Law Commons^™

Government Role In Realising A ‘Right’ To Research In Africa, Chijioke Okorie

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Development agendas and plans such as World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Development Agenda, African Union Agenda 2063, South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030 and Nigeria’s National Development Plan 2021 – 2025, etc. indicate the need for and benefits of research for development. Research as an activity is needed for countries to sharpen their innovative edge and contribute to global scientific and technological advancement. Recent scholarship has highlighted the positive impact on national development of copyright exceptions implementing a right to research in the form of either a complete defence to copyright infringement, or, as user rights. However, the realisation of …

Voices From Below—Africa’S Contribution To The Development Of The Norm Of Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Akinwumi Olawuyi Ogunranti

PhD Dissertations

The long conversations about corporate responsibility predominantly take place in forums and conferences in the Global North. Yet, the majority of the human rights abuses and their impacts are felt by peasants, farmers, children, and women in local communities in the Global South who do not have a voice in the institutionalized governance systems that animate global affairs. This thesis answers the question of how norms and human rights institutions in Africa can influence the corporate responsibility to respect (CR2R) norm as embedded in pillar II of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Through the theory …

Reflections On The Value Of Socio-Legal Approaches To International Economic Law In Africa, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In their introductory essay to the 2021 Chicago Journal of International Law Symposium, Daniel Abebe, Adam Chilton, and Tom Ginsburg offer an account of “the rise of the social science approach to international law, explain the basics of the method, and advocate for its continued adoption.”

This Essay critically assesses how and why one might use socio-legally inspired methods (analytical, empirical, and normative) for the study of international economic law (IEL) in Africa. It illustrates the empirical method’s importance in understanding one of the most challenging aspects of the study of IEL in Africa: capturing the data and dynamism of …

Dispute Settlement Under The African Continental Free Trade Area, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Article 20 AfCFTA establishes a Dispute Settlement Mechanism, the Protocol on Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes (‘the AfCFTA DSM Protocol’; ‘Protocol’) and a Dispute Settlement Body (‘DSB’) for resolving disputes between State Parties. The AfCFTA dispute settlement mechanism is a central element of the AfCFTA as it provides security and predictability to the regional trading system (Art 4 AfCFTA-DSM Protocol). The AfCFTA dispute settlement mechanism will ‘preserve the rights and obligations of State Parties under the Agreement and clarify the existing provisions of the Agreement in accordance with customary rules of interpretation of public international law’ (Art …

Africanization And The Reform Of International Investment Law, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Recent trends in reforms by African states in the field of International Investment Law (IIL) has been dubbed as the Africanization of IIL. These important debates regarding reform of IIL in Africa foreground innovative aspects of International Investment Agreements (IIA) in contrast to the traditional IIL regime. The debates also remind us of the relative lack of African voices in the global IIL reform agenda. There is however little research that critically analyze the Africanization of IIL thesis.

This article undertakes this analysis. Drawing on TWAIL, it characterizes Africanization of IIL into ‘moderate’ and ‘radical’ reforms. The article analyzes the …

Chinese Resource-For-Infrastructure (Rfi) Investments In Sub-Saharan Africa And The Future Of The "Rules-Based" Framework For Sovereign Finance: The Sicomines Case Study, Jingwei Xu

Michigan Journal of International Law

China has emerged as sub-Saharan Africa’s largest development financier over the past two decades. While commentators have observed novel, sui generis transactional structures in China’s financing arrangements, legal analysis of those contractual forms and their relationships to incumbent international economic governance regimes remains scant. This note addresses those scholarly lacunae, taking as its case study the 2008 Sicomines Agreement—a multi-billion USD investment financing agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and various Chinese corporate entities that merges infrastructure investment with a mineral extraction joint-venture project. It demonstrates that the Sicomines Agreement selectively draws on and integrates pre-existing modes of …

Comment On Us Trade And Investment Agreements Submitted To Ustr, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Comments to USTR Re: U.S.-Kenya Trade Agreement (April 28, 2020): CCSI, in response to the United States Trade Representative’s request for public comment to inform its approach to a U.S.-Kenya Trade Agreement, submitted Comments elaborating on our main points that (1) investor-state dispute settlement should not be included in any U.S.-Kenya agreement and (2) principles that should guide an investment chapter or investment provisions in any such agreement should (a) strategically support cross-border investment that produces positive development outcomes for the U.S. and Kenya, (b) facilitate and support good governance of investment projects, and (c) enhance cooperation to solve challenges …

Africa’S Participation In International Economic Law In The 21st Century: An Introduction, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Ohio Omiunu, Amaka Vanni, Regis Y. Simo, Luwam Dirar

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This is the introduction to the Manchester Journal of International Economic Law Symposium Issue based on selected papers presented at the Fourth Biennial Conference of the African International Economic Law Network at Strathmore Law School, Nairobi, Kenya in July 2019. The introduction also reflects on four important spaces for the consolidation of the scholarship, teaching and research, practice and policy relating to international economic law in Africa.

Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes: The Kimberly Process And The Morality Exception To Wto Restrictions, Karen E. Woody

Karen Woody

This Article analyzes the events predicating the Kimberley Process and examines the validity of the Kimberley Process in relation to international trade obligations. Part I describes the background of conflict diamonds and their role in African wars. The section outlines the need for regulation in the diamond industry and examines how other attempted measures at curbing the illicit diamond trade have fallen short. Part II details the Kimberley Process and its guidelines. This section analyzes the relevant U.S. legislation passed in 2003, the Clean Diamond Trade Act. Part II also suggests that because the Kimberley Process ("KP") is predicated upon …

Revisiting The Economic Community Of West African States: A Socio-Legal Analysis, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Recent years have seen a growing scholarly interest in the conditions of emergence of regional trade agreements in Africa. These analyses have advanced our knowledge on a range of technical issues, from specific institutional transformation of regional economic communities such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to broad legal issues relating to the provisions of the regional trade agreements. Most literature on ECOWAS is, however, informed by legal formalism that interprets the text of the treaties strictly and without context, leading to a dominant interpretation of failure.

By contrast, this thesis adopts a socio-legal approach and argues …

The Next Generation Of U.S.-Africa Trade Instruments, Kathleen Claussen

Articles

No abstract provided.

African Economic Community And The Promotion Of Intra-African Trade, Muna Ndulo

Muna B Ndulo

No abstract provided.

African "Renaissance" And U.S. Trade Policy, Hunter R. Clark

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

International Trade Law And The U.S.-Eu Gmo Debate: Can Africa Weather This Storm?, Michelle K. Mcdonald

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Integrating African Markets Into The Global Exchange Of Services: A Central African Perspective, Regis Y. Simo

Regis Y. Simo

Services liberalisation has gradually become very important for growth in developed and less-developed countries alike and can, as such, be seen as development prospects for sub-Saharan Africa where numerous economic integration attempts are stories of repeated failures. Despite the abundant literature on PTAs, however, little attention has been given to Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) as a trade bloc. This is an attempt to address that dearth

At a time when “boosting intra-African trade” is gaining currency on the continent, this article tests the compatibility of the potential CEMAC economic integration agreement (EIA) against the background of the …

Africa-China Bilateral Investment Treaties: A Critique, Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Article is to draw attention to, raise questions about, and generate discussions regarding the emerging norms, legal context, and long-term development-implications of South-South foreign direct investment (“FDI”) and South-South bilateral investment treaties (“BIT”). This Article seeks to refocus the discourse about FDI and BITs on developing countries in their role as exporters of capital and in the context of the much-touted new geography of investment. Can South-South BITs play a positive role in promoting development in sub-Saharan Africa any more than the Africa-North BITs? Is China concluding development-focused BITs with countries in Africa? The Article identifies …

Clouded Diamonds: Without Binding Arbitration And More Sophisticated Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, The Kimberley Process Will Ultimately Fail In Ending Conflicts Fueled By Blood Diamonds , Shannon K. Murphy

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In 2003, under an initiative of the United Nations (U.N.), various nations of the world gave life to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)-a method by which consumers of all levels could know the origin of their diamonds-with the Scheme only certifying those harvested from legal, government-run mines. The Scheme's drafters believed that, if given the choice, consumers would choose to buy diamonds mined legally, with profits flowing to legitimate sources of power. However, the KPCS as it stands is voluntary and lacks the teeth needed to deter its violators. The KPCS lacks a binding arbitration agreement and needs a …

Metals Or Management? Explaining Africa's Recent Economic Growth Spurt, Laura Nyantung Beny, Lisa D. Cook

Articles

Explanations for Africa's poor long-run growth performance have varied over time. The theories examined include geography (Jeffrey D. Sachs and Andrew Warner 1997); institutions (William Easterly and Ross Levine 1997; Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson 2001, 2002; Nathan Nunn 2007, 2008); health (David Bloom and Sachs 1998; Gregory N. Price 2003); and economic dependency (William Darity 1982). More recently, economists have attempted to explain what The Economist has called Africa's new "period of unparalleled economic success" (The Economist 2008a, 33). Average annual real GDP growth was 1.8 percent between 1980 and 1989 and increased to 4.4 percent between …

Trade, Empires, And Subjects--China-Africa Trade, Uche E. Ofodile

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Since 2000, the interest of the People's Republic of China (China) in Africa has grown steadily. Trade between China and Africa has grown exponentially. China-Africa trade volume increased from $10 billion to $18 billion between 2000 and 2003. In 2005, total trade between Africa and China surged to $40 billion, and in 2006 China-Africa trade was valued at $55.5 billion. A third of China's crude oil imports come from Africa. In the West, reaction to China's involvement in Africa has bordered on suspicion and paranoia. Policy makers and analysts are concerned that China could gain control over Africa's vast and …

Diamonds On The Souls Of Her Shoes: The Kimberly Process And The Morality Exception To Wto Restrictions, Karen E. Woody

Scholarly Articles

This Article analyzes the events predicating the Kimberley Process and examines the validity of the Kimberley Process in relation to international trade obligations. Part I describes the background of conflict diamonds and their role in African wars. The section outlines the need for regulation in the diamond industry and examines how other attempted measures at curbing the illicit diamond trade have fallen short. Part II details the Kimberley Process and its guidelines. This section analyzes the relevant U.S. legislation passed in 2003, the Clean Diamond Trade Act. Part II also suggests that because the Kimberley Process ("KP") is predicated upon …

Conflicts Diamonds: U.S. Responsibility And Response, Edward R. Fluet

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article will examine U.S. and international efforts to combat the trade in conflict diamonds. Specifically, this article will detail their failures and examine the need for U.S. backed legislation to prevent the conflict diamond trade more effectively. This article proceeds as follows: Part I will examine the effect of the conflict diamond trade on those caught in the grip of civil war and terrorism. Part II will analyze international efforts to curtail conflict diamonds trade, specifically examining international support of the Kimberley Process. Part III and IV will examine the United States'efforts to regulate conflict diamonds and the inherent …

Bilateral Investment Treaties And The Possibility Of A Multilateral Framework On Investment At The Wto: Are Poor Economies Caught In Between, Victor Mosoti

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The increased Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI") flows in the past few years have strengthened the belief among many developing countries, especially African countries, that such FDI flows could help in reducing the resource, technology and foreign exchange gaps that constrain their economic development. As a result, many developing countries have beendiligently working to attract foreign investment, for which these countries give some of the highest returns; in the process, these countries make concessions that they would have found unthinkable in the past, when autarchic economic policies were prevalent. For example, due to the liberalization of capital accounts, a foreign investor …

The New Partnership For Africa's Development: Institutional And Legal Challenges Of Investment Promotion, Victor Mosoti

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper is divided into five parts. Part I introduces NEPAD, its philosophical basis and objectives. Part II discusses the investment promotion role of NEPAD and its difference from past development thinking about Africa's problems. In Part III we discuss NEPAD's strategy for realizing investment flows into Africa, some of the NEPAD's institutional weaknesses, and the repercussions thereof in realizing the NEPAD objectives. It also highlights the potential implications of NEPAD to the regional integration plan in Africa. Taking into account the supposed political clash between NEPAD and the AU, Part IV discusses possible ways of restructuring NEPAD to enable …

The African Union And The New Pan-Africanism: Rushing To Organize Or Timely Shift?, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

The Need For The Harmonisation Of Trade Laws In The Southern African Development Community (Sadc), Muna Ndulo

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

African Economic Community And The Promotion Of Intra-African Trade, Muna Ndulo

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.