Using Human-Centered Trade Policies to End Violence in Africa: How Intracontinental Trade Can Shape Human Rights Policies and End State Violence

Abstract

International organizations have been discussing the issue of poverty and development in Africa since the end of colonialism. However, results have been inadequate, and the majority of the African population still lives in poverty and lacks access to healthcare, education, and safety. This chapter analyzes the benefits of preferential trade agreements in supporting both economic and social development. PTAs that are conditional to peace and human rights protection can be the economic tool to end violence, corruption, and bad government in Africa. Foreign economic policy in the past has left African countries indebted to the West and in competition with much older, more developed economies. This chapter discusses how the recently negotiated African Continental Free Trade Area can strengthen intracontinental trade. The agreement, if managed correctly, has the potential to grow the African economy massively and help lift people out of poverty while enforcing an end to violence from state-actors across the continent.