such as include the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 

There are also many advantages of protecting human rights which African companies could benefit from. For one, it means creating a stable society which is essential to the smooth-running of businesses. Implementing proper frameworks for the safeguarding of human rights means a  company’s  operations can add to the strengthening of legal frameworks and institutions which ensure businesses are run ethically and reduce the chance of bribery, corruption and human rights violations. 

Multinational companies which are headquartered in countries with strong legislation, such as the Duty de Vigilance law in France, are increasingly being held accountable for human rights breaches by their subsidiaries in Africa. Therefore, in order to effectively address these issues, companies should work to understand the human rights issues specific to their business and region. Ensuring the ESG response of African subsidiaries addresses the human rights issues which it may be at risk of violating could save multinational companies financially and reputationally. 

It is only a matter of time before compulsory due diligence legislation becomes the norm for companies globally. Therefore, organisations should sign up for this webinar which addresses human rights issues in Africa specifically. Our guest speakers are highly experienced in this field and represent reputable institutions such as the University of Pretoria, Tiger Brands, and the Botswana Chamber of Mines. 

This webinar is paired with Ardea International’s training workshop How corporate boards can oversee environmental, social and governance risks (ESG). REGISTER for the next session on 3 and 10 may 2022. 

Recording available now: