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The Centre for Human Rights (CHR), together with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), hosted an Africa regional consultation on National Action Plans (NAPs) for business and human rights. The consultation forms part of a larger project driven by a coalition that consists of CALS, CHR, Singapore Management University (SMU) and other individual experts. The aim of the project is to gather a global South perspective on the content and development process of NAPs for business and human rights. The project was mandated by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (Working Group).

The consultation, which took place at the University of Pretoria, was the second of two scheduled consultations that would feed into an implementation guide on NAPs for business and human rights that is currently being developed by the Working Group. The consultation attracted representatives from international organisations, government, national human rights institutions and the business sectors from 8 African countries.

The programme focused on issues around the development process and content of NAPs and also asked the participants to identify or highlight pertinent issues within their respective countries that should receive attention by a NAP on business and human rights. The participants also discussed the fundamental question, around what the case for NAPs on business and human rights is in Africa, and whether NAPs could potentially address business and human rights concerns on the continent.

The findings of the consultation will result in a report that, together with the findings from the first consultation held in Bali, Indonesia, will be submitted to the Working Group. The Working Group will then consider using the information to update its implementation guiding document. In an attempt to continue consulting relevant stakeholders about NAPs on business and human rights, the coalition also developed an online survey on the topic. All those interested are encouraged to participate in the survey, which may be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TVP3NX5.