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Article

15 May 2012

Author:
Awoko [Sierra Leone]

Corporate Social Responsibility in Sierra Leone is a Right Not a Privilege!

For far too long, corporate social responsibility has been viewed in Sierra Leone as a philanthropic gesture by multi-national enterprises...This perception is not only incorrect, it is simply disempowering. Recent events in Bumbuna underline the fact that leaving Multinational Enterprises (MEs) to regulate themselves is both naïve and dangerous. As part of the government’s duty to protect, it should put in place mechanisms to ensure that MEs like African Minerals Limited (AML) adhere strictly to the respect of human rights clauses enshrined in Professor John Ruggie’s Protect, Respect Remedy framework...whilst it is the obligation of the State to protect the rights of its citizens, the attendant truth is that the MEs also have a corresponding responsibility to respect these rights...In my opinion, if the ‘protect and respect aspects of the Ruggie framework are amply complied with, there will hardly ever be a need to invoke the remedy clause.