In a rapidly evolving global landscape shaped by shifting power dynamics, supply chain reconfigurations, and the rise of regional economic blocs such as the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Africa faces both unprecedented opportunities and complex challenges. AfCFTA offers a pathway toward industrialization, enhanced intra-African trade, and greater bargaining power in global trade governance, including within the World Trade Organization. This conference seeks to bring together scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and development partners to critically examine the geoeconomic implications of AfCFTA for African states.

This Symposium is dedicated to a critical engagement with Corporate Governance in Africa, a timely and significant contribution to the growing body of scholarship on governance across the continent. The book provides a nuanced exploration of the legal, institutional, and practical dimensions of corporate governance in diverse African jurisdictions, offering insights that are both contextually grounded and theoretically informed. This symposium brings together scholars to reflect on, interrogate, and extend the arguments advanced in this book.

The Tenth Biennial Global Conference of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) will take place in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 7 till 9 July 2027, hosted by the University of Canterbury, with support from the New Zealand Law Foundation Centre for Law and Emerging Technologies at the University of Otago.

In support of the Conference, ERCA invites scholars, economists, regulators, legal practitioners, judges, policymakers, researchers, development partners, and competition professionals to submit abstracts and papers on the Conference theme. Selected contributions may be presented during plenary sessions, thematic panels, policy roundtables, and breakout sessions, and may be considered for publication in the Conference proceedings or in ERCA knowledge products.

Under the relevant rules of the law of treaties as provided for in Article 11 of the Viena Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), a state’s consent to be bound by a treaty “may be expressed by signature, exchange of instruments constituting a treaty, ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or by any other means if so agreed.” It appears from the text of Article 11 of the VCLT that expression of consent to a treaty must generally be by means of an express or overt act, notice of which must be given, or received by, the other parties to the treaty. In contrast to the above legal position, the practice of some ECOWAS Member States in relation to Protocols governing the ECOWAS Court of Justice raises the question of whether a state’s consent to be bound by a treaty may be implied from its conduct. Of particular interest in this regard, is the Republic of Cape Verde. This essay seeks to determine whether the concept of implied consent could offer a conceptual justification for the exercise of the ECOWAS Court’s jurisdiction over Member States that have either not signed or ratified the relevant Protocols governing the Court’s jurisdiction.

Promoting economic cooperation and development among Member States has been the primary aim of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since its inception in 1975. Unsurprisingly, in the beginning, the Community’s only judicial body, the ECOWAS Court, only had a mandate to foster socio-economic integration. Consequently, when the Court was granted a human rights mandate in 2005, it was expected that advancing economic justice and safeguarding economic rights would underpin its adjudicatory functions. The economies of countries in West Africa exhibit a significant gender gap, which manifests in various ways, including the gender pay gap, women disproportionately engaged in informal and vulnerable employment, unequal access to job opportunities, occupational segregation, unequal asset ownership, limited access to financial services, and unpaid care work.In this blog post, we provide a brief overview of two cases decided by the ECOWAS Court that concern women’s rights to work, showcasing the Court’s role in promoting women’s economic justice in the West African sub-region and beyond. However, before discussing these cases, which inform our conclusions, we briefly explore the nature of the right to work for women within the African human rights system.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

In an ever-growing quest for gender equality, it is quite common for scholars and researchers to overlook regional and sub-regional systems while prioritizing global institutions, particularly the United Nations, its specialized agencies, and other international human rights mechanisms. The limited attention given to regional bodies stems from their perceived lack of influence in implementing meaningful reforms compared to global institutions. Unbeknownst to many, regional systems, despite their marginalization, have developed contextually relevant, progressive policy documents and delivered consequential legal judgments on women's rights. However, as is the case with many international, regional or sub-regional organizations, the perennial challenges remain the translation of the policies and enforcing the far-reaching judgements on women’s rights. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) embodies this paradox.

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice occupies a central place in the legal architecture of West African regional integration, with jurisdiction spanning human rights, trade, and the interpretation and application of Community law. Yet its authority continues to sit uneasily with the persistent gap between judicial pronouncement and practical effect. Judgments are frequently delayed in implementation, and in many instances not implemented at all, a pattern widely reported by court officials and observers. If effectiveness is assessed primarily through implementation and compliance, the Court’s institutional challenge is therefore not merely one of doctrinal coherence, but of execution.

It is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to our 8th Biennial Conference. After successfully hosting in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania, we have finally breached the “Francophone wall”, as one Member of the Network’s Advisory Board noted upon learning this year’s destination. For the first time since its creation in 2008, the AfIELN Conference will take place in “Francophone” Africa, in North Africa, and in the MENA region. Morocco is therefore threefold symbolic. ______________________________________________________________________ Chers amis du Réseau africain de droit économique international (AfIELN), C’est avec un immense plaisir que je vous souhaite la bienvenue à notre 8e Conférence biennale. Après avoir accueilli avec succès des éditions au Ghana, au Kenya, au Nigeria, en Afrique du Sud et en Tanzanie, nous avons enfin franchi le « mur francophone », comme l’a souligné un membre du Conseil Consultatif du Réseau en apprenant la destination de cette année. Pour la première fois depuis sa création en 2008, la Conférence d’AfIELN se tiendra en Afrique « francophone », en Afrique du Nord et dans la région MENA. Le Maroc revêt donc une triple symbolique.