Analysis

Since Kenya had made commitments, it is not far fetched to argue that non observance of these commitments especially regarding trade in legal services offends the EAC Treaty. This brings in the issue of remedies available at the East African Court of Justice. It is time this issue was addressed by the  East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

Joining the WTO will reduce the diverse economy that the Ethiopian government has been fostering. But if the government feels that WTO membership is necessary, then Ethiopia must take it’s time to negotiate more favorable terms in line with its development status and objectives. In particular, Ethiopia should not make the same mistakes as other newly joined nations and should not agree to undertake higher levels of commitments than is made absolutely necessary by the WTO rules and what other founding LDCs, such as Bangladesh, have made. Specifically, Ethiopia should seek to ensure that tariffs are bound at the highest rates possible.

Third world approaches to international law (TWAIL) is part of the critical branch of international legal scholarship and an intellectual and political movement. It is not easy to engage with TWAIL because of its heterogeneity. TWAIL serves as a kind of umbrella category that includes different theoretical and often conflicting ideological traditions. However, at the cost of oversimplification, it may be argued that TWAIL represents an endeavour to comprehend the history, structure, and process of international law from the perspective of third world countries that includes both third world governments and third world people

There is a new struggle for Africa’s market. The contestants include the European Union (EU), United States (US), Russia, India and China. In this blog, I reflect on the new European Union -Africa Comprehensive Strategy proposals. The blog pushes against the Strategy’s revision of the historical relationship between the two regions which is built on embedded inequality. This is because, to be a true partnership, the unequal nature of the relationship between the EU and Africa must be centered. In the contest for its market, Africa has a unique opportunity to harness the competition tactically.

To finalise our International Women’s Day symposium on scholarship by women, this post highlights some women working on International Economic Law (IEL) that the editorial team put together in the last couple of days. This post is therefore by no means intended to be exhaustive. We encourage our readers to add to our list. Next year with more time, we hope to have an even more extensive list of women working in IEL.

The International Women’s Day is an opportune time to recognise and celebrate female scholars. This post spotlights five female scholars of African descent, Professor Ruth Okediji, Professor Olufunmilayo Arewa, Professor Caroline Ncube, Dr Amaka Vanni and Dr Chijioke Okorie, for their outstanding contributions to the multifaceted and often esoteric intellectual property rights (IPRs) debates

One group of women should be celebrated for their contributions to shaping the emancipation narratives and processes on the continent. This is the group of African female scholars such as Professor Celestine Nyamu-Musembi, Professor Sylvia Tamale, Professor Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Professor Ambreena Manji and Professor Sylvia Kang’ara. The perspectives of these scholars play a crucial role in shaping interventions targeted at women in Africa. As the English saying goes, only the wearer of the shoe knows where it pinches. International organizations seeking to emancipate women must pay close attention to the scholarship of these women. Their rich body of scholarship provides useful insights that intervention documents drawn up in the development cities of Geneva and New York may lack.

To mark the 2020 International Women’s Day, Afronomicslaw celebrates Dr Bolanle Adebola’s brilliant contributions to corporate insolvency law. Dr Adebola is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Reading and Convenor, Commercial Law Research Network Nigeria. Her thought-provoking research has generated robust discussions in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

To mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD), we recognise and celebrate the invaluable contributions of women to international economic law scholarship. We are proud to point out that 50 per cent of our editors/contributing editors are women, and we are committed to promoting equality. Our IWD collection comprises four contributions.

The introduction of CBDCs would, no doubt, raise some legal and regulatory questions. First of all, due to the monetary policy implications of private currencies such as Libra, African countries need to think ahead whether they would want to ban the use of Libra for domestic transactions. Secondly, should African countries introduce their own CBDCs, governments would need to be able to know and manage the identities of parties transacting with these currencies in order to be able to fulfil ‘Anti-money laundering and combating the financing terrorism’ (AML/CFT) requirements. Of course, if these currencies become acceptable globally, they would be required to adhere to, the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) - the global watch dog against money laundering and terrorism financing - recommendations on travel rules.