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.

Five decades on from its inception, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stands at a juncture that invites both celebration and reflection. Established with the primary goal of integrating West African countries in pursuit of economic development and regional unity, many agree that the organization has made remarkable progress, even beyond the expectations of its founding fathers. It has grown from promoting economic integration, to also championing core principles of democracy and good governance. In this essay, I reflect on an increasingly important and arguably underexplored aspect of ECOWAS’s economic development agenda: intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

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.

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.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a central actor in the law, politics and economics of the West African sub-region. Under article 3 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, ECOWAS aims to deepen and strengthen relations between its members with the aim of promoting co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa. This goal, if ever attainable, depends considerably on the role and power of its treaty organs, including its administrative organs, strengthening the ECOWAS legal order and thus underscoring ECOWAS relevance and power. This aim suggests the need for scholars of ECOWAS to focus attention on organs that they have largely neglected. This submission explores the growth and development of administrative power in ECOWAS. I seek to contribute to the current limited body of knowledge on this aspect of ECOWAS by sketching the outlines of the ideas that have moulded the ECOWAS administrative apparatus

Before the publication of Dr Kiema’s studies, the literature lacked a comprehensive treatment of this subject. From that vantage point, Dr Kiema filled a considerable gap in the body of knowledge and pushed the frontiers of international aviation law, international economic law and regional integration in Africa. Such a book was even more needed considering the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is a flagship project of the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, coupled with the primacy of dovetailing SAATM with cognate flagship projects of the AU’s aforesaid Agenda, aspects more fully set out between the covers of this insightful book.