African Union

Symposium on IFFs: Perpetual Financial Drain: Assessing the Effect of Abusive Corporate Tax Practices in Exacerbating Africa's Illicit Financial Flows, Debt Burden, and Under-development

Focusing on limiting IFF is a much better option for providing African countries with the necessary funds towards achieving Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Realizing tax revenue from reducing IFFs may also reduce dependence on foreign aid. As African countries take the required steps to curb IFF, it is relevant to note that no single country can independently curb Illicit financial flows, especially from aggressive tax planning. Increasing financial transparency through consistent domestic policy implementation and international cooperation remains one of the most efficient channels to halt IFFs out of Africa.

Symposium on IFFs: Investigating the Impact of Illicit Financial Flows on Unsustainable Debt Burdens in Africa and the Quest for Tax and Debt Justice

Africa is unquestionably confronted with substantial development financing needs, which are further exacerbated by two independent, yet interrelated problems that are depleting the already scarce resources: illicit financial flows (IFFs) and a growing burden of unsustainable debt. To effectively tackle the complex challenges of Africa’s development; including achieving the SDGs, combating the effects of climate change, and resolving human rights issues; it is imperative to address IFF by promoting tax justice and to confront unsustainable debt through debt justice. Given the importance of establishing this link, this blog post delves into the challenges and nexus between IFF and unsustainable debt and provides high level policy recommendations.

Symposium on IFFs: Piercing the Veil of Secrecy in Illicit Financial Flows

In the last decade, there have been seven major leaks of financial documents in tax havens which have exposed the international web of financial flows, mechanisms to facilitate these flows and the major role players in these activities. In each leak, questions often arise on how both legal loopholes and illicit means are used to facilitate the outflow of funds from low- and middle-income countries to tax havens by corporations, wealthy individuals, and politically exposed persons (PEPs). These leaks are often the result of whistleblower-led investigations and the release of these financial documents has become a primary resource in understanding how financial corruption works globally. The effects of these leaks have seen heads of government sacked or resigned in some cases while little to no action takes place in other countries. However, what is undeniable is the role of whistleblowers is increasingly becoming central to curbing illicit financial flows (IFFs) especially as the global digital economy and stronger privacy-enhancing technologies make the detection of IFFs harder. Within Africa, very few countries have comprehensive national laws for whistleblowers despite the majority ratifying international agreements for the protection of whistleblowers. Using Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa as case studies, this note reviews the regulatory landscape in the countries and the extent to which current laws and practices aid or hinder whistleblowing on IFFs.

Introduction to Symposium on Illicit Financial Flows and Sustainable Development in Africa

Contributors to the symposium offer unique perspectives and draw on different theoretical and methodological approaches to the practice and scholarship related to IFFs in African states and beyond. Several themes were addressed by the contributors, including tax justice, technology, corruption, accountability, political will, repatriation, recovery of Assets, migration, whistleblowing, international investment, and real estate.

Invitation: Climate Finance and Sovereign Debt - Afronomicslaw Event on the Sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group

March 23, 2024

Afronomicslaw.org invites you to a roundtable discussion on Climate Finance and Sovereign Debt organized on the Sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group

Date: 18th April, 2024

Time: 3:30pm - 6.00pm

Venue: Yours Truly DC Hotel, 1143 New Hampshire Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Access to Medicines in Africa: A Critical Review of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF)

The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) was established in 2023 to improve Africa’s local pharmaceutical capacity and access to technologies needed to discover and manufacture medicines. This new initiative was prompted by the vaccine inequities experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, I highlight four critical concerns regarding the structural and operational framework of the APTF, which have the potential to undermine the Foundation's objectives and legitimacy: the misallocation of public resources due to the existence of a similar agency established by the African Union (AU), the Foundation's endorsement of BioNTech's opaque "black box" system, which conflicts with its objectives, the continental approach that overlooks the diversity of the African continent, and the lack of a clear public accountability structure in its governance framework. Consequently, I offer preliminary suggestions on how these concerns might be addressed.

Book Review: Sixty Years after Independence, Africa And International Law: Views from a Generation

This long-awaited book provides a fresh view of how international law is forged, implemented and practiced in Africa, offering a global vision of the position that the African continent presently occupies in the international legal order. In addition to some contributions by European authors, the book mostly gathers young African scholars (including the editor, one of the most promising African international lawyers of our times) who consider different aspects of international law.

Afronomicslaw and The South Centre Collaborative Webinar: Africa and the Geopolitics of WTO Reforms

Afronomicslaw and The South Centre are delighted to collaborate on this webinar where our Panelists will reflect on some of the most topical issues under the broad umbrella of geopolitics of reforms, Africa and the WTO. Please join us as we reflect on the MC13, reform of the WTO DSM and implications for Africa, Africa in an era of renewed industrial policy, sustainable trade in Africa among others.