On 6 August 2026 the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA), Centre for Human Rights and partners convened an online webinar titled “Breaking Colonial Barriers: Building Cross-Linguistic Solidarity for Corporate Accountability in Africa.” The three-hour discussion brought together business and human rights practitioners, lawyers, human rights defenders, researchers and other stakeholders from across Africa to examine the practical barriers that continue to limit cross-border cooperation on corporate accountability.
The webinar was held in English and French, with simultaneous interpretation, creating space for participants from different linguistic and legal traditions to engage directly with one another. It focused on a question that is increasingly important as corporate activities and supply chains operate across national borders: how can African civil society actors work across linguistic, legal and national boundaries to respond more effectively to transnational corporate harm?
Addressing the barriers to cross-border solidarity
The discussion examined how the divisions between Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone Africa continue to affect cooperation among civil society organisations and other actors working on business and human rights. Participants noted that these divisions extend beyond language. Differences between common law and civil law systems, including approaches to litigation, standing, evidence and public-interest advocacy, can make it difficult for organisations working in different jurisdictions to collaborate effectively.
Participants also discussed the practical barriers that affect regional cooperation, including visa restrictions, limited intra-African transport connections, the cost of travel and difficulties accessing information across linguistic boundaries. These are the challenges that normally leave organisations and communities working on similar corporate accountability issues separated from one another, even where the impacts of corporate activities extend across borders.
The discussion highlighted the contrast between the mobility of multinational corporations, whose operations, capital and supply chains frequently cross national boundaries, and the restrictions faced by civil society organisations, lawyers, researchers, journalists, human rights defenders and affected communities seeking to respond to corporate harm.
Mobility as part of human rights protection
A key contribution came from Mr Eric Ntagengerwa, Head of the Transport and Mobility Division under the Infrastructure and Energy Department of the African Union Commission. His keynote contribution provided important context on the mobility challenges facing the continent and the broader efforts to improve connectivity and movement across Africa. The discussion considered mobility not only as an economic issue, but also as one that can affect the ability of civil society actors and affected communities to cooperate, share information, conduct investigations and respond to human rights abuses across borders.
Abiodun Baiyewu, Executive Director of Global Rights, addressed the question of how visa restrictions and transport inequalities undermine regional solidarity. Her contribution highlighted the practical realities facing African civil society actors seeking to travel, collaborate and respond to human rights concerns across the continent. The discussion also considered the broader social barriers to continental solidarity. Baiyewu spoke to the need to confront xenophobia and exclusion, emphasising that stronger African cooperation requires challenging attitudes and practices that create divisions between Africans from different countries. Her contribution reinforced the point that regional solidarity is not only about removing institutional barriers to movement, but also about creating an environment in which African organisations, communities and individuals can work together across national boundaries.
Bridging legal and linguistic divides
The webinar also brought together speakers with experience working across different legal and linguistic contexts. Mustapha Mahamah, Legal Coordinator- Inclusive Development and Michael Gyan Nyarko of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) examined how civil law and common law practitioners can work more effectively together.
Their contributions highlighted the importance of developing stronger links between lawyers and organisations operating within different legal traditions. Rather than allowing differences in legal systems to become barriers to cooperation, participants discussed opportunities for legal twinning, knowledge exchange, joint litigation strategies and greater sharing of jurisprudence and legal resources.
Ady Namaran Coulibaly, an entrepreneur and language advocate at Bolingo Consult, addressed the importance of language access within African civil society. The discussion reinforced that language should not become a barrier to accessing information, participating in advocacy or building relationships between organisations working on similar issues in different parts of the continent.
Building practical mechanisms for collective action
The webinar moved beyond identifying the barriers and considered practical ways of strengthening cross-border cooperation. Participants discussed the value of **joint investigations, regional fact-finding, multilingual resources, interpretation and translation support, shared litigation and jurisprudence databases, and stronger links between organisations working in different jurisdictions.
Mr Lloyd Kuveya, A human rights Expert and Consultant for the UN OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa, contributed to the discussion on how visa restrictions and transport systems affect regional solidarity. Prof Oyeniyi Abe , Senior Research Fellow at the OGEES Institute in Nigeria, addressed the need for faster cross-border responses to corporate harm affecting multiple jurisdictions. These discussions pointed to the importance of developing mechanisms that allow organisations to respond collectively when corporate activities or their impacts extend beyond a single country. They also highlighted the need for stronger cooperation between lawyers, communities, researchers, human rights defenders and civil society organisations across linguistic and legal boundaries.
Strengthening a pan-African corporate accountability movement
The webinar was moderated by Joseph Byomuhangyi, Co-Chair of ACCA and Project Coordinator at the Uganda Consortium on Corporate Accountability. His role helped connect the different contributions around the broader question of how African civil society can strengthen collective action on corporate accountability. A key message emerging from the discussion was that corporate harm is increasingly transnational, and civil society responses must be capable of crossing borders as well. Linguistic and legal diversity should not prevent organisations from sharing knowledge, supporting affected communities or coordinating advocacy. The discussion also connected cross-border solidarity to ongoing continental and global corporate accountability processes, including advocacy for mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence (mHREDD) and the Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights. Participants emphasised the value of coordinated African civil society engagement in these processes, particularly where corporate activities and their impacts span several jurisdictions.
The webinar reinforced ACCA’s commitment to strengthening connections among its members and partners across Africa and to ensuring that linguistic, legal and geographical divisions do not prevent collective action on corporate accountability. For ACCA, building a stronger pan-African movement requires more than shared policy positions. It requires practical systems that allow organisations, lawyers, communities and other rights-holders to communicate, travel, share information and act together across borders. The discussion therefore provided an important foundation for continued collaboration across linguistic and legal traditions and for building a more connected African civil society response to corporate harm. As businesses increasingly operate across jurisdictions, the ability of those working to protect human rights to cooperate across those same borders will remain central to advancing meaningful corporate accountability in Africa.
For more information, please contact:
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 6398
basimanyane.k@up.ac.za
