The Efficacy Of The World Trade Organisation Dispute Settlement Mechanism In Addressing Trade Disputes Between African Countries And Other Member States In The Multilateral Trade System

Abstract

The WTO is a trade forum for states to grow their market share while protecting state rights provided for in the various Agreements annexed to the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization. The record of states that frequently utilize the global trading system as per the World Trade Organization World Trade Statistical Review 2018 does not include any African country. The reason behind this could be that African countries are developing and their trade volumes are low. The World Bank opines that over the last three decades, Africa has become marginalized from world trade and as a result, African economies have remained stagnant due to lack of export expansion and diversification. However, there is a wide array of developing countries using the system to advance their trade visions, such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico, and this therefore begs the question whether indeed the dismal participation in the Dispute Settlement System by African states is as a result of the “developing” classification. A vast majority of African countries are part of the World Trade Organization, withall of them participating in domestic and foreign trade. African countries, as a group, boast a majority of membership in the World Trade Organization, however they are the least participants in the DS of the World Trade Organization. African member states, collectively, are one of the largest exporters of raw materials however, their share of the world market is at a menial 1%. The African Member States of the WTO have been members since the GATT era however their contribution to the jurisprudence of the DS of the WTO is quite minimal. Only two African member states have been participants in the DSS of the World Trade Organization. This paper delves into the reasons behind the poor performance by African Member States to the WTO. The paper will discuss at length and make findings on the external and internal factors contributing to the dismal use of the WTO Dispute Settlement system by African member states. It then concludes with an overview of the information and offers new and innovative ways to combat the problem at hand.