Business & Human Rights Roundtable Calls For Human Rights Considerations In Business Environment

An additional 16.6m children were used as child labour in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last four years.

Mrs Naomi Nwokolo, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria, referenced the figures contained in the ILO-Lloyd’s Register Foundation-Gallup survey.

Mrs Nwokolo was speaking in her welcome address at this year’s Business and Human Rights Roundtable.

According to her, population growth, recurrent crises, extreme poverty and inadequate social protection measures are contributing factors to the negative phenomenon.

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The two-day Business and Human Rights Roundtable was held in Lagos and saw members of civil society, the media, government agencies and the wider business community sit down to deliberate on the implementation of a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Mrs. Nwokolo described human rights as very relevant in business operations, saying one in 5 people have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace. 

She charged stakeholders to create a business environment that upholds and protects human rights, fostering sustainable economic and inclusive growth.

The Business and Human Rights Roundtable is a multi-stakeholder initiative which provides a platform for dialogue between the different stakeholders of business and human rights in Nigeria. The initiative followed consultations in 2013 between the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the wider business community, the National Assembly and Civil Society.