This is a joint op-ed co-authored by the U.S. Ambassadors and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. to Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe.

The story of the United States of America is the story of its workers, whose enduring contributions we recognize annually on the first Monday of September. Throughout our history, the American worker has labored not only to erect buildings and cities but also to raise the standards of workers worldwide. Through protests and picket lines, by organizing and raising their voices together, workers have won small and large victories that have pushed the United States closer to ensuring safer and healthier workplaces for all.

The Biden-Harris Administration supports labor rights at home and abroad, including the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the abolition of forced labor and child labor, acceptable conditions at work, and freedom from discrimination. The administration’s foreign policy promotes broad-based, equitable growth where all workers can work safely, assemble freely, and earn a fair wage. Labor policy is key to implementing our shared vision of a democratic and prosperous Southern Africa centered on a growing middle class. And workers and trade unions are critical pillars to making this happen.

The Biden-Harris Administration believes that unions across the Southern African region play a significant role in addressing income inequality and creating a more equitable and democratic economy – key ingredients to establishing the cornerstones of middle-class security. When unionized workers are compared with their nonunionized counterparts, studies show that union wages are usually significantly higher. Union participation has also been shown to help address the gender pay gap: Hourly wages for women represented by unions are significantly higher than for nonunionized women.

The United States bolsters workers' rights across the region through technical assistance. In Lesotho, for example, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Better Work project partnered with export apparel factories, trade unions, the government and others to boost factories’ compliance with labor law. For workers, this meant better compensation and improvements in contracts, occupational safety and health and work hours.

Through its worker-centered trade policy, the Biden-Harris Administration seeks to promote equitable growth and shared prosperity to all workers and communities in Africa. It also supports worker rights through U.S. trade preference programs, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. That is, for countries to remain eligible for the benefits of the AGOA and GSP program, they must meet criteria on internationally recognized worker rights. Through AGOA engagement, the U.S. government has worked with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prompt action tackling a variety of labor issues, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, trafficking in persons, and capacity-building of the labor inspectorate. This contributed towards the DRC’s ultimate reinstatement into the AGOA preference program in 2021, and the U.S. Department of Labor will soon be launching a technical assistance project in the DRC to further support progress on international labor standards.

African laborers form the backbone of the Southern African economy and for far too long African women have worked in environments that failed to protect them from harassment and violence.

They deserve a better economic present and future that is free of violence and harassment. We stand in solidarity with the many trade unions and worker associations in their call for action on this issue, taking into account the provisions of ILO Convention C. 190.

As the United States works with its African partners to stand up for workers, we are especially committed to protecting the most vulnerable workers, including child laborers. Every year the U.S. Department of Labor issues its Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor report, which highlights key child labor challenges in countries around the world, including our partners in Southern Africa. The report also spotlights efforts these countries are undertaking to eliminate child labor through legal protections, enforcement, policies, and social programs and makes recommendation for further action. Namibia, for one, saw significant advancement in the 2019 report, including its enactment of the Child Care and Protection Act.

We also provide technical assistance to support our African partners in their efforts to combat child labor. In Zambia, for example, the U.S. Department of Labor’s EMPOWER program provided entrepreneurship and leadership training to more than 1,400 adolescent girls at risk for child labor, many of whom went on to start their own businesses, generating income and avoiding child labor.

And in Madagascar, the U.S. Department of Labor is providing funding to reduce child labor in mica-producing communities, including support to increase the capacity of government officials to address child labor in the mica supply chain. Additionally, partnerships between USAID Madagascar and U.S. and local businesses in vanilla, cocoa, and aquaculture that are focused on improving livelihoods and conserving biodiversity, have clauses banning child labor and monitoring systems to ensure the ban is enforced throughout the supply chain.

Our commitment to the world’s children stems from our belief that all children should have the opportunity to grow and learn and that economies are stronger when labor rights and human rights are protected. We recognize the important contributions governments, companies, unions, and civil society have made to eliminating all forms of child labor and look forward to strengthening our partnerships across the region to ensure that child labor is eradicated.

The U.S. similarly protects additional vulnerable worker populations through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Global Labor Program (GLP). In South Africa, for example, USAID through GLP supports farm workers, domestic workers, and migrant workers to overcome long-standing exclusion from core labor rights and protections, while building the capacity of committed representatives of these populations to become union leaders.

Nowhere is the spirit of partnership between our countries stronger than in our joint efforts to combat COVID-19. Since the pandemic’s outbreak, the United States has worked hand-in-hand with health professionals across the region to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19. We’ve contributed approximately $125 million USD in COVID-19 specific funding and have provided almost 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the 12 countries where we serve as representatives of the United States, which has helped to ensure vulnerable workers are protected and can do their jobs safely. This is in addition to our 4 billion USD contribution to Gavi in support of COVAX.

Even in the United States we still have work to do. The dreams and goals of our current labor movement remain unfinished and unrealized by many. As much as we hope to impart, we also have even more to learn and gain from our partners. We understand that while workers across the region may share similar challenges, the African continent’s narrative is multidimensional and diverse.

U.S. engagement in the region is based on a shared hope and belief that the prosperity narrative led by African workers is one we can build together by building a partnership of equals. When African workers can work in greater prosperity, harmony, freedom, and dignity, the United States and the world is better off.

Source: Press Release by U.S. Embassy Antananarivo

No matter where you live, the simple act of buying a product can affect the human rights of someone you have never met. It can also lead to the extinction of a plant or animal. Business activity – from producing to selling, to investing, and buying – impacts the lives of billions of people worldwide. Every day we engage in some sort of business activity. We pay for gasoline to get to work. We eat corn or peanuts. We send text messages on a new phone. 
  
Imagine that phone is made using mica produced by a company that uses child labor or forced labor. Imagine the corn and peanuts were planted in an area that was illegally deforested, replacing a forest once rich in biodiversity, including critically endangered animals, that previously sustained local people and helped moderate the climate. Imagine that workers mining mica or harvesting corn or peanuts were forced into dangerous conditions. That the workers might have labored for long hours for little or sometimes no pay.  They may have been child laborers who did not go to school or were victims of human trafficking or sexual abuse. When communities protest the labor conditions, they are often threatened and sometimes attacked.
 
Scenarios like this happen every day in Madagascar and around the world, across industries, and with almost every imaginable product. They show the effect businesses can have on human rights and the environment. Whether it is a multinational conglomerate with complex supply chains and business relationships spanning the globe or a small family-owned shop, every business has a responsibility to prevent and address human rights abuses and environmental degradation.
  
The good news is that, as U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, “Businesses can provide crucial support for democratic principles, including respect for human and labor rights. They have the capacity to help shape society and the environment – raising local wages, improving working conditions, building trust with communities, and operating sustainably. As a result, businesses have a key role in addressing human rights abuses, including throughout their value chains.”  But who is responsible for making sure that human rights are not overlooked in the drive for profits?
  
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council ten years ago, say the responsibility is shared. The UNGPs created a common understanding of the positive role businesses can play in promoting respect for human rights and remedying abuses in the context of business activities. The guidelines outline three pillars:  1) governments have a duty to protect human rights; 2) businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights; and 3) victims affected by business- related human rights issues should have access to remedy.
  
In response to the UNGPs, over the past decade many governments have created National Action Plans on business and human rights and adopted legislation to counter corporate abuses and enhance accountability, including the United States.  Madagascar has developed a National Action Plan specifically to address the issue of child labor in mica mining. Many businesses are strengthening corporate policies and practices on human rights and conducting due diligence to avoid directly or inadvertently supporting human rights abuses through their operations, investments, contracts, or supply chains. Businesses that respect human rights have a competitive advantage by mitigating operational, legal, and reputational risks. These businesses know that respecting human rights is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. Companies thrive and economies prosper when businesses and governments work together to ensure strong rule of law; respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; respect for national and international labor, environmental, and technical standards; good governance; and effective and accountable institutions. 
  
The U.S. government supports and works to advance global standards to ensure that companies – and communities – benefit from conducting business responsibly and in a rights-respecting manner. U.S. companies are among the global leaders in responsible business conduct based on their commitment to promoting respect for human rights, respecting the rule of law, and strengthening local communities through long-term investments and human capital development. We endeavor for American businesses to live up to expectations that associate the American brand with respect for human rights and strong governance.
 
We are eager to do more to improve on this record. We look forward to working with partners in Madagascar as we begin to build back better from a global pandemic through equitable and sustainable development. Companies, including U.S. firms, should further strengthen their engagement on human rights issues and partner with governments, workers, and civil society on shared solutions. The UNGPs point us in the right direction but are not sufficient alone.
  
The United States is proud to support these efforts in Madagascar. For example, Madagascar is one of the world’s leading suppliers of mica, which is used in the semiconductor industry to make mobile phones and other electronics. But an estimated 10,000 children work in these mica mines. To help reduce child labor in Madagascar, the United States Department of Labor awarded a $4.5 million cooperative agreement to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The award will bolster the resiliency of vulnerable families in mica-producing communities; build the capacity of government officials to address child labor in the mica supply chain; and increase engagement of non-governmental stakeholders to combat the practice. The project will provide direct educational services to 3,380 children and livelihood services to 1,575 families. Likewise, USAID is supporting peanut farmers to help them grow their crops sustainably without destroying any forests and is partnering with the private sector to establish traceability and certification mechanisms that will reward those businesses that grow maize, peanuts, and spice in ways that do not harm the environment.

These projects, and others like them in other sectors and countries, are important steps forward. And we can and should note the progress made over the last ten years under the framework set out in the UNGPs and in comparable provisions in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which were updated ten years ago as well. However, there is still much work to be done to foster a world in which businesses see that economic success includes respect for people and the planet. This outcome is only possible when governments are strong partners in ensuring businesses respect human rights and comply with host government laws.
  
In addition, promoting respect for human rights is best accomplished by working with allies and partners across the globe.  The success of future efforts to advance respect for human rights by businesses, in line with the UNGPs, will depend upon the collaboration of government, business, and civil society. The U.S. government is ready to continue to support this effort. To demonstrate our commitment, on June 16, Secretary of State Blinken announced the U.S. government will soon begin the process of updating and revitalizing the United States’ National Action Plan (NAP) on Responsible Business Conduct. https://www.state.gov/10th-anniversary-of-the-un-guiding-principles-on-business-and-human-rights/

Let’s work together to advance respect for human rights and protect the natural resources we depend upon – because sending a text message shouldn’t contribute to the abuse of someone’s human rights and eating peanuts shouldn’t destroy entire forests.

Source: U.S. Embassy Madagascar