West Africa

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 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.

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 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

The ocean and its resources support many sectors vital to the West African region, including fisheries and aquaculture, maritime transport and shipping, maritime security, coastal and maritime tourism, sustainable energy, mineral resources, and emerging marine industries. Collectively, these sectors are called the “Blue Economy” (BE). The BE is a cornerstone of economic growth, sustainability, and security for the twelve coastal and island states and three land-linked countries in the region, providing livelihoods for millions and serving as a primary revenue source for coastal and island states. The BE contributes 56% of the GDP of coastal states in West Africa, underscoring its economic significance. With one-third of the region’s population residing in coastal areas, its ocean and resources are essential to food security, trade, and long-term resilience, making them a crucial driver of sustainable development in West Africa.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), perhaps the most successful regional economic community in Africa, at least until recently, turns fifty-one (51) on May 28, 2026. ECOWAS, which was established on 28 May 1975 was tasked with the goal of promoting economic and political integration among its member states. Specifically, ECOWAS Treaty offers a key summary of its vision: “promoting co-operation and integration, leading to the establishment of an Economic Union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of the peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations-among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent.”

The Government of Ghana has formally notified the Government of Togo of its decision to initiate international arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in order to resolve their dispute over maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea. In a statement released on 20 February 2026, the Government indicated: “This follows attempts at negotiating a boundary which have gone on for eight years but have not resulted in an agreed outcome”.

Guinea occupies a structurally significant position in the global minerals economy as the world’s largest holder of bauxite reserves and second leading producer of the ore, which is indispensable for aluminium production and increasingly recognised as strategically important to global industrial supply chains. This update examines Guinea’s intensifying resource nationalism in the global bauxite sector, focusing on the revocation of mining licences, the resulting high-value international arbitration claims, and the government’s planned legal defence. It situates these developments within broader African debates on bauxite’s strategic importance, mineral governance, and efforts to reclaim sovereign control and value from critical raw materials.