International Economic Law in an Era of Multiple Crises: Opportunities and Challenges for Africa in the wake of AFCFTA

Free trade agreements have been known to have numerous benefits, especially from an economic point of view. However, it has been argued that for them to be deemed successful, they ought to address challenges within the socioeconomic and by extension political environment, among others. The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was launched in 2018 and ratified in 2019. Regrettably, the AfCFTA arrived at a time when Africa was economically and politically unstable amid covid-19 prevalence; with conflict and economic insecurity have exacerbated the lack of development in the continent. The challenges for growth and opportunities on the continent come in many forms; but for the limitations of this paper on covid-19 and child’s rights as among the crisis facing AfCFTA within international economic law perspectives viz-a-viz the objectives of the AfCFTA to its future perspectives to respond to these different challenges. AfCFTA will create a single market for goods, services and movement of persons within the continent. The AfCFTA Agreement adds to the adoption in 2016 of a Pan-African Investment Code (PAIC) – the first continent-wide model investment agreement whose objective is to foster coherence and consistency regarding the rules and principles that govern investment protection, promotion and facilitation in Africa. This cross-border trade will grow as the continent reaps the benefits of closer regional cooperation. These increased cross-border trades could exacerbate ongoing challenges like child marriage, commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), and child trafficking. Also, increased trade and the associated expansion of economic opportunities could push children out of school and into further engagement in child labour within an environment of poorly enforced child labour laws. The descriptive and analytical frameworks adopted for this paper consider pathways through which the AfCFTA had faced its challenges and opportunities abound. The descriptive approach was adopted in the covid-19 effects on AfCFTA while the analytical approach reviews the enforcement of domestic policies as well as international standards in determining the protection of girls, young women and children in AfCFTA trade activities participation. The findings observed that dueto limited child-care opportunities, some young women have to go to work with their children who are in turn (especially young girls) exposed to exploitation and sexual overtones. There is no uniform or strict enforcement of legislations regarding travelling with children across borders, and this can increase the threat of child trafficking as itis not easy to establish the parents of the child due to the absence of easily verifiable official documentation, except for Rwanda with strictly enforced legislations regarding travelling with children across the border. Despite these issues, the paper concludes that AfCFTA remains a significant and enhanced frameworks for deepening intra-African trade relations and maintaining political stabilities within the continent. It does show how African states navigated the covid-19 crisis and the opportunities of addressing child’s rights in the hope of contributing to the success of the AfCFTA. Finally, the paper asserts that Africa is ready for a free trade agreement by employing a qualitative research approach and reviewing current literature.