"Press Statement: African Organisations Push for a Legally binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights", 20 October 2020.

...Over the last few decades, the continent has witnessed an increase in foreign direct and local investments—which under the disguise of spurring economic development and in certain cases complicit with State agencies, have been at the helm of massive human rights abuses and violations.  These investments, often by large and economically powerful Transnational Corporations, have a long history of profiting from human rights abuses and environmental destruction...

The few attempts to address this, like the U.N. Guiding Principles on business and human rights, are voluntary and ineffective. The current proposed Binding Treaty on TNCs and human rights has the potential to strengthen accountability mechanisms. Many African countries have expressed continuous support for the  Treaty...

The 2020 negotiating session presents an opportunity for African governments, who have often decried international instruments as tools of neocolonialism, to shape a strong framework that could put an end to corporate impunity and provide remedies for victims. We hope to help facilitate this and bolster regional collaboration on the Treaty. A strong, unified African position is a powerful message to the international community, to transnational corporations, and importantly to those bearing the brunt of harmful corporate conduct...