As outlined in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, investors should be using their leverage to improve company conduct and promote human rights due diligence processes to identify, prevent and mitigate salient human rights risks from materialising. The tech sector is no exception. Several key cases, including those outlined below, have the potential to change how “rights” are discussed within corporate decision-making spaces. Investor action is needed to protect people and portfolios from undue risk.

This briefing highlights the salient human rights risks relating to the tech sector in Africa. These include labour rights abuse, data privacy and hyper surveillance, discrimination, and the impacts of internet shutdowns and censorship. It links these human rights issues to material risks including legal, financial and reputations risks. It demonstrates that the assumption that investors may not expect there to be serious legal, operational and reputational risks outside of the United States or the European Union due to the supposedly little progress on litigation and corporate accountability in other jurisdictions is becoming outdated. This is evidenced by an increasing number of lawsuits, operational disruptions and moral quandaries executives are facing in relation to alleged human rights abuses by technology companies doing business in Africa.