‘Deploying human rights due diligence in African mines’ 20 August 2026

At a workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 18 August, three IndustriALL Global Union affiliates presented pilot cases showing how HRDD can be turned into a practical union strategy in the mines. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa, the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) and the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) shared examples from gold, copper, platinum and diamond mining. The workshop brought together 41 delegates from the three countries, alongside UNI Global, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the National Employment Council for the Mining Industries, Competence Centre for HRDD and IndustriALL. HRDD comes from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It is increasingly part of European supply-chain law, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and the German Supply Chain Act. It requires companies to identify, prevent and account for human-rights violations tied to their operations.

For unions, the strategic value discussed at the workshop is clear. HRDD can move from a corporate compliance process to an organizing, bargaining and accountability tool. This helps workers challenge violations across mining operations and supply chains…ZDAMWU’s pilot cases at Bikita Minerals and Prospect Minerals Zimbabwe centre on defending workers’ rights, protecting freedom of association and ending gender-based violence and harassment. They also challenge short-term contracts, pushing for extensions from three to 12 months. The cases raise concrete concerns: precarious employment, weak collective bargaining power and unsafe reporting conditions. Workplace practices also leave workers and communities with limited voice when violations occur. The union’s approach also extends beyond the mine gate, through collaboration with affected communities.

…In Zambia, MUZ is pressing for HRDD-compliant grievance mechanisms at CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines and Sino Metals Leach Zambia. The union is calling for channels that are safe, accessible and properly structured. These would let mineworkers report labour-rights violations, occupational health and safety hazards, discrimination and harassment. They could do so without fear of retaliation. The union frames functioning grievance mechanisms as a precondition for freedom of association on the Copperbelt. There, reporting workplace concerns has often carried real risk for the worker who speaks up. MUZ also wants remedies for workers and communities that were affected by the tailings dam spill at Sino Metals.