East Africa is on a transformative journey towards sustainable energy. However, the major private and public investment projects needed to increase the supply of renewables have also violated human rights and exacerbated conflict.
Governance failures and natural resource mismanagement have caused security issues that harm local communities and undermine the success of the energy transition. By improving corporate and state actors’ accountability and conflict sensitivity, International Alert, working with its local partners, seeks to create a better environment for business and human rights in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
Kenya
Kenya has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy, which accounts for around 90% of energy generated and consumed. Initially developed through hydropower and geothermal sources, Kenya has diversified its mix of renewable sources in recent years with large-scale developments of wind, geothermal, and solar power projects. However, many of these projects have been beset by conflict over land rights, a lack of transparency, and ineffective grievance response mechanisms.
For example, the development of the 300-megawatt Bubisa Wind Power Station has faced years of legal challenges caused by disputes over the acquisition of 60,705 hectares of land. Local leaders filed a case against the operator Gitson Energy, which has had financial repercussions for investors and uncertainty for local communities.
A lack of understanding of local conflict drivers can cause lengthy, expensive, and damaging delays.
By working with various private and government stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue and build capacity for conflict mitigation, Alert is seeking to ensure that National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights are appropriate for each specific context. In Kenya, this work concentrates on the renewable energy and extractives sectors, specifically in Marsabit and Kwale counties. These regions hold significant potential for development but are also susceptible to conflict due to their resource wealth and scale of upcoming investment.
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, we focus on exploring the key sectors and regions where business and human rights issues intersect with conflict. The country has undergone a political and economic transformation in recent years. There has been significant progress in human rights legislation but no specific framework for business and human rights. This has created a legal vacuum, which provided a potential recipe for abuses and conflict including over improper land acquisition, environmental degradation, lack of inclusion, sexual and gender-based violence, and many other safety and security concerns.
For example, the expansion of the Lega Dembi Mine, the largest gold mine in Ethiopia, caused pollution and deforestation, as well as displaced indigenous people from their land without their consent. These flashpoints have exacerbated existing political and ethnic tensions in the region.
With business leaders, civil society, and government expressing a willingness to engage with human rights due diligence, Alert and its partner, the Consortium of Ethiopia Human Rights Organisations, have established a Community of Practice (CoP) to promote dialogue and collaboration. The CoP uses its platform to facilitate peer learning on best practices and to identify and address emerging challenges. It advocates for adopting a National Action Plan (NAP) in line with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and contributes to public engagement on the issue. As part of this joint advocacy, we have facilitated exchange visits to Uganda, and the Ethiopian government has since officially launched the development of its NAP, an essential opportunity for holding the government accountable for protecting human rights abuses by corporate actors.
The key challenges facing this developing movement include the current weak enforcement of labour rights, meaning that poor working conditions remain prevalent, particularly in the agriculture, extractives and manufacturing sectors. These include forced labour and child labour. Large infrastructure projects have led to significant displacements and conflicts with local communities, who are working for fair compensation and resettlement schemes and genuine community participation in decision-making.
Given these challenges, Alert continues working with our partners in Ethiopia to generate evidence to support informed advocacy, work with businesses on their due diligence processes, and demonstrate the importance of meaningfully engaging communities to avoid and mitigate conflict.
Uganda
In Uganda, the government has launched an ambitious Energy Transition Plan to provide universal access to electricity by working with international actors to unlock finance through mechanisms like the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). Our efforts in this context are focused on the oil and gas sector in the Albertine region of Western Uganda. This area is a critical hub for the country’s energy future. Still, it faces numerous human rights and conflict-related challenges, such as poor labour conditions, inadequate health and safety standards, poor land acquisition procedures by oil companies, and unfair compensation.
Working with our local project partner BAPENECO, Alert recently supported a group of 20 civil society organisations in participating in a joint national conference with the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), Ministry of Energy Mineral Development (MEMD), Uganda National Oil Company, and international oil companies. The conference allowed the consortium to speak directly to relevant decision-makers on the issues that need addressing to ensure that Uganda’s energy transition can be peaceful and respectful of human rights.
These included the need for:
- conflict-sensitive energy projects that do not exacerbate conflicts or harm local communities;
- access to renewable energy for marginalized communities to reduce dependence on fossil fuels;
- policies that support the green energy transition while reducing energy poverty;
- reducing the impact of energy production on the environment; and
- working towards truly inclusive energy governance.
A key component of our work in these contexts is the empowerment of civil society. By supporting their advocacy efforts, we have enabled communities to claim their human rights and hold investors accountable. Alert has influenced “host state” governments to protect local communities from the harmful impacts of investment, as well as “home state” governments, where multinational corporations are headquartered, to ensure conflict-sensitive human rights due diligence based on practical insights from the ground.
Why this work matters
Leveraging global experience in business, human rights, and conflict sensitivity, we’re advocating for adapting the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to the specificities of conflict-affected settings. These principles represent a commitment to fostering peace and sustainable development in regions that have been prevented from reaching their full potential.
By bridging the gap between businesses and communities, we aim to create a future where necessary green investments lead to prosperity and peace rather than conflict and division.
The Business and Human Rights project is made possible with funding from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
