Under current international law, states, not corporations, are principally responsible for guaranteeing human rights. However, in reality all states are not created equal and corporations, being aware of this, have often adapted their human rights practices to the contexts in which they operate. In Nigeria, according to the constitution, the responsibility to protect human rights resides with the state yet existing institutional structures have rendered human rights violations banal.
Almost two decades after corporate involvement in human rights violations in the Niger Delta were brought to the fore by the Ogoni crisis, this paper examines the extent of integration of human rights concerns in CSR in Nigeria with a view to answering the following questions: What informs CSR in Nigeria? How does national context predispose corporations with respect to human rights? Could CSR contribute to the advancement of human rights?
