tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/trans-adriatic-pipeline-38372/articlesTrans Adriatic Pipeline – The Conversation2021-05-12T13:50:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1580142021-05-12T13:50:05Z2021-05-12T13:50:05ZWhat happened when Italy criminalised environmental protest<p>Environmental movements are increasingly finding it hard to exercise their right to protest. This is partly due to the pandemic, though not always. The UK government, for instance, has proposed a bill which would give the police <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-bill-2021-factsheets/police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-bill-2021-overarching-factsheet">extra powers</a> to use against protests, based on a <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/getting-the-balance-right-an-inspection-of-how-effectively-the-police-deal-with-protests/">government report</a> which focused on disruption caused by Extinction Rebellion and protests against fracking, a badger cull, and the construction of the high-speed rail line HS2. </p>
<p>My home country of Italy has also strengthened its ability to police and ultimately criminalise public protest, and was doing so even before the pandemic. In particular, a 2019 <a href="https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2019/06/14/19G00063/sg">security decree</a> called “Salvini bis” after its proponent, the then minister of the interior Matteo Salvini, has aggravated penalties for many actions during public protests. </p>
<p>For example damaging property during a public protest is now punishable with up to five years imprisonment, while threatening and resisting the police gets at least five years. The decree also penalised the wearing of helmets or garments by protesters in a way that impairs police identification, and increased sentences for using fireworks, systems that neutralise tear gas, and other “potentially harming” weapons and tools during protests.</p>
<h2>The NoTAP protest</h2>
<p>These powers are now routinely used by Italian law enforcers to deal with environmental protesters. One example I have looked at in my research is the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1741659018760106">policing and criminalisation of the NoTAP environmental movement</a> in Puglia, the south-eastern region of Italy. Protesters there are opposing the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, commonly known as TAP. Partly funded by the EU, TAP aims to bring natural gas from Azerbaijan to Italy, via Turkey, Greece and Albania. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400019/original/file-20210511-15-gemsqa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The TAP sends gas from Central Asia to Western Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trans_Adriatic_Pipeline.png">Genti77 / wiki</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Activists in Puglia oppose the pipeline for different reasons, including its climate impact, and local environmental issues. In that part of Italy, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-italy-energy-trees-insight-idUKKCN1240GE">olive trees</a> have been a big issue, as thousands have been removed along the route.</p>
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<img alt="A tree surrounded by orange fence" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400154/original/file-20210511-23-v8q0a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Doomed: an olive tree in Puglia due to be cleared for TAP.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Di Ronco</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Though NoTAP protests in the region were always peaceful, law enforcers responded with <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2021/03/25/tap-la-denuncia-dei-manifestanti-noi-condannati-i-poliziotti-violenti-ancora-senza-volto/6144845/">violence</a> especially to protests in 2017 and 2018. Repressive measures since then have included expulsion orders and place bans, fines of up to €4,000 mostly to punish blocking traffic or violations of those expulsion orders, and charges for possessing dangerous weapons, criminal damage, threatening and resisting the police, and trespass. These charges have recently been pressed in a trial involving almost 100 NoTAP activists. </p>
<h2>Harsh sentences for activists</h2>
<p>But my <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1741659020953889">recent fieldwork</a> and interviews I conducted with NoTAP activists and their lawyers told a different story. Many people I spoke to claimed that charges were ill-substantiated or unnecessarily exaggerated: for example, many activists who threw flowers and paint-filled eggs in the direction of the police, or showed the sign of the horns (usually signifying cuckoldry) at one of their helicopters, have been charged with insulting and resisting the police. This is a charge that – due to the 2019 security decree mentioned above – can carry a sentence of more than five years. Others claim they were charged with trespass for having crossed land despite the land not being marked as private by signs or fences. </p>
<p>This notwithstanding, a judge recently <a href="https://www.lecceprima.it/cronaca/Scontri-no-tap-arriva-sentenza-in-tre-processi-con-92-imputati.html%22%22">confirmed most charges against activists</a> and, in some instances, even increased sentences from six months to more than three years. As activists and their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MovimentoNoTAP/photos/a.608985612638438/1565089170361406/">lawyers</a> pointed out in their press statements, this trial – which took place in a high security criminal court and mostly relied on the testimonies of police officers – was unusually short, reaching its conclusion in only seven months. By contrast, numerous reports of <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2021/03/25/tap-la-denuncia-dei-manifestanti-noi-condannati-i-poliziotti-violenti-ancora-senza-volto/6144845/">police abuse and violence against activists</a> continue to remain under-investigated.</p>
<p>At the same time, the <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2020/01/07/tap-in-19-vanno-a-processo-ulivi-espiantati-inquinamento-falde-e-lavori-senza-permessi-pm-illegittima-lautorizzazione-ministeriale/5655478/">TAP company is itself awaiting trial</a> for “<a href="https://ilmanifesto.it/gasdotto-tap-in-puglia-al-via-il-processo-per-disastro-ambientale/">environmental disaster</a>”. It is accused of polluting groundwater and doing preparatory works – also involving the removal of olive trees – without the required permits. The company is also accused of having presented an incomplete assessment of the project’s impact on natural habitats, which are protected by EU law. If confirmed, this charge would invalidate the environmental authorisation TAP received back in 2014, which allowed it to start work in southern Italy. </p>
<p>This trial (and not the one against the activists, which <a href="https://ilmanifesto.it/gasdotto-tap-in-puglia-al-via-il-processo-per-disastro-ambientale/">started at the same time</a>) was postponed once due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and has recently been <a href="http://www.leccecronaca.it/index.php/2021/04/09/processo-tap-udienza-rinviata-al-7-maggio/">postponed again</a> for the same reason. </p>
<p>The activists’ work has not been pointless, since their efforts to monitor and report <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659020953889">violations by the TAP company</a> helped prosecutors build their case. The activists haven’t been discouraged either, as one representative told me recently, “if anything, criminalisation managed to unite us even more”. This shows that such crackdowns may not lead to the desired outcome.</p>
<p>Developments in Italy and the UK both point at the creeping and dangerous ways in which some governments are clamping down on the right to protest. That these regulations are mostly targeting environmental protesters is no surprise: public awareness has substantially grown over the past years and more and more people are being mobilised. Attempts to constrain such mobilisation should be resisted as they are unnecessary, disproportionate and ultimately inconsistent with efforts to tackle global climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Di Ronco receives funding from The British Academy/Leverhulme Fund Small Research Grant. </span></em></p>A criminologist spoke to anti-gas pipeline activists.Anna Di Ronco, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/914422018-02-09T17:03:31Z2018-02-09T17:03:31ZThe EU wants to fight climate change – so why is it spending billions on a gas pipeline?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205470/original/file-20180208-180813-ifievy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TAP_in_Albania.jpg">Albinfo/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past few years there has been <a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/media/news/d/2017/12/renewables-exponential-growth">exponential growth</a> in clean energy investment – while fossil fuel assets are increasingly considered to be <a href="https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FINAL-TCFD-Annex-062817.pdf">risky</a>. Yet, on February 6, the European Investment Bank, the EU’s long-term lending institution, voted to provide a <a href="http://www.eib.org/infocentre/press/releases/all/2018/2018-030-eib-backs-eur-6-5-billion-energy-sme-transport-and-urban-investment">€1.5 billion loan</a> to the controversial Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).</p>
<p>The TAP is the Western part of a larger Southern Gas Corridor proposal that would ultimately connect a large gas field in the Caspian Sea to Italy, crossing through Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Albania. And while gas might be cleaner than coal, it’s still a fossil fuel. </p>
<p>So how does the EU’s support for this major project fit in with its supposed goal of addressing climate change?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205365/original/file-20180207-74487-1cg5u8d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The proposed Trans Adriatic Pipeline will run nearly 900km from Greece to Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trans_Adriatic_Pipeline.png">Genti77 / wiki</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Influencing investors</h2>
<p>A key problem is the message this sends to the private sector, where renewable energy is increasingly seen as a good investment. Technologies once perceived as too risky and too expensive are now delivering worthwhile returns thanks to reduced costs and breakthroughs in energy storage. The price of electricity generated by solar, wind or hydro is now comparable with the national grid. Over the past decade, investor meetings have shifted from discussing whether the transition to a low carbon economy will start before 2050, to whether it will be completed in the same period. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"949194987337650176"}"></div></p>
<p>But there is still not enough money being spent on renewables. While clean energy investment in 2017 <a href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/runaway-53gw-solar-boom-in-china-pushed-global-clean-energy-investment-ahead-in-2017/">topped US$300 billion for the fourth year in a row</a>, this is far short of what is needed to unlock the technology revolution necessary to tackle climate change. There is clearly a gap between what is required and what is being delivered. </p>
<p>The private sector will continue to invest significant capital into energy projects over the next few decades, so one issue facing policy makers is how to influence investors away from fossil fuels and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421511005064">towards renewable projects</a>. To really scale up investment into renewable infrastructure, <a href="http://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/Investment-GradeClimateChangePolicy.pdf">long-term and stable policy is required</a> – which investors <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615006277">see as clearly lacking</a>. </p>
<p>By funding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the EU’s investment bank is hardly signalling to the private sector that governments are committed to a green energy transition. </p>
<h2>Risky business</h2>
<p>If Europe really was to follow through and successfully switch to green energy – and such a transition is partially underway – then the pipeline project may even represent a risk to public finances.</p>
<p>Studies on climate change point to the need for a greater sense of urgency and ambition and, to stay within its “carbon budget” under current agreed emissions targets, the EU needs to be <a href="http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/extractive_industries/2017/can_the_climate_afford_europes_gas_addiction_report_november2017.pdf">fossil fuel free by 2030</a>. </p>
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<p>So any large oil and gas infrastructure projects with investment returns beyond 2030 are saddled with risk. In just a decade or two, super-cheap solar and wind power could mean that gas pipelines such as TAP would no longer make financial sense and would become worthless “<a href="https://www.carbontracker.org/terms/stranded-assets/">stranded assets</a>”. Yet TAP backers are touting economic benefits for countries such as <a href="http://www.oxfordeconomics.com/Media/Default/economic-impact/economic-impact-home/Economic-Impact-trans-Adriatic-Pipeline.pdf">Albania</a> extending to 2068 – well beyond the date when Europe must entirely ditch fossil fuels.</p>
<p>The EU’s official stance is to hail natural gas as a cleaner “bridge fuel” between coal and renewables. But <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/343/6172/733.summary">high leakage rates</a> and the <a href="http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/uploads/WGIAR5_WGI-12Doc2b_FinalDraft_All.pdf">potent warming impact</a> of methane (the primary constituent of natural gas) means that the Southern Gas Corridor’s climate footprint may be <a href="https://bankwatch.org/publication/smoke-and-mirrors-why-the-climate-promises-of-the-southern-gas-corridor-don-t-add-up">as large, or larger, than equivalent coal</a>. Abundant natural gas is also highly likely to <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/9/9/094008/meta">delay the deployment of renewable technologies</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"952216497123835906"}"></div></p>
<p>For the first decade of this century Europe prided itself on leading the political debate on tackling climate change. Now, it appears to be losing its boldness. To drive through a new technology revolution, the public sector needs to lead from the front and take bold decisions about its energy strategy.</p>
<p>A gas pipeline is not a technology of the future. If California can release <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKcvoBKYxc">YouTube videos</a> describing the importance of considering stranded assets during this energy transition, and New York City can announce plans to <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/952216497123835906">divest from fossil fuels</a>, then maybe it is time for the EU to turn off the TAP.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aled Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The European Investment Bank’s funding of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline will harm the climate and makes little financial sense.Aled Jones, Professor & Director, Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/757122017-05-08T15:49:14Z2017-05-08T15:49:14ZWhy the African Union must press ahead with a business and human rights policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167695/original/file-20170503-21627-2pvfi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fisherman shows an oil slick close to the Niger Delta following a large spill in 2013.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Stringer </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The African Union (AU) is developing a policy designed to hold companies to account by setting down guidelines on how they should conduct business on the continent. </p>
<p>The aim of the policy is to implement a set of <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/A-HRC-17-31_AEV.pdf">guiding principles</a> drawn up by the United Nations. It will provide a roadmap for states, regional economic communities and regional institutions to regulate the impact of business activities on people. The policy also seeks to advance guidance for firms conducting activities in Africa.</p>
<p>The policy has been in the making since 2016 and still has to be adopted by an AU technical committee. Because it’s not a treaty it won’t be subject to ratification by all AU member states. </p>
<p>This “soft law” approach raises questions about whether the policy will ever be implemented. But the fact that the AU has developed one is a major step forward and could help African countries deal with some major rights issues including: land grabs and environmental pollution.</p>
<h2>Land grabs</h2>
<p>Africa’s agricultural sector has attracted significant investment. This has resulted in massive land acquisitions by local and foreign firms which has enabled them to engage in large scale production. But local agrarian populations have been dispossessed of their land with little to no consultation or adequate compensation.</p>
<p>Chinese businesses have become the face of the growing concern over land grabs on the continent. A 2014 report estimated that about <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/how-much-agricultural-land-is-china-actually-grabbing-in-africa-83447">10 million hectares</a> of agricultural land in Africa belonged to Chinese businesses. But the Chinese aren’t the only ones acquiring massive tracts of land on the continent. </p>
<p>In Tanzania for instance, <a href="https://renewablesnow.com/news/agro-ecoenergy-in-usd-550m-ethanol-project-in-tanzania-419886/">Sweden-based</a> Agro EcoEnergy acquired 20,000 hectares of land to establish a sugarcane plantation <a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20130718134927-q50zx">and</a> an ethanol-production site. Local people in the <a href="https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/expo_stu2016578007_en.pdf">Bagamoyo district</a> in Dar es Salaam were <a href="http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/stopecoenergy.pdf">deeply distressed by the acquisition</a>.</p>
<p>Although local communities were consulted, they weren’t presented with any <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/oct/21/tanzania-sugar-project-small-farmers-land-disputes-agro-ecoenergy-sida">alternatives</a>, particularly around the issue of compensation. Nor was the community given adequate information about the impact of the project.</p>
<h2>Environmental pollution</h2>
<p>Another major business and human rights challenge has been environmental pollution, particularly in the extractive industries. In many cases foreign-owned companies have been involved. </p>
<p>One of the biggest concerns involve oil spillages and gas flaring from business-related activities in Nigeria. For example, over 100 million barrels of oil was <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=J8nFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT395&lpg=PT395&dq=Over+100+million+barrels+of+oil+spilled+in+Niger+Delta&source=bl&ots=5rBG3ZCZU_&sig=xCPx2evWGHwIi_0L-7HY9O7o0pM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3kdeGzaDTAhXn24MKHfaaCfIQ6AEITTAH#v=onepage&q=Over%20100%20million%20barrels%20of%20oil%20spilled%20in%20Niger%20Delta&f=false">spilled</a> in the Niger-Delta between the 1960s and 1997. In 2014 alone, Shell and ENI <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/03/hundreds-of-oil-spills-continue-to-blight-niger-delta/">admitted</a> to over 550 oil spills in the region.</p>
<p>The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that a cleanup process in the Niger Delta will take between <a href="http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/OEA/UNEP_OEA.pdf">25 to 30 years</a>. </p>
<p>And some estimates suggest that the impact of gas flaring has significantly reduced life expectancy in the region, from <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/10979890">70 years to about 45 years</a>.</p>
<h2>Key aspects of the policy framework</h2>
<p>All this suggests that Africa needs to regulate business activities with human rights impacts.</p>
<p>The policy framework builds on the three key pillars of the United Nations guiding principles. These are the state’s duty to protect human rights, businesses’ responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedies.</p>
<p>States need to ensure that business activities don’t negatively affect the livelihoods of local communities. Governments must therefore ensure agreements are drawn up with home states of multinationals and also with businesses to protect human rights. </p>
<p>For their part, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights. As such, they are required to desist from activities that will have an adverse impact on human rights. To give effect to this responsibility, businesses are expected to develop human rights policies and make a commitment to implement them.</p>
<p>An example is the Coca-Cola <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/private/fileassets/pdf/2014/11/human-rights-policy-pdf-english.pdf">Human Rights Policy</a>. This sets out the company’s commitment to conduct due diligence and to address human rights failures if they occur.</p>
<p>Access to remedies talks to the issue of justice. This means that it has to be underpinned by judicial and nonjudicial, state-based and non-state-based measures to protect victims of business related human rights violations. </p>
<p>Businesses are also required to develop grievance procedures to ensure recourse for affected communities. A practical example of this is the <a href="https://www.tap-ag.com/grievance">grievance mechanism</a> developed around the <a href="https://www.tap-ag.com/about-us">Trans Adriatic Pipeline</a> which is being built to transport natural gas from the border of Greece and Turkey to southern Italy.</p>
<p>But it’s important that these procedures should not prejudice the rights of victims to seek justice from judicial systems.</p>
<h2>Deepening respect for human rights</h2>
<p>The AU’s policy is a right step towards ensuring business upholds human rights. But it’s only the start of a long journey towards deepening a culture of respect for human rights among businesses in Africa. </p>
<p>Only time will tell if the policy framework, once adopted, will in fact be used. But the mere fact that it’s being formulated shows resolve on the part of states to tackle key human rights issues related to business activities in Africa. </p>
<p>A number of key steps need to be taken if the policy is to become a reality. </p>
<p>First, sufficient resources must be made available to make sure its implemented by both states and regional bodies.</p>
<p>Secondly, states must drive policy implementation with the political will to regulate businesses within their territories. </p>
<p>And finally institutions must be strengthened at all levels of implementation including national, regional and continental levels.</p>
<p>But successful implementation won’t be achieved unless there’s cooperation between state institutions, businesses, local populations as well as civil society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In the development process of the African Union Business and Human Rights Policy Framework, Romola Adeola served as a consultant for the African Union.</span></em></p>The move by the African Union to develop a policy to regulate the impact of firms on human rights puts it ahead of other regions as it seeks to guide companies conducting activities on the continent.Romola Adeola, Steinberg Postdoctoral Fellow in International Migration Law, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Faculty of Law, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.