POLICY DISCOURSE ON THE POSSIBILITY OF A PAN-AFRICAN FRAMEWORK ON THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/0256-8845/651Keywords:
Africa, free movement of persons, regional integration policy, African Union, transnational boundariesAbstract
A fundamental corollary of deeper regional integration is the ability of citizens to move freely across national boundaries. The extent to which national elites have managed to relax, or completely eliminate, rigid visa and border requirements bears testimony to the commitment to and importance of creating an effective transnational community. This realisation has shaped, and continues to shape, regional integration efforts across the globe. In the African context, while some regional economic communities (RECs) such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Community (EAC) allow some form of free movement of persons, there is no definitive continental legal framework. At the core of this article is an attempt to engage in a policy discourse regarding the possibility of such a framework, with particular reference to Africa. The role of the African Union (AU) in coordinating, monitoring and evaluating policies of the RECs is central to achieving this objective. This article examines the policy contexts capable of shaping the design and implementation of a continental framework on the free movement of persons.
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Accepted 2015-11-24
Published 2015-11-24
