Call for papers: Marking 25 Years of the Treaty Establishing the EAC
In 2024, the East African Community (EAC) will be marking 25 years since the Treaty for Establishment of the East African Community (EAC Treaty) was adopted on 30 November 1999. Over these 25 years, the EAC has expanded its membership and geographical growth. The EAC Treaty entered into force on 7 July 2000 following its ratification by the original three Partner States – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Seven years on, Rwanda and Burundi acceded to the EAC Treaty on 18 June 2007 and formally joined on 1 July 2007. After South Sudan’s cessation in 2011, Sudan sought to join the EAC, but the EAC Partner States rejected this application, among others, for Sudan’s lack of contiguous borders with the then existing EAC. Later, South Sudan acceded to the EAC Treaty on 15 April 2016 and formally joined as full member on 15 August 2016.
Most recently, the Democratic Republic of Congo acceded to the EAC Treaty on 8 April 2022 and became a full member on 11 July 2022. In April 2023, the EAC Secretary-General, Peter Mathuki, was quoted in the press making the case for the accession of Ethiopia and Somalia to the EAC.[1] More recently, Mathuki intimated that Somalia’s accession could be concluded by the end of November 2023 during the Head of States Summit.[2] On 24 November 2023, Somalia became the eighth Partner state of the EAC.[3]
The EAC will also celebrate its progress along the path of regional integration through four (4) main stages. These four stages are themselves the subject of scholarly debate, with African scholars suggesting that African regional integration should be open to its own appropriate paths. However, so far, the EAC seems to projecting along this four-stage path, described below.
First, in 2005, the EAC Customs Union Protocol came into force as the first step towards EAC integration. By this Customs Union Protocol, EAC Partner States agreed to establish ‘free trade (or zero duty imposed) on goods and services amongst themselves and agreed on a common external tariff (CET), whereby imports from countries outside the EAC zone are subjected to the same tariff when sold to any EAC Partner State.’ In addition, ‘goods moving freely within the EAC must comply with the EAC Rules of Origin and with certain provisions of the Protocol’.
Secondly, the EAC Common Market Protocol entered into force in 2010, with the vision of full implementation by 2015. While this target has not been met, some significant progress has been made in this regard. The Common Market affirms the principles of: free movement of goods, free movement of persons, free movement of labour/workers, right of establishment, right of residence, free movement of services, free movement of capital.
The last two (2) stages of integration, the monetary union and political federation are rather less developed. Although the EAC Monetary Union Protocol was signed on 13 November 2013, progress towards its objects have been muted, even as more Partner States join the EAC.
In addition to the four-staged integration process, the EAC Treaty establishes or recognises no less than nine (9) semi-autonomous institutions, whose field of action impact on shared services or resources within the Community. These institutions are in need of robust scholarly attention.
Accordingly, as the citizens of the EAC celebrate its 25 anniversary, it is critical that scholars reflect on its progress and developments, failures and aspirations as we chart the way forward for the next quarter century.
Introducing Jumuiya: East African Community Law Journal
Jumuiya: East African Community Law Journal, is an open-access peer-reviewed publication devoted to the study of East African Community Law. It aims to address the shortage of scholarly work in this domain and cater to scholars, practitioners and students of regional integration law, in Africa and beyond, and those interested in this unique legal regime in East Africa. In its first issue, the journal was named East African Community Law Journal (https://journals.kabarak.ac.ke/index.php/eacl).
In keeping with its mission, Jumuiya welcomes submissions for its 2nd volume to be published in October 2024, focussed on celebrating 25 years of the EAC.
We invite, for the 2024 issue marking 25 years of the EAC Treaty, contributions with a main focus on East African Community Law along any of the following categories:
- Full length articles – these are scholarly pieces of no more than 10,000 words, exclusive of footnotes, that provide a fuller critical treatment of a chosen topic. Contributions in this category will undergo a minimum of two (2) rounds of double-blind peer review conducted by scholarly peers who are independent of the Editorial Board and an internal single blind review. Such contributions take at least six (6) months under peer and editorial review.
- Short commentaries or reviews – these are scholarly pieces of between 1500 and 3000 words, exclusive of footnotes, that provide a brief but critical appraisal of a chosen topic. Contributions in this category will undergo a minimum of two (2) single blind reviews. Such commentaries may be legislative reviews, case law reviews, commentaries of the political action of the various organs and institutions, and critically as well, reviews of any recent publications on East African Community Law. Such contributions take at least 10 weeks under editorial review.
Jumuiya is keen to invite contributions on the study of the entire institutional and legal regime of the East African Community. As such, we are especially interested in contributions on the following: Download
