Mining, the environment, and human rights in Ghana: An area of limited statehood perspective

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the global norms meant to guide corporate environmental human rights conducts have steadily improved, there have been limited efforts directed at exploring whether business‐related environmental human rights infringements have as a result reduced. To address this gap, this paper examines the extent to which mining companies meet their responsibility to respect human rights and ensure that environmental rights of community members in mining areas are not violated. By privileging community voices, the paper offers nuanced insight into why gaps continue to persist between corporate commitment to human rights objectives and community experience in areas of limited statehood (ALS). We show that weak governmental capacity, neoliberal business model, and differences in sociocultural logics mediate between corporate environmental human rights commitments and their conduct on the ground. The paper concludes by considering the theoretical implications for business and human rights in ALS.