Speakers and conference papers
Wouter Vandenhole holds the chair in human rights and the UNICEF chair in children’s rights at the faculty of law of the University of Antwerp since 2007. He heads the Law and Development Research Group since 2013. Wouter Vandenhole is an internationally recognized expert in transnational human rights obligations and in human rights and development. He serves on the editorial board of several international journals, among which the Journal of Human Rights Practice and Human Rights and International Legal Discourse. He has taken up management functions in European research and teaching networks. He was the lead convener of an international summer course on Human Rights for Development (HR4DEV, 2012-2015) and of the international training program Sustainable Development and Human Rights (SUSTLAW, 2016 and 2017). He has undertaken projects and consultancies with or on behalf of international and national organizations.
Presentation Title: De-Growth and Sustainable Development: Rethinking Human Rights Law and Poverty Alleviation
Development and poverty alleviation are based on orthodox economics, and based on assumptions of (the need for) never ending economic growth. In human rights-based approaches to development (HRBAD) too, the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights) is premised on economic growth. Economic growth is expected to allow States to progressively realize ESC rights. Regressive measures can be justified in times of economic recession. The notion of sustainable development does not send out a unequivocal message on the way it understands development. Occasionally, sustainable development has been argued to imply the prevalence of environmental and social dimensions over the economic ones. The latter may imply that a rather radical departure from assumptions of economic growth is needed, such as zero-growth or even de-growth in post-growth economies. This paper seeks to explore what such a radically different starting point of de-growth means for the conceptualization of ESC rights and for the role of human rights in poverty alleviation. Is the general obligation of progressive realization of ESC rights still tenable? Do we need to redefine the conditions under which retrogressive measures are permissible? How would such redefinition of ESC rights and corresponding obligations play out on the global scene, in efforts for poverty alleviation and development cooperation? Does the burden for shouldering these efforts lie primarily with States in the global North and emerging economies, since they have benefited most from economic growth patterns in the past? Does de-growth necessitate that re-distribution and equality be conceptually developed and refined in human rights law?
Professor Lee is a scholar and lawyer in international economic law and law and development. He is Director and Professorial Fellow of the Law and Development Institute. He has also taught and conducted academic research at leading universities throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He graduated in economics with academic distinction from the University of California at Berkeley and received law degrees from the University of Cambridge (B.A., M.A., Ph.D). Author of Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System (Cambridge University Press, 2006, reprint 2009), Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis (Edward Elgar, 3rd ed. 2014), and Law and Development Perspective on International Trade Law (co-authored, Cambridge University Press, 2011), Professor Lee has published over eighty scholarly articles, books, chapters and shorter notes with leading publishers in North America, Europe, and Asia, in the areas of international economic law, law and development, comparative law, and international commercial arbitration.
Presentation Title: Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea
Industrial promotion is an essential task for African states in order to achieve economic development and alleviate their populations of chronic poverty. To explore a path to successful industrial promotion in Africa, it would be helpful to consider successful development cases elsewhere and draw applicable lessons. For this purpose, this paper considers the development process of South Korea (1962 – 1996). South Korea is chosen for its unique reference value as a “model” development case; as of the early 1960s, South Korea had much of the characteristics shared by many developing countries today, including those in Africa, such as low per-capita income causing prevalent poverty, an economy relying heavily on primary, non-manufacturing industries, low-level of technology and entrepreneurship in society, insufficient capital, poor endowment of natural resources, over-population in a relatively small territory, and internal political instability and external threats to its security. Successfully overcoming these unfavorable conditions, South Korea’s economy progressed from one relying on low-productive primary industries and characterized by absolute poverty in the 1960s to an advanced economy based on large industrial capacity generating high per-capita income by the mid-1990s. South Korea achieved successful economic development through state-led, export-driven industrial policies. This paper examines these policies and discusses 1) how relevant laws, legal frameworks, and institutions (LFIs) have been designed to implement these policies; 2) how these LFIs have been complied with by the public; and 3) how the state were able to implement them effectively despite challenges and obstacles. Lessons are drawn from these discussions, and suggestions are made as to how the Korean experience can be translated in the African context and applied to facilitate industrial and economic development in Africa.
Ada Ordor is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Comparative Law in Africa, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town (UCT) and Director of the CCLA. Having worked in various sectors since 1990, including legal practice, civil society advocacy and academia, she explores issues of law and development from various perspectives. She held research positions at the African Gender Institute, UCT in 2000 as a visiting associate and at the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Civil Society Studies, Baltimore in 2003 as a senior international philanthropy fellow. She is also an international fellowship alumna of the American Association of University Women. Her recent work include: ‘Exploring Civil Society Partnerships in Enforcing Decent Work in South Africa’ (2014) Chapter 9 of Deirdre McCann et al (eds) Creative Labour Regulation: Indeterminacy and Protection in an Uncertain World (Palgrave Macmillan/ILO), Tracking the Law and Development Continuum through Multiple Intersections” (2015) in Law and Development Review Vol 8, Issue 2 and the co-authored work, “Integrating the Traditional with the Contemporary in Dispute Resolution in Africa” (2016) in Law Democracy and Development Vol 20.
Osy Ezechukwunyere Nwebo (PHD, MSC, LLM, LLB, BL.) is a Professor of Public Law and Governance at Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria. He was a former Director of Bureau of the Pan African Parliament in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and former Vice Chancellor of Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria. He has had a good law practice as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and was a one-time Chairman of Isiala Mbano Local Government Council of Nigeria. As an academic, he has held various administrative positions including: Dean of the Faculty of Law; Head of department of public law; and Director of Institute of Continuing Education respectively. Osy Nwebo was a member of the University Governing Council as well as a member of the Council of Legal Education of Nigeria. He has authored a number of professional /academic books and numerous scholarly articles published in referred local and international journals. He has also presented several professional/academic papers at both local and international conferences. He has attended courses in Alternative Dispute Resolution and leadership skills in Harvard and Berlin Germany, respectively. He is a consultant in intergovernmental dispute resolution, governance and constitutional issues, with research interest in comparative constitutional law, governance and international criminal justice.
Presentation Title: The African Union Agenda 2063 and the Imperative of Democratic Governance
This presentation discusses the African Union Agenda 2063 with focus on the imperative of democratic governance for its success. The paper argues that the various earlier development initiatives adopted under the auspices of the AU which are aimed at linking developments across national boundaries in Africa did not achieve the desired result due largely to democratic governance deficit. Even in cases where little progress was made, the impact was not felt by the vast majority of the populace in terms of their welfare or per capita income in a sustainable manner. The paper further argues that state fragility and weak governance with its associated political instability, insecurity, and lack of peace hinder development. Therefore until African countries come to grips with their fragility challenges, regional as well as national development agenda will continue to suffer the fate of the previous ones. The paper predicates its argument on the concept of law as an instrument of social change and presents democratic governance as the only antidote to state fragility and therefore a necessary adjunct of any development strategy which hopes to achieve the expected outcome. The paper concludes that the attainment of sustainable human development on the continent within the framework of Agenda 2063 must be premised on the promotion of governance systems and democratic culture which must be prioritized in order to successfully foster peace building and development simultaneously.
Elizabeth Bakibinga-Gaswaga, currently a Legal Adviser- Rule of Law, at the Commonwealth Secretariat Headquarters, London, United Kingdom, is an Advocate/Attorney at Law with 17 years’ standing. With 20 years’ experience in legal, legislative and policy analysis work, she has served as Vice President of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel; Legal Officer in the United Nations’ Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Principal Legislative Counsel at the Parliament of Uganda; and Lecturer in the post-graduate programme at the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Makerere University, Uganda, among others. Ms. Bakibinga-Gaswaga has experience in providing legislative drafting and legal advisory services, rule of law programme management, managing peacekeeping operations, global governance, building partnerships, mobilising resources, the development of legal, policy and institutional frameworks as well as capacity building. She is a member of the Institute of International Humanitarian Law and has initiated and participated in capacity building programmes worldwide as trainer, presenter, rapporteur and resource person. Ms. Bakibinga-Gaswaga attended Makerere University, Boston University and the University of Oslo, among others. She is an advocate for girl child education and well-being in developing countries.
Presentation Title: Unpacking and Addressing Legal Pluralism in Commonwealth Africa: Towards Enhancing Theoretical Methods of Rule of Law Reform for Holistic Development
This presentation specifically addresses: legal pluralism in Africa commencing with a background of existing systems in pre-colonial Africa; the impact of colonialism and post-colonial legal systems, the impact of the Washington Consensus and the influence of inter-governmental organisations and international non-governmental actors in providing rule of law reform assistance and the doctrinal background or methodology on which the technical assistance for law and development has been based to date. It further addresses the status of the jurisprudence of development in Africa; the approach to judicial intervention, with a focus on judicial adjudication based solely on rights and not on development; an examination of existing legal systems (laws, procedures, dispute resolution mechanisms and institutional structures) and their relevance in light of local customs, cultures and social arrangements in Africa; and legal education. The presentation concludes with a call for new theoretical methods/approaches to rule of law and development; approaches that are evidence-based, fit for purpose and responsive to the unique nature of the societies to which they are applied. It makes a case for the increased role of African jurists in developing an African jurisprudence of development and the need for reflection and consideration of lessons learned from previous rule of law reform programmes and law and development initiatives, among others.
David L. Finnegan is Professor of Law at the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. His scholarship focuses on the reform of law and legal institutions in developing countries, particularly in East Africa, and on the relationship between law and economic development. He teaches courses in property law, international law, and comparative competition law. Prof. Finnegan graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Journal of International Law. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He also studied at the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Nairobi. Prior to entering academia, Prof. Finnegan practiced law in Washington, D.C. in the areas of domestic and international competition law and commercial litigation.
Presentation Title: Demand for Law in the African Private Sector
In order for law reform to have an impact on economic development in Africa, the formal legal system must matter to economic actors like business firms and entrepreneurs. If the formal legal system is irrelevant to the private sector in Africa, then the reform of laws and legal institutions can have little impact on private sector development. To what extent will participants in the private sector engage with the formal legal system? Under what conditions will the law matter to these social actors? Demand for law in the African private sector is an important variable in determining the success or failure of law reform intended to promote market growth. This variable is all the more important in societies characterized by a high degree of legal pluralism, where the formal legal system competes with other pre-existing norms in shaping patterns of social behavior. The presentation explores the factors that influence social demand for law within the African private sector by considering survey data collected from business firms in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Dr Hutchison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Cape Town. He has been a member of this department since January 2007. Dr Hutchison is a contracts specialist and has convened the course on commercial contracting at UCT since 2010. He has also taught the interpretation of statutes (2009-2014), which remains a side interest. Dr Hutchison’s affinity for contract law began during his LLM studies at UCT (2005-2006), and this was carried through to his PhD thesis on fundamental change of circumstances in contract law (hardship), completed in 2010. Dr Hutchison has published a body of work in leading South African and international peer-reviewed law journals on contract law. A theme running through all of these papers is the role to be given to good faith or fairness in South African contract law. Dr Hutchison is interested in the comparative and historical angles to this question, as well as (more recently) the constitutional dimension, with particular emphasis on social justice. Dr Hutchison is interested in the curriculum review movement in South Africa and the potential role which black consciousness/decolonisation may play in the development of the common law of contract. From 2016, Dr Hutchison has also focused on relational contract theory, which fits nicely within the context of his existing scholarship and interests.
Presentation Title: A Living Customary Law of Commercial Contracting: Some Law-Related Hypotheses (co-presentation with Mr. Nkanyiso Sibanda)
Inspired by calls to ‘decolonise’ South African law and legal education, this paper will post some hypotheses as to the nature of customary commercial contracting from the perspectives of two South African contract law teachers. An account of the commercial format of customary contracting is largely absent from the law reports and leading legal textbooks in this country. The dominant narrative in existing legal sources, however, (which may be stereotyped), is of African communalism prevailing in customary contract practice. This is reflected (for example) in the discourse on ‘ubuntu’, which is being used at present as a vehicle for the constitutional transformation of the South African common law of contract. Other, existing empirical accounts from discourses such as economics and anthropology also suggest, however, that contracting in indigenous African communities rests on notions of trust and community. This is reinforced by the existence of informal township dispute resolution structures. We will thus posit a central hypothesis that customary commercial contracting is relational in nature, using an inter-disciplinary literature review. Other related hypotheses will also be developed. Ultimate truth here is a matter for future empirical study.
Mr. Nkanyiso Sibanda joined the Department of Private Law at the University of the Western Cape as a lecturer in 2015. He teaches Law of Contract, Law of Things and Land Law. His research interests are in African Customary Law, Law of Property as well as Law of Contract. Mr Sibanda has also taught African Customary Law at the University of Cape Town where he furthermore worked as a research assistant in the Department of Private Law as well as the Research Coordinator at the Chair in Customary Law. He is also an Advocate of the High Court in South Africa.
Presentation Title: A Living Customary Law of Commercial Contracting: Some Law-Related Hypotheses (co-presentation with Associate Prof. Andrew Hutchison)
Inspired by calls to ‘decolonise’ South African law and legal education, this paper will post some hypotheses as to the nature of customary commercial contracting from the perspectives of two South African contract law teachers. An account of the commercial format of customary contracting is largely absent from the law reports and leading legal textbooks in this country. The dominant narrative in existing legal sources, however, (which may be stereotyped), is of African communalism prevailing in customary contract practice. This is reflected (for example) in the discourse on ‘ubuntu’, which is being used at present as a vehicle for the constitutional transformation of the South African common law of contract. Other, existing empirical accounts from discourses such as economics and anthropology also suggest, however, that contracting in indigenous African communities rests on notions of trust and community. This is reinforced by the existence of informal township dispute resolution structures. We will thus posit a central hypothesis that customary commercial contracting is relational in nature, using an inter-disciplinary literature review. Other related hypotheses will also be developed. Ultimate truth here is a matter for future empirical study.
Adenike is currently the Deputy Director for Access to Justice, a Justice Advocacy Group, in Nigeria. She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the supervision of the Chair in African Customary Law, Indigenous Values and Human Rights, based at the University of Cape Town (funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa – NRF). She has various corporate and supranational experiences, including working at Brandsmiths Consulting Limited as the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Legal, where she engaged with top government officials to secure contracts and oversee higher-level training programs in Nigeria, the Middle East and Western Europe. Adenike has published the following articles: Integrating the Traditional with the Contemporary in Dispute Resolution in Africa; Accessing Justice within Plural Normative Systems in Africa and Understanding Human Rights in the Context of African States: the role of traditional leaders in the new South Africa. She has also participated in a number of media appearances, in Nigeria and South Africa, such as: Cape Argus South Africa, SA FM, POWER FM and SABC Radio, with a mention in Legal Brief South Africa.
Presentation Title: Access to Justice and Development for Rural Women in Sub-Saharan Africa
The presentation argues that rural litigants who are predominantly women cannot afford the high cost of formal justice; are unable to travel long distances for court procedures; do not understand English (the language of most formal courts) and value African customs above foreign legal rules, leading to a preference of traditional dispute resolution systems. The presentation also shows that while traditional courts guarantee quicker and cheaper access to justice in many African countries, human rights organisations criticise them for failing to adhere to international fair trial standards – the rule of law. As such, it examines the path towards ensuring equality and the right to a fair trial for rural women in sub- Saharan Africa. It conducts a review of the funding challenges associated with formal legal aid structures and traditional justice mechanisms within specific national judicial systems in sub-Saharan Africa, in seeking to advocate for good governance, stronger institutions and the protection of socio-economic rights as a means to development for rural women on the continent.
Jonathan Bashi Rudahindwa currently teaches Exchange Regulations at Université Protestante au Congo (D.R. Congo) and has been involved in the teaching of the Law and Development, and Legal Systems of Asia and Africa courses at SOAS, University of London. His scholarship focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly on the correlation between law, regional integration and socio-economic development in the African context. Current research interests include transnational arbitration and a political economy of African regional integration initiatives, including the African Union and the African Economic Community, and the development of a nuanced methodological approach to regional integration in Africa named regional developmentalism through law. Bashi Rudahindwa graduated from Université Protestante au Congo in 2008 (LLB), Indiana University Robert H McKinney School of Law in 2011 (LLM), and SOAS, University of London in 2016 (PhD). He worked in the private sector in DRC before entering academia. Prior to moving to Université Protestante au Congo in October 2016, he worked as graduate teaching assistant at SOAS, University of London.
OHADA and the Making of Transnational Commercial Law in Africa
The presentation aims to present a political economy of the process conducted by the Organisation for Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA, French acronym for Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires), which was established in October 1993. By the harmonisation/unification of its 17 Member States’ business laws, through the adoption of several Uniform Acts which are meant to be simple, modern and adapted to the African context, the organisation is supposed to help attract more foreign direct investment in its Member States, thereby inciting growth and economic development. Using the transnational law prism as methodological approach, the paper is aimed at exploring the political and economic underpinnings of the OHADA process, to help understand its very nature and scope, and trace its origin within the global governance and law and development theory. The ultimate goal of the presentation is to promote a better understanding of OHADA as a transnational legal process, highlighting its strengths and its limitations, to ensure that it can achieve its goal of inciting economic development in its Member States.
Dee Smythe is a Professor of Public Law and Deputy Dean for Research in the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town. From 2006 to 2012 she was Director of the Law, Race and Gender Unit, and from 2013-2015 the founding Director of the Centre for Law and Society. Prior to re-joining the Law Faculty in 2009, Dee was Principal Researcher at the Gender, Health and Justice Research Unit in UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences. Between 2009-2011, Dee also co-convened the Stanford Law School International Human Rights Law Clinic with Kathleen Kelly.
Dee’s research spans a range of areas at the intersection of law, policy, and social justice. It is particularly concerned with understanding the operation of transitioning legal systems, ranging from legal education, through legal practice, and the operation of the police, prosecution and criminal courts, to vernacular dispute management mechanisms. Dee is an expert on state responses to gender-based violence, with a specific focus on sexual offences. Her books include Rape Unresolved: Policing Sexual Offences in South Africa (2015) and the Juta Sexual Offences Commentary (2nd ed 2014, with Bronwyn Pithey). Dee has also written on HIV/AIDS, crime prevention, and police transformation.
TK Pooe is a lecturer at the North West University’s Public Administration and Governance programme at the Vaal campus and is due to complete his PhD in Local Economic Development policy and institutional development. He has previous lecturing experience as a Public Policy lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College), has worked as a Policy research consultant at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and researcher for Integrated Development Planning Unit at the Sedibeng District Municipality (South African government).
He has just completed and led a research project exploring the socioeconomic impact of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) in the mining sector/industry of Southern African States. In addition to this he has worked on Scenario Planning projects looking at the state of South Africa’s mining, energy and business sector at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (University of Pretoria). He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy (Monitoring, Evaluation and Analysis/ Project Management and Implementation). He is one of the South African Humanities Deans Association (SAHUDA) Fellows, a Golden Key International Honour Society member and has served on the St. Luke’s (Evaton) Anglican Church board.
Presentation Title: Has It Reinvented Iron Law? South Africa’s Social Industrialisation, Not Iron Industrialisation
This paper examines whether the current South African legal framework and subsequent policies post-1994 encourage and have emphatically fostered industrialisation in South Africa primarily and Southern Africa more generally. The primary contention of this paper is that the South African State unlike fellow Southern African States, has a long history with industrialisation and should have laid the foundations for Southern Africa’s large scale industrialisation trajectory. However, the post-1994 government vision for South Africa has never had a Law and Development philosophy that prioritises and fosters industrialisation.
Horace Yeung is Lecturer in Commercial Law at the University of Leicester in the UK. Prior to his lectureship with Leicester, he taught at Exeter, Oxford and Universität Osnabrück. He obtained his undergraduate degree in accounting and law with first class honours from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, LLM with distinction from Lancaster University and doctorate from the University of Oxford. He was a Sir Edward Youde Scholar and recipient of the Confucius Institute Highly Commended Prize (for his research in Chinese financial markets). He is an affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, member of Beta Gamma Sigma (an honour society for business scholars) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
His research interests lie in corporate and financial laws, most notably with an interdisciplinary approach by considering the role of law in economic development. He is co-author of Chinese Companies and the Hong Kong Stock Market (Routledge, 2014) and Institutions and Economic Growth in Asia (Routledge, 2017/18), both with Flora Huang.
Presentation Title: Law-Finance-Growth Nexus in the Context of Africa
This paper seeks to put the law-finance-growth nexus into the context of Africa. As of 2016, the African Securities Exchanges Association has 25 securities exchanges as full members. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the most developed of all, especially with respect to its market capitalisation. Its socio-legal proximity with the English system may provide a good explanation to its phenomenal growth relative to the rest in the region. However, such a socio-legal proximity is indeed shared by other countries such as Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Law alone may not account for the rise of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Furthermore, this paper seeks to argue whether there is a genuine need for the African countries to have a stock market, which requires highly evolved legal, market and governmental institutions and norms that often do not pre-exist in these countries. On the one hand, the paper will look at Africa in general. On the other hand, it will put certain discussions into the context of selected African countries.
George is an international trade lawyer with Procter and Gamble and is the Government Relations and Public Leader for Equatorial Africa. His areas of focus include regulatory compliance, antitrust, advocacy and policy development. Before joining P&G, he worked at TradeMark East Africa, a regional fund investing in enhancing trade in East Africa. In this capacity, George worked with the private sector and governments to enhance competitiveness and export capability. Additionally, he has had vast experience in advising governments on trade policy in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Tanzania and has worked extensively on regional integration issues with the East African Community (EAC). George has a Bachelor’s of Law Degree from Warwick University, UK and a Master’s Degree in Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Presentation Title: Are East African Countries Contravening WTO Rules by Pursuing Industrial Promotion
The creation of the WTO system established rules and regulations for trading in an increasingly globalized world. The WTO rules provide a level playing field for all countries and preclude the intervention of governments. The global economic crisis of 2007 saw many developed and developing nations have their governments intervene in the ‘level playing field’ that the WTO had created in order to boost their fledgling economics. Most of these interventions were heavily rooted in industrial policy tenets.
Over the last two decades, East African nations, through the East African Community (EAC), have pursued regionalization in their trading and laws. However, the last 5 years has shown that Members States of the Community, are pursuing more nationalistic agendas which are potentially putting them in contravention with both EAC and WTO rules.
The presentation will first analyze WTO rules to understand the limits it places on industrial policy activities. It will then illustrate case studies on different industrialization policies being implemented in East Africa over the last 5 years and analyze the areas of possible contravention. Finally, the author will provide perspective on how East African countries can cohabit economic development and be compliant with WTO rules.
Colette van der Ven is an associate at Sidley Austin, Geneva. She counsels and represents clients on all aspects of international trade law with a particular focus on WTO law and WTO dispute settlement. Specifically, Colette’s practice focuses on non-tariff measures under the SPS Agreement and the Agreement on Agriculture. As the Geneva Coordinator, and previously interim director, of Sidley’s Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program, Colette is actively involved in advising entrepreneurs and small enterprises in Africa on how to overcome market access barriers. Before joining Sidley, Colette completed various short-term positions, including at the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency, the Acumen Fund in India, the United Nations Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, International Bridges to Justice in the Philippines, and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad in Peru. Colette also conducts independent research on trade law, industrial policy, and development. She has published her research in various outlets, including academic journals, and regulatory speaks at international conferences. Colette holds a joint J.D./MPP from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, respectively, an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College, and is admitted to the New York Bar.
Presentation Title: Inclusive Industrialization: An Assessment of Different Legal and Policy Tools That Stimulate the Participation of Small Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Industrialization
During the last decade, many African countries have renewed their commitment to industrial policy. In contrast to previous decades, many of these industrial policy plans have moved away from ideological extremes, such as infant industry protection and Washington consensus-style liberalization, towards a more nuanced approach. Typically, African countries’ industrial policies aim, on the one hand, to increase domestic value added through policies that may contain protectionist elements, while, on the other hand, attract foreign direct investment and increase exports through market liberalization. What remains largely unexplored throughout the literature is how African governments can implement these dual, and sometimes contradictory, objectives. This presentation analyses different policies that African governments can adopt to promote the participation of their small and medium-sized domestic enterprises in industrial development while not deterring foreign investment. It will focus specifically on procurement, SEZ and EPZs, as well as policies that encourage production linkages between small, domestic businesses and foreign investors.
Dr. Faizel Ismail teaches at the University of Cape Town and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Economics and the Faculty of Law. He has a PhD in Politics from the University of Manchester; an MPhil in Development Studies from IDS, Sussex, and; BA and LLB Degrees from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in South Africa. He has served as the Ambassador of South Africa to the WTO (2010-2014). He is the author of two books on the WTO: Mainstreaming Development in the WTO (2007) and Reforming the World Trade Organization (2009) and has published over 50 articles, chapters and working papers in international journals and books on economic development, trade and development issues. He is an associate editor of the Journal of World Trade and a member of the Practitioner’s Advisory Board of the Journal of Global Policy (LSE).
Dr. Yassine Dourhani is a university professor at the faculty of law and economic sciences, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco. He teaches Business Law, International trade Law, Labor Law, Criminal Law, New Technology Law, Company Law, Contract Law, Procedural Law and arbitration Law. His research is mainly interested in Corporate Law, Islamic Law, Law and development, and arbitration Law. He has participated in several seminars and conferences in Morocco, France and Italy. His presentations have been about Business Law, Environmental Law, and Business Law of Africa (The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa: “OHADA”).
He is a legal adviser for many companies in Marrakech, a member in Arbitration and Mediation Centre in Marrakech, and member in the scientific Committee in national magazine specialized in Trade Law.
Presentation Title: Intellectual Property Rights and Development in Africa: Hindrance or Promotion?
The presentation discuses the narrow margin that has been left to a real development of Africa by means of TRIPS and to show how the intellectual property rights occupy a prominent place on any attempt to reach development and to stimulate innovation and creativity but they soon turn to be a means of monopoly and self attribution of resources without any compensation to the owners, of traditional knowledge and materiel resources in Africa.
Two aspects seem to be banned by the TRIPS: a real transfer of technology, and a real participation in the outcomes. Though, the TRIPS dispositions provide certain number of flexibilities, and DOHA declaration allows granting compulsory licenses to produce medicines by developing countries. That’s not enough to meet Africa’s development needs. The lack of democracy and transparency are ones of the theological virtues of the world trade organization. Africa has been disappointed by false hopes and the “one size fits all” practice. Consequently, to reach development, Africa must be aware of its capacities and unit its forces in order to promote resilience and strengthen its negotiations abilities.
Sean Pager teaches intellectual property law at Michigan State University. His scholarship explores intersections between intellectual property law and international trade, development, and cultural identities. He is particularly interested in legal capacity building issues related to creative industries. His recent scholarship includes “Traditional Knowledge Rights and Wrongs” and “Making Copyright Work for Creative Upstarts.” Pager earned his J.D. degree from University of California at Berkeley in 1998 and received an LL.M degree from the European University Institute in 2002, while studying on a Fulbright Fellowship. In between, he practiced as a litigation associate at Howard Rice in San Francisco and clerked for the Honorable Judge James Browning on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to moving to MSU College of Law in 2008, Pager taught at University of Indiana-Bloomington, Seattle University, and University of Richmond. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Copyright Alliance.
Presentation Title: Infringement as Unfair Competition: A Blueprint for Global Governance?
This Article examines a new approach to address persistent regulatory failures in global supply chains. In a series of recent cases, unfair competition actions in U.S. court have targeted foreign manufacturers who infringe software overseas under the theory that the cost savings from infringement confers an unfair advantage in U.S. markets. The same approach could work to target abuses in many other domains including human rights, labor law, and environmental protection. Unfair competition law could therefore supply a powerful new tool to vindicate global regulatory norms and bring a measure of justice to those powerless to enforce rights in their home countries. At the same time, extra-territorial use of unfair competition law raises serious concerns. Allowed to operate in unfettered fashion, such actions could also lend themselves to competitive abuses, protectionism, and unilateralist bullying. Furthermore, imitation and retaliation by other countries could spark a global unfair competition “arms race.” The Article proposes a jurisprudential framework to keep the unfair competition genie safely harnessed toward productive ends.
Caroline Ncube is a professor in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Cape Town. She is a National Research Foundation (South Africa) rated researcher. She holds PhD (Cape Town), LLM (Cantab) and LLB (Zimbabwe) degrees. She has been engaged in several international Intellectual Property (IP) law research projects and has published widely on IP law on aspects including copyright law and access to knowledge, patent law and access to medicines, and traditional knowledge. She teaches IP law at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels the University of Cape Town. She guest lectures at other universities such as Africa University. She is one of the two founding co-editors of the South African Journal of Intellectual Property Law, the first IP law specific journal in South Africa and serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Corporate and Commercial Law & Practice: JCCP&L and the African Intellectual Property Journal. Her full profile is available at http://www.commerciallaw.uct.ac.za/claw/staff/academic/cncube
Presentaton Title: The Creative Industry and South African Intellectual Property Law
The presentation seeks to provide a more nuanced view of the creative industry that goes beyond assertions of its contribution to economic growth, which it is then further argued, requires stringent intellectual property protection to ensure development. It will argue that a stakeholder inclusive approach that considers the interests of a wide range of actors and the impact of copyright on innovation in the creative industry is more likely to yield the desired developmental result.
Tobi is a post-doctoral fellow with the Canadian Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) . As a fellow with CIGI’s International Law Research Program (ILRP), Tobi researches international law and governance relating to intellectual property with a specific focus on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources. He currently coordinates CIGI’s Traditional Knowledge Project, which works on comparative national case studies, capacity building initiatives for local communities, and which engages national and international policy makers on TK-related policy development. Prior to joining CIGI, Tobi worked with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Traditional Knowledge Division, where he was primarily responsible for coordinating the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). He has taught widely in Asia, Europe and America, including at WIPO’s summer IP schools, on the IP protection of traditional knowledge, and continues to serve as an expert consultant to WIPO. Tobi obtained his doctorate in Global Intellectual Property Law from Queen’s University, Canada, where he studied as a Vanier Scholar, his LL.M. in International Trade and Investment Law, cum laude from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and an LL.B. from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He is called to the Nigerian Bar.
The Role of Intellectual Property in Promoting Development within Bio-Resource Rich African Countries: A Case for the Intellectual Property-based Protection of Traditional Knowledge
Against the backdrop of a difficult multilateral negotiating process underlying the current efforts at WIPO to agree on the text of an international sui generis instrument for the protection of TK, this paper sets out to achieve three things. First, it examines the beneficial relevance of traditional knowledge to Africa, particularly in terms of Africa’s biodiversity, cultural wealth and indigenous communities. Second, it discusses Africa’s expressed interests within the ongoing multilateral negotiations, and reflects on these within the context of current local efforts within Africa to implement the related governance structures contained in the Nagoya Protocol’s access and benefit sharing (ABS) regime. Drawing from relevant examples across the continent, the importance of an African IP-based protection mechanism for TK is examined. Third, this paper reflects on the possible contributions that a successful instrument of this nature can make to the developmental needs of African countries. It concludes with complementary suggestions addressed to domestic policy makers, African negotiators within the context of the WIPO multilateral discussions, and scholars interested in picking threads for further research.
Nkem Itanyi is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC.) She teaches Industrial and Intellectual Property Law and Commercial Law. She was the Associate Dean, Faculty of Law, UNEC from 2015 to 2016. She graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife in 1997 with a Second Class (Upper Division). In 1998, she proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, Abuja and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1999. In 2000, she obtained a Master of Laws Degree from the prestigious University College London, University of London. Nkem Itanyi’s research interests include Industrial and Intellectual Property Law, Commercial Law and Company Law. She has written book chapters and incisive articles which have been published in reputable academic journals. She has attended and presented papers both locally and internationally at several conferences, workshops and Policy Roundtable. She was a participant at the World Intellectual Property Organisation WIPO Conference: The Global Digital Content Market in Geneva, April 20-22, 2016. Nkem Itanyi is a member of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers, the Nigerian Bar Association, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Enugu State Branch, International Law Association (Nigerian Branch) Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria and Member, South African Association of Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology Law Teachers and Researchers. She is widely travelled. She is married with children.
Presentation Title: Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights in Nigerian Courts
There is no point in making comprehensive provisions for the protection of various intellectual property rights without a corresponding comprehensive system for enforcing same when the rights are or about to be infringed. Therefore, an accessible, sufficient and adequate system/procedure is paramount in any worthwhile intellectual property system. Right holders must be granted means to enforce their rights just as is obtainable in other forms of tangible and intangible properties. To this end, all intellectual property systems need an effective judicial system that is empowered to deal with both civil wrongs and criminal offences while being presided over by adequate number of judges with the requisite experience in intellectual property. This presentation examines the raison-d’être for protecting intellectual property rights; the various enforcement mechanisms via the courts; sanctions and remedies for infringement of intellectual property rights amongst other incidental matters. The presentation concludes with a call for the review of the sanctions for infringing intellectual property rights in Nigeria.
Mr. Essau Sengo is a young Law Academician based on Tanzania most interested in Intellectual Property Law, Corporate Law, Tax Law, Insurance Law, Labour Law and Personal Injury Law. Mr. Sengo is an Academician at the College of Business Education (CBE is a Public College incorporated by an act of Parliament No. 31 of 1961). Mr. Sengo has a well-developed knowledge and practical experience in providing legal services in both contentious and non-contentious matters and he has participated in various researches and consultancy works for and on behalf of the College and Clients. Prior to join College of Business Education Mr. Sengo taught law subjects at the Institute of Tax Management (IFM) where he was involved in facilitating different law modules to students such as Tax Law, Insurance Law, Company Law, Law of Contract and Labour Laws together with other research and consultancy activities. En route for attaining an excellence legal practice, Mr. Sengo undergone an intensive six month internship at NexLaw Advocates a well-known and reputable Corporate and IP Law Firm based at Dar es Salaam Tanzania where he was exposed to various legal ventures such as attending and handling of clients, assisting in compliance issues, providing legal advice, drafting of legal documents and participating in conducting legal research. Currently, Mr. Sengo is a part-time Lecturer at Mzumbe University- Mbeya Campus College and Legal Officer at MMR Law Advocates a Law Firm based at Mbeya Tanzania. Mr. Sengo graduated Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Mzumbe University in 2015.
Presentation Title: Protection of Geographical Indications in Tanzania: Achievements, Challenges and Future Perspectives
The presentation discusses the Legal Protection of Geographical Indications in Tanzania. The presentation and research at large expose that the existing legal mechanism employed to protect GI’s in Tanzania is not effective. This is due to the fact that GI’s attracts a special attention in the contemporary world because it is one of the driving factors towards development of indigenous people if the same are effectively protected. The presentation elaborate further that most jurisdictions adopt and apply the international recommended mechanisms for GI protection which is through “Sui Generis Systems” as against protecting GI’s via Trade Mark Law which had unequivocally proved to lack offering of effective and exhaustive protection.
Martin Skladany is an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law. He researches issues in law & development, intellectual property, internet law, and law & technology. Martin examines how the laws that govern the creation of culture and technology also influence individual fulfillment and the fundamental principles we value both domestically and abroad. His investigations into intellectual property’s effects in developing countries are related to another research interest he has in examining how to reduce corruption and improve governance within poor countries. Thus, he is exploring how to spark reform by maneuvering around the fact that those most capable of addressing corruption are the very individuals who have a vested interest in maintaining the dysfunctional system.
Presentation Title: Macro Aid as Locke’s Spur and Reins: Applying Microcredit’s Group Liability Principle to Foreign Aid
Microcredit programs are often structured to reduce defaults by grouping potential loan recipients together and lending only to one member of the group at a time in order to increase each member’s oversight of the outstanding loan. Some programs go so far as to require repayment by the other members of the group if the individual who has received the loan cannot repay it. If such a high level of accountability is expected from the poor, it is hard to argue that the same level of responsibility and oversight should not also be applied to groups of elite politicians in developing countries.
Under macro aid, developing countries that are aid recipients would also be organized into groups and held collectively responsible for stolen or negligently wasted grants. If such abuse occurs, all developing countries in the group would no longer be eligible for any additional aid from the same funding source. Such shared responsibility would build powerfully constructive pressure among developing countries to use and not abuse aid. Moreover, the public nature of the program would enhance transparency, strengthen expectations, and motivate citizens to demand that all member countries live up to the international attention. Finally, developing countries can voluntarily decide to establish macro aid groups to signal their resolve to reform to domestic and foreign investors.
Dr Mathias Ashu Tako Nyenti received the Doctor of Laws Degree in Mercantile Law (Social Security) from the University of South Africa; a Master of Laws in Labour Law from the University of Johannesburg; and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Buea, Cameroon. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Johannesburg. He has previously worked as a Researcher at the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law (CICLASS) at the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) between 2003 and 2006; as a Research Coordinator from 2007 to 2013; and as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow from 2014 to 2015. He has published several books, book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles on social security; and delivered papers in national and international conferences.
Impact of Social Security on South Africa’s Transformative Constitutionalism Agenda (co-presentation with Mr. Maranga Sebastien Nguluwe)
With the fall of apartheid, South Africa adopted a new Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic. The aspirations of the Constitution in establishing a new society has been termed ‘transformative constitutionalism’. Transformative constitutionalism connotes an enterprise of inducing large-scale social change through nonviolent political processes grounded in law. One of the central tenets of transformative constitutionalism is a commitment to substantive equality and improving socio-economic conditions. The Constitution, therefore urges the state to promote democratic values, human rights, and equality; to overcome the legacy of apartheid (including specifically the socio-economic legacy); and to adopt reasonable legislative and other measures to assure access to socio-economic welfare in such areas as housing, health care, food, water and social security. The right of access to social security is one of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution in order to achieve its aims. This paper seeks to evaluate what role and impact the guarantee of the right of access to social security in the Constitution has had in transforming South African society. This will be achieved by analysing the concept of transformative constitutionalism; evaluating the South African social security system before the adoption of the Constitution; and tracing the development of the system since the enactment of the right of access to social security. In the final instance, the paper will draw conclusions on the role or impact of the right to transformative constitutionalism.
Mr. Maranga Sebastien Nguluwe graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Law and a LLB degree from the University of Yaounde II Cameroon. He later enrolled and obtained an LLM degree in Labour Law at the North West University (Potchefstroom Campus). He is currently working as a Researcher at the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law (CICLASS) at the University of Johannesburg, where he is also doing an LLM by Research in Social Security Law.
Presentation Title: Impact of Social Security on South Africa’s Transformative Constitutionalism Agenda (co-presentation with Dr. Mathias Ashu Tako Nyenti
With the fall of apartheid, South Africa adopted a new Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic. The aspirations of the Constitution in establishing a new society has been termed ‘transformative constitutionalism’. Transformative constitutionalism connotes an enterprise of inducing large-scale social change through nonviolent political processes grounded in law. One of the central tenets of transformative constitutionalism is a commitment to substantive equality and improving socio-economic conditions. The Constitution, therefore urges the state to promote democratic values, human rights, and equality; to overcome the legacy of apartheid (including specifically the socio-economic legacy); and to adopt reasonable legislative and other measures to assure access to socio-economic welfare in such areas as housing, health care, food, water and social security. The right of access to social security is one of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution in order to achieve its aims. This paper seeks to evaluate what role and impact the guarantee of the right of access to social security in the Constitution has had in transforming South African society. This will be achieved by analysing the concept of transformative constitutionalism; evaluating the South African social security system before the adoption of the Constitution; and tracing the development of the system since the enactment of the right of access to social security. In the final instance, the paper will draw conclusions on the role or impact of the right to transformative constitutionalism.
Jelena Vidojević is a political scientist, and assistant professor at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Science. She received her PhD in 2016 from University of Belgrade. She has published widely on development, social weflare and social policy. She teaches several courses at graduate as well as at the postgraduate level, such as: International Social Policy, Comparative Social Policy, Social Policy Analysis and Peace and Development.
Presentation Title: Conceptualisation of Social Exclusion in Africa: In Search of Inclusive Development
New global development agenda, once again brought the question of social exclusion as well as the process of social inclusion into the focus. The process of social inclusion has been strongly emphasised as an important precondition for achieving inclusive and sustainable development, as well as the most effective antidote to poverty. But, the success of programs and policies designed to combat social exclusion is determined by the ways in which the concept is defined, or, in this particular case, by establishing what does it mean to be socially excluded in Africa?
Social exclusion belongs to the group of concepts whose understanding is shaped by the particular national and often sub-cultural context in which it has been analysed. Different places have different histories, cultures, institutional and social structures which strongly influence the key dimensions of social exclusion as well as the interplay among them, and make some of its dimensions more salient and relevant than others. Concepts of belonging, membership and citizenship have proven to be fundamental for the understanding of the social exclusion, as well as the conceptualisation of the politics of inclusion. So far, social exclusion has been usually defined as a dynamic process of progressive multidimensional rupturing of the “social bond” at the individual and collective levels, while the priority has been given to the distribution of the income, access to labour market, the performance of educational system and distribution of health.
The main intention of this article is to contribute to the critical reconsideration of the relevance of the concept of social exclusion to the struggle against poverty as well as the importance of the politics of inclusion for realizing sustainable development in Africa, having in mind the nature of an “African state”, effectiveness of its fundamental institutions as well as the number of structural deficiencies that characterised it. It aims to identify key elements and the basic mechanisms of the politics of inclusion, which would be based on the articulation of complex and evolving human needs, through inclusive negotiations of social rights that would be truly universal in its reach.
Jane Ezirigwe is a Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She holds an LL.B Degree from the University of Abuja, Nigeria and attended the Nigerian Law School, graduating with a Second Class (Upper Division) from both institutions. She has an LLM (Economic Regulation) with Honors Distinction from the University College London and Queen Mary University, London (Joint programme). She also has an MBA (Honors Distinction) from the ESUT Business School, Nigeria. Her research interests are in Food and Agricultural law, Water & Sanitation, Natural Resources and Development. Recent scholarship include: “Human Rights and Property Rights in Natural Resources Development”, “Legislative strategy to realisation of Right to food in Nigeria”, “National security, Internal displacement and Food security – exploring the regulatory regime governing farmers-herders conflict” and “Challenges of developing a GMO framework in Nigeria”. Jane Ezirigwe is a co-Coordinator of the National Roundtable on Food Security and Biotechnology. She is an IBA Scholar and has won many academic and professional awards for her contribution to the development of law.
Presentation Title: Food Security in Nigeria: Law as a tool for Ensuring Contributions of Small Scale Women Farmers
The presentation discusses the role of law in ensuring that the agricultural activities of small scale women farmers in Nigeria are not encumbered by cultural practices and absence of extant laws. Employing the feminism theory and theory of social justice, it examines the existence and enforcement of legal property rights for women and argues that this is fundamental to their productivity, economic growth and contributions to food security in Nigeria. It challenges some ubiquitous cultural practices that hinder the economic activities of small scale women farmers contributing immensely to food security in Nigeria. It concludes with recommendations on adequate legal frameworks, a commitment to intensify rights and policies awareness, as well as increased public investment in rural infrastructure to promote production of adequate, affordable and safe food produced in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner.
Lefa Ntsoane teaches Property Law in the Private Law department at the University of South Africa. He graduated for his Law degree at the University of South Africa in 2013 and later graduated for his Masters of Laws degree (LLM) with a specialisation in real security rights in 2016 at the same University. He worked for Unisa since 2013 as a Student Assistant, Postgraduate Assistant and to the current position as a Lecturer. He is an Executive Member of the Unisa Black Forum. His publications include “Is the mandament van spolie an appropriate remedy in cases of statutory conflicts? Ngqukumba v Minister of Safety and Security 2014 (5) SA 112 (CC) Obiter 38 1 2017”. His current research includes “A comparative overview of the legal reform of non-possessory real security rights over movables in South Africa and Belgium” and “The registration system of real security rights over movables: Lessons from the developments in Belgium.
Presentation Title: The Recent Labour Relations Amendment Act as a Legislative Transformation: A critical analysis and Race-Based Dynamics for Black Economic Sustainability
This presentation scrutinises the technical principle of economic sustainability utilised by employers as a defence not to comply with the Labour Relations Amendment Act, a transformative legislation aimed at the protection of fixed term contract employees. Twenty three (23) years of the democratic dispensation, it still remains important to ask how far transformation has actually worked towards realisation of its projected goals of uplifting the powerless in securing for themselves labour and social justice. Although the Act has been appraised by the powerless and downtrodden employees as a compensation for the inequality and a move towards social justice, employers (both private and public) saw this Act as a threat to business and resorted to technical defences of economic sustainability. This paper therefore carries the view that a society motivated by restorative justice and equality can only view labour law as a political and an economic compromise to realise the cherished goal of the Constitution.
Johan D. van der Vyver is the I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights in the School of Law of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States and an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Private Law of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He was formerly a Professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in South Africa. In the period 1995-1998 he also served as the Human Rights Fellow of The Carter Center. His current teaching obligations comprise Public International Law, International Human Rights, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, and a seminar on The Right to go to War and one on Implementation of International Law in the United States.
Presentation Title: The Protection and Promotion of a People’s Right to Mineral Resources in Africa: International and Municipal Perspectives
International law proclaims the “inalienable right of all states freely to dispose of their natural resources in accordance with their national interests” as an inherent aspect of sovereignty, with occasional reminders that developing countries must be encouraged “in the proper use and exploitation of their natural wealth and resources.” Although these resolutions were mainly aimed at denouncing the exploitation of the mineral resources of African countries by colonial powers, the emphasis of international law relating to the natural resources over time also emphasized the right to self-determination of peoples. As early as 1958, the General Assembly stated that the “permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and resources” of States is “a basic constituent of the right to self-determination.” The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights similarly provides: “All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it”. This provision featured prominently in several judgments of courts of law, such as the one of the South African Constitutional Court in the case of Bengwenyama Minerals (Pty) Ltd & Others v. Gemorah Resources (Pty) Ltd & Others, 2011 (3) BCLR 229 (CC) and of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) v Nigeria, (2001) AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) Communication 155/96. In view of these directives of international law, the paper will critically analyze the South African Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 0f 2002, which deprived landowners of the ownership of unexplored minerals and petroleum products and proclaimed mineral and petroleum resources to be “the common heritage of all the people of South Africa” with the State as the custodian thereof.
Ijeoma Anozie is a Research Fellow with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the apex institution for research advanced studies in law in Nigeria. Since joining the academia in 2012, she has displayed tremendous academic performance. Her published works among others include ‘Protection of Cultural Properties in Modern Conflicts; Mali, Syria and Iraq,’ AALCO Journal of International Law, Vol 4, Issue 2, 2015 pp 73-113 which she co-authored with 3 others and ‘Unification of Criminal Laws of Nigeria,’Azinge E. &Anozie I, ed. (2014) NIALS Press Abuja. Anozie is also working on ‘Section on Labour Law – Nigeria,’ in ‘Mineral Law in Africa,’ a Book Project by NIALS and CCLA-UCT. Anozie’s paper on ‘Right to Silence of Crime Suspect is an Unnecessary Clog in the Wheels of Justice’ won the 2nd runner up prize at the Institute’s Academic Staff Essay Competition 2016.
She is currently undertaking a Masters Degree program at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with emphasis on Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Labour Law. Anozie has spent time at the Osgoode Hall Law School in 2016, and was recently at the University of Houston Law School, carrying out research in these areas of interest. She is currently involved as a consultant in the ongoing review of the Water Laws of Ekiti State, in Nigeria. She graduated from University of Nigeria in 2004 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005. Prior to joining the academia, Anozie engaged in commercial practice and was also involved in extensive litigation in the superior courts all over Nigeria, and represented the Attorney General of the Federation in civil suits between 2010 and 2012. Anozie also has a Bachelors Degree in English Language from the University of Jos.
Presentation Title: Justifying Water Rights in Nigeria; Fiction or Achievable Panacea?
The presentation discusses the issues surrounding the right of access to water and water rights in Nigeria, and how the absence of institutions in this regard affect the availability and management of this resource. The presentation further discusses the obligations which international instruments on water imposes on national governments with regards to the resource, and the extent to which such instruments have been domesticated in Nigeria. To illustrate the disparity in water resource management in Nigeria, South African policy on water is utilized as a model, thus proffering recommendations towards the development of a realistic model for effective water resource management and increased access to water in Nigeria.
Anri Heyns is currently a second year PhD candidate at the NRF/DST SARChI Research Chair: Mineral Law in Africa. Her research focuses on broad-based black economic empowerment (“BBBEE”) of mine communities in terms of the Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining Industry (“Mining Charter”). She specifically analyses mine community development and empowerment as a means of benefit sharing and argues that these initiatives operate in the global development paradigm, which has certain effects on the relationship between the mine companies and mine communities. She has presented on the Mining Charter and its treatment of different communities in mining areas and the politics of mine community development at the South African Property Law Teachers Colloquium 2016, the Mineral Law in Africa Colloquium 2016 and the Law and Society in Africa Conference 2016. Her teaching experience includes lecturing Property Law and Constitutional Property Law at the University of South Africa and lecturing on the politics of development and its effects for mining as part of the UCT Mineral Law in Africa masters course. She has also published on legal education and transformative constitutionalism, on which topic she has presented at the South African Law Teachers Conference in 2014.
Presentation Title: The Effect of the Politics of Development for Benefit Sharing with Mine Communities in South Africa
The development of mine communities or areas where mining takes place is one of the objectives of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 and it can be regarded as a means of sharing the benefits of mining with mine communities. The notion of “development” has a history and specific ideological underpinning, which, it will be shown, has been transferred into South African development rhetoric in mining. The purpose of this paper is to determine, by assessing the Mining Charter, whether the politics of development affect benefit sharing in mining in South Africa. This will be determined by considering the “empowerment” perspective from which the Mining Charter operates, which, as will be argued, has also been influenced by global development rhetoric. If it is argued that development theory still largely reflects the views of the developed world, the question can also be raised whether the policy behind development initiatives in mining in South Africa is biased towards mine companies, or even specific types of communities. It can, therefore, be argued that the politics of development will also become the politics of benefit sharing. The question should then be asked to which extent the politics of benefits sharing affect the relationship between the mining company and mine communities; especially if one of the objectives of benefits sharing is to address the historically unequal relationship.
Oyeniyi Abe is a Ph.D candidate at the Center for Comparative Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. He is also a Lecturer in Law at Afe Babalola University, Nigeria where he teaches Commercial Law, ADR and Human Rights. He is also a Research fellow in Business and Human Rights at the OGEES Institute, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Mr. Abe’s research interests include business and human rights, Natural Resource Development and Conflict Resolution in an African context. His current work focuses on the pitfalls and potentials of implementing normative instruments in the extractive resource industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. He was until recently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Loyola University, Chicago School of Law, Visiting Researcher at the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, Calgary, and the UCT Max & Lillie Sonnenberg Scholar at the Institute for Business Ethics, University of St. Gallen. Oyeniyi obtained his LLM from the Central European University, Hungary in July 2011 and worked as an Attorney in Lagos, Nigeria before entering the academia. A prolific researcher and speaker, he sits on the Executive Council of the International Law Association, Nigerian Branch and is a member of the International Bar Association, Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigerian National Association of Law Teachers.
Presentation Title: The ‘Duty’ to Respect Human Rights: Achieving Corporate Liability for Human Rights Violations through the Lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol
This paper looks at the potentials of implementing Pillars II and III of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the extractive resource industry in Africa on non-state actors using the lens of Article 46 (C) of the Malabo Protocol. In June 2014, the African Union, Heads of States and Government adopted the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol). If ratified, the Protocol would expand the jurisdiction of the proposed African Court of Justice and Human Rights to adjudicate corporate criminal liability in Africa. This article argues that adoption of the Protocol would be an important step in ending the culture of impunity and gross violation of human rights by non-state actors in the extractive resource industry. It argues that this expanded jurisdiction is consistent with the commitment African countries have in implementing Pillars II & III of the UN Guiding Principles regarding corporate responsibility to respect human rights and access to judicial remedies for victims of human rights violations. Creating a regional approach to corporate criminality is an African solution to an important African problem.
Professor Zwier teaches Adv Negotiation and Mediation in the Shadow of International Law, with Hrair Balian and Tom Crick, of The Carter Center. He also teaches Torts and Evidence.
Professor Zwier has taught advocacy skills to international lawyers and judges in Arusha, Tanzania, (ITCR); Den Hague, Netherlands (ICC); YaKaterinburg, Russia, Mexico City, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Tbilisi, Georgia; Northern Ireland; Scotland; England; Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, China and led seminars in negotiation and dispute resolution for black South African lawyers as part of a State Department program. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Human Rights for Women in Liberia (and West Africa): Integrating Formal and Informal Rule of Law Reforms through TCC’s Community Legal Advisor Project, __Law and Development Review ___ (2017). Principled Negotiation on an International Stage: Talking with Evil, Cambridge University Press (2013); History, Creative Imagination, and Forgiveness in Mediation on an International Stage: Practical Lessons from Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics, Journal of Law and Religion, available on CJO2015. doi:10.1017/jlr.2015.4:Moving From an Inquisitorial to an Oral Adversarial System in Mexico: Jurisprudential, Criminal Procedure, Evidence Law and Trial Advocacy Implications, 26Emory International Law Review 189 (2012) (with Alexander Barney); Torts: Cases, Problems, and Exercises 4th ed. (LexisNexis, 2013) (with Weaver, Bauman, Cross, Klein, Martin); Mastering Torts (North Carolina Press, 2009); Advanced Negotiation and Mediation Theory and Practice (2d.) (with Guernsey) (NITA, 2015); Looking to ‘Ground Motive’ for a Religious Foundation for Law, 54 Emory Law Journal 357 (2005. He has made professional presentations and consulted with dozens of law firms and other organizations.
Presentation Title: Wildlife Poaching and Rule of Law in Kenya
This paper will examine the rule of law strategies employed by Kenya to try to fight the problem of wild life poaching. Kenya is important as a case study for examining the relationship between rule of law development and economic development because it presents all the difficulties of the developing world: a country with a portion of the population whose poverty makes them easily exploited, a demand for the country’s resources, owned by none, and yet vital to the prosperity of all, and a court system with a history of corruption tasked with enforcing laws which don’t quite get the rule of law part right.
Caroline Joelle Nwabueze holds a Master of Laws from the University of Torino in Italy, a Master in International Law from Handong International Law School in South Korea, and a Ph.D. in Law from Douala University in Cameroon. A lecturer at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria, she is specialized in the field of law and development, advocating for the use of international legal frameworks as tools to enhance the capacity development of unnoticed communities. Her concern for development has led her to conduct research in the field of traditional knowledge and cultural heritage of communities in the developing world. She has led several research projects on intellectual property as a tool to sustain the development potential of local communities. She has served successively at the Traditional Knowledge Department of WIPO in Geneva, at UNESCO ICHCAP in Korea, and at Central African universities as an intern, consultant, lecturer and researcher. She is currently candidate to the degree of Doctor in Law at the University of Bern, Switzerland, where she conducts research on intellectual property and the documentation of indigenous knowledge.
Presentation Title: Biodiversity Conversation Management: Legal related aspects of Indigenous innovations in Central Africa
This paper aims to establish the importance of inclusion of local indigenous knowledge in biodiversity conservation and management. It underlines the necessity of indigenous to make use of their bioheritage innovations through safeguarding and protection of their rights. The paper envisages the patentability of bio-indigenous innovations. It firstly identifies bio-indigenous knowledge, traditional skills, know-how susceptible to constitute valuable patentable innovations. Relevant cases studies and survey elements are provided in the specific context of Central Africa local communities. Secondly, an analysis is made of the capacity of local/regional/international mechanisms actually offered under the patent law system to enhance safeguarding and protection of indigenous innovations such as described. The paper finally addresses recommendations for a suitable patent policy enabling indigenous innovations to be carried out in Central Africa. It concludes with suggestions related to intellectual property policy framework of prior informed consent, access and benefit sharing in two specific contexts: the current WIPO-IGC draft text for the protection of genetic resources, and the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Charles A. Khamala teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Public International Law and Jurisprudence and is a practicing advocate of the High Court of Kenya since 1994. His scholarship focuses on the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court, and his book Crimes Against Humanity in Kenya’s Post-2007 Election Violence: A Jurisprudential Interpretation is published by Wolf Legal Publishers in 2017. His recent research focuses on international criminal law and comparative criminal procedure. He was Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Law, Rhodes University in 2016. His work is published in the Law Society of Kenya Journal, the Kenya Law Review as well as internationally by Taylor & Francis Publishers (UK). He is a columnist for the Nairobi Law Monthly and his current research interests include international criminal evidence and victims’ rights as well as witness protection programmes.
Khamala is enrolled as a member of the International Law Association (East African and South African Branches), the Legal Aid Panel of the African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights, the East African Law Society, the International Commission of Jurists (Kenya section), the World Society of Victimology and the ICC Bar Association. He earned his Ph.D. in law from the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (2015), an LL.M. from the University of London (2006) and an LL.B. (Nairobi 1990). Before appointment as a senior lecturer at Africa Nazarene University Law School, he taught at Kabarak University Law School.
Presentation Title: A Regional Framework to Safeguard Human Rights in Kenya upon an Upsurge of Terrorist Attacks
This paper concerns the need to strike a balance between collective security and human rights. In reality, some individuals trade-off their own liberties to safeguard the security of others. Unsurprisingly, Kenya’s 2011 ‘Operation Linda Inchi’ incursion into Somalia territory, attracted retaliatory killings by the Al-Shabaab militia against civilians. A more feasible counter-terrorism strategy is conceptualized using constitutional democracy theory where regional institutions possess ‘concurrent responsibility’ over international terrorism cases. In order for the rule of law to delegitimize (not deter) the violent extremist, distorted ideology disguised as jihad, the AU should confer the African Court of Justice and Human Rights with ‘concurrent responsibility’ over these cases, akin to the ICC’s complementary jurisdiction over international crimes.
Adebola Olaborede is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare and a part-time lecturer teaching legal research and writing. Adebola obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Ilorin, Nigeria and Masters’ degree from Stellenbosch University. In September 2016, she obtained her LLD from University of Fort Hare and her research focused on the cultural practice of child marriage in Africa with a comparative study of South Africa and Nigeria. Her current research interests are broadly in human rights law with focus on international, regional and domestic human rights frameworks in the context of the rights of women and children (exploring the effect of contradictions that exist between the theory and practice of law and adhering to tradition and religious beliefs, as well as the challenges with effective implementation and enforcement of rights).
Presentation Title: Towards Gender-Sensitive Development in Africa: An Appraisal of the Role of the African Court and the African Commission in the Protection of Women’s Rights
The presentation discusses the role of the regional enforcement mechanisms, the African Commission and the African Court in the protection of women’s rights and development. The situation of the violation and abuse of women’s rights (e.g. discrimination, sexual exploitation and servitude, domestic violence, degrading, inhuman and cruel treatment and harmful traditional practices) within many African societies remain a challenge. Although there is increased recognition of these violations and a significant shift in addressing them through the human rights approach. However, these issues affecting women remain critical and challenges the pathway to advancing women’s rights and gender-sensitive development. Human rights approach is an imperative to the promotion and protection of women’s rights and development, and it is within this scope that this presentation critically examines the role and limitation(s) of the African Commission and the African Court. In addition, the role of civil society in advocacy for women’s rights and gender-sensitive development is briefly considered.
Ridwan ‘Lanre Ajetunmobi is a research fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Abuja, Nigeria. His area of specialization and research is Intellectual Property Law and has publications in reputable journals especially the notable NIALS’ Journal of Intellectual Property (NJIP). Recent scholarship includes “Microsoft Corporation v. Franike Associates (2012) 3 NWLR (1287) 301 Court of Appeal; A Critical Analysis,” ‘Cybercrime Act (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015: A Review,” ‘An Appraisal Of The Grounds And Procedures For Challenge An Appointment Of An Arbitrator Under The Arbitration And Conciliation Act (ACA) 1988. Prior to joining NIALS in 2012, Ajetunmobi was a Research Assistant to Justice Nusirat Ibrahim Umar of the Kebbi State High Court of Justice. He is currently a researcher on Open AIR’s case study “Open Source Strategies at Nigeria’s Software Hubs”. Ajetunmobi holds a Diploma in Law from the Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Nigeria, and both LLB and LLM from the University of Ilorin.
Presentation Title: The Role of IPRs in Developing Nations: Nigeria as a Case Study
This presentation discusses the role of Property rights in advancing development potentials of developing countries using Nigeria as its main focus. The presentation canvasses that the status of Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa is attributed to the improved growth rate in our GDP averaging 7 percent and this growth may be significantly seen in the role of IP related industries entertainment and ICT. IPRs if properly harnessed and protected can bring about development. The presentation however observes that the current Nigeria’s IPR regime and framework lacks proper balance, efficiency and utility to provide protection and this has had far-reaching implication on the state of IPR protection, and has not made the regime to respond properly to the demands of development required.
Sara Ghebremusse is a Ph.D candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Her doctoral research examines the governance of natural resources in Africa, particularly whether recent legislative changes in resource-rich states fit into the developmental state paradigm and adequately respond to “good governance” concerns. Sara has presented her research at conferences across Canada and the United States, including the annual Law and Development Conference, the Canadian Association of African Studies Conference, and the Yale Doctoral Scholarship Conference. Sara previously completed her Master of Laws at the University of Toronto, where she evaluated the petroleum fiscal regimes of Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Middle Eastern and African Studies from the University of Alberta, a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.
Presentation Title: Law, Development and the Possibility of a Resource-Rich Developmental State in Southern Africa
There is burgeoning scholarly debate surrounding recent developments in African extractive regulatory regimes, particularly as states move to reclaim greater fiscal benefits from natural resource extraction. My paper intends to contribute to the debate by considering how these measures are characteristic of a “resource-rich developmental state” in three Southern African states: Botswana, South Africa, and Zambia. Orienting myself in Law and Development (L&D) scholarship, my paper examines how the mineral regulatory regimes in these three countries may fit into the developmental state paradigm. The developmental state was embraced as an analytical tool by leading L&D scholars to convey the various ways law intersected with economic development over the past sixty years. Despite the lack of consensus today on the role of law in development, the growing importance of the developmental state was reframed as the “new” developmental state to describe alternative ways developing countries have recently facilitated economic development. I will attempt to situate the regimes in the ‘new’ developmental state framework that dominates L&D scholarship to consider the possibility of a resource-rich developmental state in Southern Africa.
Mr. Rujama Robert Chisumo (Young Scholars’ Panel)
Link to Paper
Ph.D Sudent at Xian Jiatong University. His research interests include International investment law, energy law, international environmental law, International Commercial Arbitration and International trade. His Ph.D thesis focuses on China – Africa Bilateral Investment Treaties. Rujama graduated from University of Dar es salaam in 2005 and Oxford Brookes in 2010 and worked as Resident Magistrates and Legal Officer at Public Procurement Regulatory Authority before joining Ministry of Finance and Planning in 2006. Rujama is currently a senior legal officer at the Ministry of Finance and planning, United Republic of Tanzania.
Presentation Title: The Quest for Sustainable Development Provisions in African Bilateral Investment Treaties: Lessons from China- Tanzania BIT
The Presentation discusses the China- Africa Bilateral Investment Treaties. China has signed 35 BIT with African countries however, majority of the BIT signed and some that are not in force do not address issues related to sustainable development. The paper proposes to policy makers to amend the existing BITS that have been signed with African countries.
Ms. Thato Toeba (Young Scholars’ Panel)
Link to Paper
Thato Toeba is a Ph.D candidate at the South African/ German centre for Transnational Criminal Justice, a joint degree between the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa) and Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany). She holds an LLM from the same centre as well as an LLB from the National University of Lesotho. Her area of focus is International Economic Crimes, particularly International Anti-corruption Law. She is an advocate of the High Court of Lesotho.
Presentation Title: Corruption in Public Procurement in Lesotho
The worst brunt of corruption in Africa generally and Lesotho particularly has been felt in the process of acquisition of property and services by governments in order to sustain the daily operations of the state. Despite elaborate laws on the procedures of procurement in Lesotho, the biggest corruption scandals involve the manipulation of these procedures to benefit the elite few. This presentation discusses the problem of corruption in public procurement in Lesotho, particularly how corruption manifests in the process. Further, the presentation engages in an assessment of the causes of corruption in public procurement and the residual effects there from. The presentation analyses the provisions of Article 9 of UNCAC as well as those of the Public Procurement legal regime in Lesotho and ultimately suggests legal reforms to strengthen Lesotho’s procurement process.
Mr. Augustine Arimoro (Young Scholars’ Panel)
Link to Paper
Augustine Arimoro is a Ph.D candidate at the University of Cape Town where he is researching on the law regulating private sector financing of infrastructure with a focus on his home country Nigeria. Augustine graduated from the University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri-Nigeria in 2004 emerging the best graduating student in the Faculty of Law that year. He is also an LLM graduate of the University of Derby in the United Kingdom. He has several years of experience in private wealth management and investments.
Presentation Title: Law as a Catalyst for Stimulating Investor Sentiments among Low to Middle-Income Individuals in the Development of Infrastructure in Nigeria
The presentation discusses the role of law in the shift towards private finance for infrastructure. The focus is on expanding the pool available for private funding for infrastructure by providing a model for low to middle income earners to participate in the process. The argument is that providing such opportunities for low to middle income earners would give them a sense of ownership of public infrastructure, drive economic growth as well as provide avenues for return on investment leading to better living standards for ordinary citizens of the country.
Dr. Hye Seong Mun
Professor Colin Picker
Dr. Tomer Broude
Professor Wang Jiangyu
Professor Won-Mog Choi
Dr. Andrew D Mitchell
Dr. Salim Farrar
Professor Junji Nakagawa
Professor Maureen Irish
Professor David Gantz
Professor Moshe Hirsch
Professor Yong-Shik Lee