Join the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and the Mail & Guardian at the Alternative Mining Indaba 2022, for a panel discussion on the opportunities & challenges of institutionalised voluntarism in the era of United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
On the 28 of December 2021, the High Court in Makanda Municipality delivered an interdict against fossil energy giant Royal Dutch Shell from carrying out a three-dimensional seismic survey for oil and gas, in about 6011-sq-km of the ecologically diverse marine Eastern Cape coast. Environmental activists hail the case as a victory for communities that have been fighting for their customary land rights and fishing rights for decades.
As a departure for analysis, the Shell case brings forward two main issues: The extent of possible environmental damage and the extent in which the human rights of surrounding communities will be affected. Corporate regulation occurs in the context of voluntary business and human rights frameworks, mainly derived from the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights , endorsed by states and companies including South Africa and, ironically, Shell itself.