The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.

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 "Special and Differential Treatment Reform in the WTO" by Aniekan Ukpe offers a thorough exploration of the complexities of trade law within the World Trade Organization (WTO), with a particular emphasis on the concept and reform of Special and Differential Treatment (SDT). Ukpe's work is both timely and relevant, addressing some of the most contentious issues in the multilateral trading system. At its core, the book focuses on the critical theme of reforming SDT provisions and practices within the WTO, offering a detailed examination of the current challenges and shortcomings inherent in these provisions. Ukpe conducts a thorough review of existing reform proposals, critically analysing their effectiveness and identifying gaps that have impeded meaningful progress. A central element of his work is the introduction of a unique, rules-based approach he terms "differentiated differentiation." This method advocates for defining agreement-specific or provision-specific criteria for SDT, ensuring that eligibility is based on objective and measurable factors related to a country’s capacity to implement specific rules, rather than on broad country categorization. The book goes beyond conceptual discussion by demonstrating the practical operationalisation of the approach, using the WTO’s customs valuation agreement as a case study.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on the unique status of international financial institutions (IFIs) in international law. This conversation will focus on whether, in international legal terms, international financial institutions (IFIs) should be treated like any other international organization or if their specialized mission necessitates granting them a special status. It will assess the validity of the IFIs concerns that the Articles on Responsibility of International Organisations (ARIO) are not easily applied to their operations and what changes may be needed to address these concerns.

Aniekan Ukpe’s book on Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) in the WTO is written at an inflection point in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many other international organizations – one of increasingly deepening polarization between developed and developing countries and their respective coalitions. One of the central issues in the divide has been the non-fulfilment of developmental objectives set out in respective legal frameworks by international institutions, and the inability to reform. Negotiations on redressing SDT under the WTO have now stretched over 20 years in the Doha Development Round, with no middle-ground reached.

One of the longest running debates at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is how to best account for and address the unique needs of developing countries as they become integrated into the world trading system. This has raised a broad range of questions centering around three key issues— what are the specific needs of developing countries, what flexibilities are required to help members meet their commitments, and what support can be given to build capacity where it is needed most? But underlying these considerations that helped frame individual discussions was always the bigger question of whether the approach to special and differential treatment (SDT) was sufficient to account for the diversity of the organization’s membership.

The book “Special and Differential Treatment reform in the WTO” offers a comprehensive exploration of the conceptual, legal, and practical dimensions of the Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) within the World Trade Organization (WTO). It provides critical insights into how to reform SDT to reflect an appropriate relationship between levels of development and the commitments of members.

The book is a contribution to the debate and literature on reforming SDT in the WTO, particularly, how to define and delimit access to SDT in the WTO. The book interrogates the problem of access to SDT resulting from the lack of a concrete criteria to identify a developing country at the WTO or more aptly, a country with a justifiable need for SDT. It answers the question of how to accommodate different levels of development among WTO members, while ensuring that the costs of multilateralism are shared equitably.