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The AU Free Movement Protocol: Challenges in Its Implementation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 November 2023
Abstract
One of the major pillars of the African Union is the integration of peoples and the ability for them to move freely from one member country to another, with the right to reside and practise their trade or profession. This aspect of integration found full expression in the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment, adopted in 2018. Upon operationalization, it will remove obstacles to the movement of people, capital and resources in the region and give expression to aspiration 2 of the African Union Agenda 2063. However, significant challenges lie on the path of its implementation. This article doctrinally reviews the protocol, looking at its prospects for promoting African integration and development, and anticipates some of the problems that the protocol will face. It concludes with recommendations for achieving its lofty but desirable ends.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London
Footnotes
*
Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
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PhD. Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
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PhD. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
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PhD. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
*****
PhD. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
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Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
*******
PhD. Senior lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.
References
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2 Ibid.
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4 The African Economic Community is an organization of AU states that establishes grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The organization's stated goals include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank and a common currency, thus establishing an economic and monetary union. See AEC Treaty, available at: <https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/37636-treaty-0016_-_treaty_establishing_the_african_economic_community_e.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
5 Agenda 2063 was launched at the 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration during the golden jubilee celebrations of the formation of the OAU /AU in May 2013. The declaration marked Africa's renewed commitment towards the attainment of the Pan-African Vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens, representing a dynamic force in the international arena. Agenda 2063 is the concrete manifestation of how the continent intends to achieve this vision within a 50-year period from 2013 to 2063. See “Flagship projects of Agenda 2063”, available at: <https://au.int/en/agenda2063/flagship-projects> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
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7 The AfCFTA is a free trade area that, as of August 2023, included 47 countries. It was created by an agreement between 54 of the 55 AU nations. The free trade area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries. See Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, available at: < https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36437-treaty-consolidated_text_on_cfta_-_en.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
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10 E Henderson “African Union plans to introduce single passport to create EU-style ‘continent without borders’” (20 June 2016) Independent, available at: < http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/african-union-africa-single-passport-travel-easier-eu-schengen-area-style-continent-border-free-a7091551.html#gallery> (last accessed 19 October 2023). The plan is fashioned after the EU Schengen arrangement, which removed many internal borders, ensuring free movement of persons across the region.
11 The Protocol, art 1.
12 The RECs are regional groupings of African states: Arab Maghreb Union (AMU); Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Community of Sahel-Saharan States; East African Community; Economic Community of Central African States; Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); and Southern African Development Community. The RECs have developed individually and have different roles and structures. Generally, the purpose of the RECs is to facilitate regional economic integration between members of the individual regions and through the wider African Economic Community, which was established under the AEC Treaty (1991). The 1980 Lagos Plan of Action and the AEC Treaty proposed the creation of RECs as the basis for wider African integration, with a view to regional, and eventually continental, integration. See “Regional Economic Communities (RECs)”, available at: < www.au.int/en/organs/recs> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
13 Out of the eight recognized RECs, five have frameworks for the free movement of persons. IGAD, the AMU and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States have no such framework. Only ECOWAS and the East African Community have made relative progress in terms of implementing regional frameworks. See B Fagbayibo “Challenges and prospect of the effective implementation of free movement of persons across African boundaries” (keynote address delivered at the annual general meeting of the Forum of Immigration Practitioners of South Africa on 26 October 2018, Johannesburg, South Africa), available at: < https://www.academia.edu/37719971/CHALLENGES_AND_PROSPECT_OF_THE_EFFECTIVE_IMPLEMENTATION_OF_FREE_MOVEMENT_OF_PERSONS_ACROSS_AFRICAN_BOUNDARIES> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
14 The Africa Regional Integration Index Report 2019 (2020, AU and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)) provides a guide to the level of integration of the various RECs in Africa. See “Regional integration matters: Regional integration in Africa has made tremendous strides. But the work is not done” (AU), available at: < https://www.integrate-africa.org/> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
15 The Protocol, art 1.
16 OA Maunganidze “Free trade and mobility, crucial for Africa to prosper” (December 2022, Institute for Security Studies), available at: <https://issafrica.org/iss-today/free-trade-and-mobility-crucial-for-africa-to-prosper:text=Regional%20integratio2n%20is%20key%20> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
17 See “Revised draft: African Union Guidelines for the Design, Production and Issuance of the African Passport”, available at: <https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/35139-wd-guidelinesfinal_copy_2_1-edited_final_version.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
18 E Dick and B Schraven “Towards a borderless Africa? Regional organisations and free movement of persons in west and north-east Africa” (German Development Institute briefing paper 1/2019), available at: < https://www.die-gdi.de/uploads/media/BP_1.2019.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
19 UNECA “Momentum builds for free movement under AfCFTA” (January 2023, UNECA), available at: <https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/january-2023/momentum-builds-free-movement-under-afcfta> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
20 The Protocol, art 2.
21 Id, preamble.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid. This goal is also in line with aspiration 2 of the AU Agenda 2063, which aims to create “[a]n integrated continent; politically united and based on the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the vision of Africa's Renaissance”.
25 Ibid. This aim is predicated in the commitment of the parties under the AEC Treaty, art 4(2)(1).
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid. The AU endorsed the AfCFTA at the 18th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Kigali.
28 Ibid.
29 See “Report on the implementation of free movement of persons in Africa 2020–2021” (AU) at 14–19, available at: <https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/reports/40515-rp-HHS62469_E_Original_REPORT_ON_THE_IMPLEMENTATION_OF_FREE_MOVEMENT_OF_PERSONS_IN_AFRICA.pdf> (last accessed 1 November 2023).
30 Adopted by the heads of state and government of member states of the then OAU on 11 July 2020 at Lomé, Togo, available at: < https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/7758-treaty-0021_-_constitutive_act_of_the_african_union_e.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
31 The Constitutive Act of the AU, art 4(a).
32 Id, art 4(b).
33 Id, art 4(m).
34 Id, art 4(n).
35 Id, art 4(o).
36 Ibid.
37 The Protocol, art 4(1).
38 Id, art 4(2).
39 The Protocol defines regional arrangements as agreements, measures or mechanisms on free movement of persons, developed and implemented by RECs.
40 The Protocol, art 4(3).
41 Id, art 5(1)(a).
42 Id, art 5(1)(b).
43 Id, art 5(1)(c).
44 Id, art 5(2).
45 Id, art 5(3).
46 Id, art 1.
47 “Regional economic communities”, available at: <https://au.int/en/organs/recs> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
48 “Member states”, available at <https://au.int/en/member_states/countryprofiles2> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
49 East African Community Protocol for the Establishment of the East African Community Common Market, arts 5, 10, 11, 12 and 16; “Immigration and labour” (East African Community), available at: <https://www.eac.int/immigration> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
50 “CEN-SAD: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/cen-sad-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
51 “IGAD: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/igad-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
52 “ECCAS: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/eccas-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
53 “SADC: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/sadc-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
54 “AMU: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/amu-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
55 “COMESA: Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at: <https://archive.uneca.org/pages/comesa-free-movement-persons> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
56 The Protocol, art 1.
57 Id, art 6(4).
58 Id, art 7(1).
59 Id, art 7(1)(c) and (2).
60 Id, art 8(1).
61 Id, art 8(2).
62 Id, art 12(1).
63 Id, art 12(2).
64 Id, art 13.
65 Id, art 14.
66 Id, art 15.
67 Id, arts 1 and 17.
68 Id, art 18(1).
69 Id, art 18(2).
70 Id, art 19.
71 Id, art 1.
72 Id, art 16(2).
73 Id, art 16(3).
74 Id, art 20(1).
75 Id, art 20(2).
76 Id, art 21(1).
77 Id, art 21(2).
78 Id, art 21(3).
79 Id, art 21(4).
80 Id, art 22(1).
81 Id, art 22(2).
82 Id, art 22(4).
83 Id, art 22(3).
84 Id, art 23.
85 Id, art 24.
86 Id, art 30(1).
87 Id, art 30(2).
88 Id, art 25(1).
89 Id, art 25(2)–(3).
90 Id, art 26.
91 Id, art 27.
92 Id, art 28.
93 Id, art 29.
94 Id, art 31.
95 Id, art 33(1).
96 Id, art 34(1).
97 L Fawcett and A Hurrell Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order (1995, Oxford University Press).
98 M Qobo “The challenges of regional integration in Africa: In the context of globalization and the prospects for a United States of Africa” (ISS paper 145, June 2007) at 1, available at: <https://issafrica.org/research/papers/the-challenges-of-regional-integration-in-africa-in-the-context-of-globalisation-and-the-prospects-for-a-united-states-of-africa> (last accessed 19 October 2023); Maluwa, T “Ratification of African Union treaties by member states: Law, policy and practice” (2013) 13 Melbourne Journal of International Law 1Google Scholar.
99 “OAU / AU treaties, conventions, protocols and charters”, available at <https://au.int/treaties> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
100 Ibid.
101 See Decision on the Status of Signature and Ratification of OAU / AU Treaties and the Harmonisation of Ratification Procedures, EX CL Dec 459 (XIV), 14th session, agenda item 7, AU doc EX CL/458 (XIV) (30 January 2009); Decision on the Status of Signature and Ratification of OAU / AU Treaties EX CL Dec 571 (XVII), 17th session, agenda item 16, AU doc EX CL/605 (XVII) (25 July 2010), para 4.
102 Maluwa “Ratification of African Union treaties”, above at note 98 at 5.
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107 Maluwa “Ratification of African Union treaties”, above at note 98 at 6–8.
108 “OAU / AU treaties”, above at note 99.
109 “AMU: Free movement of persons”, above at note 54.
110 All AU members, except Cape Verde, Eritrea and Morocco, have signed this protocol and 34 members have ratified it: “List of countries which have signed, ratified / acceded to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights”, available at: <https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36393-sl-PROTOCOL_TO_THE_AFRICAN_CHARTER_ON_HUMAN_AND_PEOPLESRIGHTS_ON_THE_ESTABLISHMENT_OF_AN_AFRICAN_COURT_ON_HUMAN_AND_PEOPLES_RIGHTS_0.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
111 For a list of conflicts in Africa, see “List of conflicts in Africa” Wikipedia, available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Africa> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
112 Fagbayibo “Challenges and prospect”, above at note 13 at 6.
113 Ibid.
114 “Study on the benefits”, above at note 1.
115 For an economic overview of African economies, see: African Economic Outlook 2018 (2018, African Development Bank), available at: < https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/African_Economic_Outlook_2018_-_EN.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
116 In Africa, there are 33 countries that are classified as “least developed” countries: “UN list of least developed countries” (UN Conference on Trade and Development), available at: < https://unctad.org/en/Pages/ALDC/Least%20Developed%20Countries/UN-list-of-Least-Developed-Countries.aspx> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
117 Flahaux, ML and Haas, HD “African migration: Trends, patterns, drivers” (2016) 4/1 Comparative and Migration Studies at 2, 8, 16 and 17CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
118 A 2019 report shows that four countries have now ratified and deposited the Protocol with the AU: Rwanda, Niger, Mali, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The Protocol requires 15 ratifications for it to enter into force. Signatures to the Protocol remain at 32: Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Africa's regional economic powerhouses, as indicated by GDP, (Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) are notable by their absence. See: “Progress report on the free movement of persons in Africa” (third meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Migration, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, 4–8 November 2019, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), available at: < https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/reports/37472-rp-pa25606_e_original_004_ff.pdf> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
119 “Free movement of persons” (UNECA), available at <https://archive.uneca.org/oria/pages/free-movement-persons> (last accessed 19 October 2023); S Kwarkye and M Matongbada “Nigeria's border closures haven't served their purpose” (22 March 2021) ISS Today, available at: <https://issafrica.org/iss-today> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
120 B Deacon and S Nita “Regional social integration and free movement across borders: The role of social policy in enabling and preventing access to social entitlements by cross-border movers: European Union and southern Africa compared” (2013) 3/1 Regions & Cohesion 32.
121 See P Fabricius “Can Africa's borders really become bridges?” (7 June 2018, Institute for Security Studies), available at: <https://issafrica.org/iss-today/can-africas-borders-really-become-bridges> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
122 A recent study in South Africa notes that “victim precipitation” (ie immigrants allegedly bringing their victimization upon themselves through their actions) is rampant: Crush, J “Xenophobia denialism and the global compact for migration in South Africa” (2022) 14 International Development Policy 133 at 144–46Google Scholar.
123 For example, the West African Observatory on Migrations coordinates a civil society campaign that is working to promote free movement within Africa. The observatory is a network of civil society organizations based in West Africa and from the West African diaspora that speak on the theme of migration. It was established on 11 February 2016 and aims to ensure that West African migrants’ right to free movement is respected. See “West African Observatory on Migrations: Free movement for development”, available at: < http://www.obsmigration.org/en/about-us/> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
124 C Le Coz and A Pietropolli “Africa deepens its approach to migration governance, but are policies translating to action?” (2 April 2020) Migration Policy Institute Feature, available at: <https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/africa-deepens-approach-migration-governance> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
125 Dick and Schraven noted that: “Due to the more supranational nature of ECOWAS, the free movement protocol adopted in 1979 has established a functioning free movement regime, despite weaknesses in implementation. By contrast, as an intergovernmental organization, IGAD lacks the overarching decision-making authority on (migration) policy matters in member states and can only make non-binding recommendations”: Dick and Schraven “Towards a borderless Africa?”, above at note 18 at 3.
126 Ibid.
127 “Study on the benefits”, above at note 1.
128 Kwarkye and Matongbada “Nigeria's border closures”, above at note 119.
129 L Abrego et al “The African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Welfare gains estimates from a general equilibrium model” (International Monetary Fund working paper 2019/124), available at: <https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/06/07/The-African-Continental-Free-Trade-Agreement-Welfare-Gains-Estimates-from-a-General-46881> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
130 “AU member states urged to ratify the protocol on free movement to achieve free trade” (AU press release, 7 November 2019), available at: <https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20191107/au-member-states-urged-ratify-protocol-free-movement-achieve-free-trade> (last accessed 29 October 2023).
131 Africa Migration Report: Challenging the Narrative (2020, AU and International Organisation for Migration) at 27–28, available at: <https://publications.iom.int/books/africa-migration-report-challenging-narrative> (last accessed 19 October 2023).
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