Ghanaian activists are successfully challenging the narrative that extractive companies operate with impunity in Africa, filing 27 human rights lawsuits against mining, oil, and gas firms between 2000 and 2020. A new study drawing on data from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre shows that most allegations against extractive companies stem from economic, social, and cultural violations—often linked to land loss, displacement, and poor compensation. In response, civil society organizations like Wacam and the Centre for Public Interest Law have essentially become quasi-regulators, documenting violations, mobilizing communities, and pursuing justice through courts and administrative bodies. Their strategic combination of activism and legal pressure has yielded concrete results: companies paying fines, funding environmental remediation, and restoring contaminated lands. Ghana’s experience demonstrates that even without robust regulations, determined local actors using innovative accountability strategies can force powerful corporations to answer for environmental and social harm.
The Conversation
