African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN)
The African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN) was established in 2008 to provide a forum for research and exchange of ideas on International Economic Law (IEL). The Network’s establishment followed the Society of International Economic Law’s goal of promoting and facilitating co-ordination, collaboration, networking and debates on IEL, and the need to institute African leadership and ownership within the global network.
In mapping out the patterns of IEL in the world, the Africa chapter came to life, sustained by the great foresight of the founders. In line with the Network’s objective, the founders were committed to making scholarship available for African scholars, students, practitioners and policy experts, and in keeping with this, several initiatives to make IEL knowledge exchange accessible took place.
These included distributing law books to libraries in African Universities as well as hosting a number of conferences on emergent issues in the area, in an effort to capitalise on African experiences and approaches. Through a close partnership with Afronomicslaw.org, AfIELN has been part of the push to provide topical academic material through the blog’s open access forum.
AfIELN continues to harness Africa’s participation and expertise in the development of IEL in a way that elevates pan-African discourse.
The Network has its own dedicated website which can be found here.
Executive Team (2025-2027):
President: Regis Simo
Vice President: Harrison Mbori
Vice President: Gertrude Amarh
Conference Planning Chair: Jonathan Kabré
Secretary: Janet Njambi
Conferences
- 8th AfIELN Conference, 24 to 26 June 2026, Rabat, Morocco,
Call for Papers can be found here
- 7th AfIELN Conference, 18-20 July 2024, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Hosted by: Tanzania Trade and Investment Coalition (TATIC)
Theme: “A Critical Appraisal of the Implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement and its Protocols”
Conference Program can be found here
- 6th AfIELN Conference, 21-24 June 2023, Accra, Ghana
Hosted by: Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA)
Theme: “International Economic Law in an Era of Multiple Crises: Opportunities and Challenges for Africa”
Conference Program can be found here
- 5th AfIELN Conference, 23-24 July 2021 (Virtual Colloquium)
Theme: “COVID-19 and International Economic Law: Africa’s Experiences and Responses”
Conference Program can be found here
- 4th AfIELN Conference, 18-20 July 2019, Strathmore University, Kenya
Hosted by: Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya
Theme: “Africa’s Participation in International Economic Law in the 21st Century”
Publication can be found here
- 3rd AfIELN Conference, 29-30 April 2015, Nairobi, Kenya
Theme: “The Role of International Economic Law in African Development”
Conference synopsis can be found here
- 2nd AfIELN Conference, 7-8 March 2013, Johannesburg, South Africa
Theme: “Trade Governance: Integrating Africa into the World Economy through International Economic Law”
Conference synopsis can be found here
- Inaugural AfIELN Conference, 5-6 May 2011, Johannesburg, South Africa
Hosted by: “Mandela Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg”
Theme: Africa and the Global Economy: Trade, Investment and Development
Conference synopsis can be found here
AfIELN Newsletter
The latest AfIELN newsletter is available here (June 2026).
Previous issues can be accessed: here (June 2023), here (November 2018), here (January 2019), here (June 2019), here (December 2020), here (July 2021), and here (March 2023).
Executive Team (2022-2024):