Suchergebnisse

The role of the Cotonou Agreement during the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States has been well studied. This paper analyses the inverse of this relationship, namely the legal and political implications of different possible outcomes of the upcoming post-Cotonou negotiations on the EPAs, following the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in 2020. The EPAs include several cross-references to provisions in the Cotonou Agreement on development and human rights. This paper analyses the legal and political implications for the EPAs of possible negotiation outcomes, including combinations of regional or non-legally binding cooperation agreements. Its main conclusion is that a decision not to renew the Cotonou Agreement would have significant political implications but, contrary to the views of some EU stakeholders, limited legal implications for the EPAs.

The EU is currently negotiating a successor to its Cotonou Agreement of year 2000 with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. The political and economic con­text has changed enormously over the past two decades, with trade relations between the EU and the more developed ACP countries now largely regulated by bilateral and regional Economic Partnership Agreements. Since 2015, in line with international sustainability targets, social and environmental aspects must be taken into account in international treaties, while in 2018 the African Union (AU) agreed to establish an African Continental Free Trade Area. A successor to Cotonou offers an opportunity to modernise the rules on issues including investment, services and migration. This could also generate greater interest in the talks in Germany and the EU. But the cooperation need to be placed on a new foundation and the African states will have to decide whether they want to negotiate together, as a continent.

With the Cotonou Agreement due to expire in 2020, formal negotiations towards a new partnership agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states began in September 2018. Based on the acceptance of the EU's negotiating mandate, the new arrangement will be primarily organised via three specific regional protocols with each of the ACP regions. Meanwhile, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) launched in 2007, has seen the African Union (AU) gain increased prominence as an institutional partner of the EU. Given its ambitious pan-African agenda, it adopted an alternative 'African' vision for future EU-ACP relations, to the mandate agreed by the ACP states and expressed a willingness to become directly involved in the negotiations. This article contributes an important new case-study to the existing literature on 'African agency' in international politics by considering the scope for Africa to exert agency within the post-Cotonou negotiations, given the negotiation of a specific regional compact with Africa. It adopts a structurally embedded view of agency, based on Cox's understanding of historical structures, as a fit between institutions, ideas and material relations. The central argument is that, in comparison to the negotiation of the Cotonou Agreement two decades ago, there is greater scope for African agency. However, both the ideational and material aspects of Africa's relationship with the EU, condition the limits to how effective such agency might be. Moreover, tensions at the institutional level between the ACP and AU further undermine the potential for effective African agency.

The Economic Partnership Agreement between the East African Community (EAC) and the European Union (EU) is of particular importance for the Kenyan floriculture sector. While the other EAC Partner States remain reluctant to ratify this agreement, they allowed the Republic of Kenya to start its implementation under the principle of variable geometry in June 2021. Kenya and the EU then started a strategic dialogue in which they pledged to strengthen their cooperation on human rights issues. This article identifies two priorities for floriculture workers: Kenya's ratification of the core labour rights Convention No. 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and the broadening of an enabling space for an active, organised and transparent civil society.

La Convention de Cotonou, entrée en vigueur le 1er avril 2003, règle depuis lors les rapports commerciaux entre l'Union européenne et les pays ACP. ; Peer reviewed

The coast of Cotonou (Benin) is affected by an intensive coastal erosion for several decades, mainly due to unsuitable port infrastructures and human activities. In the future, the process will very likely be worsen by sea level rise as a consequence of global warming. In this study, we use a combination of very high resolution satellite images from Google Earth recorded in 2002, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and carry out field missions in September 2012, September 2013, July 2014 and February 2015 to assess the retreat of the coastline and to understand the dynamic of population in the risk area. Multi-temporal analyses of satellite images show that nearly 93 hectares of land (including 40 hectares off) were progressively eroded by the sea between 2002 and 2014 on the stretch of the first eight kilometers at the east of the Safiato groyne. This corresponds to an average coastline's retreat of 115 meters in 13 years, with variations from 38 to 145 meters, depending on the location. Thanks to the comparison between the images of 2002 and 2014, we assess that around 765 houses disappeared by the encroachment of the sea over the distance of 8 km to the East of the Safiato groyne, of which 60 villas and about 705 makeshift houses (informal settlements). Well-off population leave the risk area when their houses are threatened and go inland, fishermen prefer to stay in the risk area to be close to their activities and precarious population have no financial and social capitals to migrate, they are trapped in the risk area. Other precarious population coming from somewhere else settle in the coastal area and grow the at-risk population. The use of intermediate images and the results of field works confirm a rapid process of settlement/destruction of makeshift houses in the coastal area. Poor people carry out simply short displacements in the risk area. There is an urgent need to secure these populations. Update and respect of urban planning regulations, good governance, cooperation with other countries and involvement of local communities are all factors that are expected to reach this objective. ; Peer reviewed

The survey from which this article was drawn is part of a programme of international cooperation and exchanges on the feeding of young people in cities. The ethnographic survey in Cotonou, the port and main city of Benin, was conducted for three months with Lazare Hoton, research assistant at the National University of Benin. In addition to the traditional anthropology tools — participating observation and semi-directive interviews with some 20 people, we have mobilised the "itinerary" method developed by Desgames in the field of anthropology of consumption. For example, we have accompanied our hosts from the market, the preservation of products to cooking, meals, tableware, remnants and waste management. On the face of it, the anthropology of food seemed to me to be the very example of a depoliticised, culturalist or even transient object. Following I.Garabuau-Moussaoui and the field survey, we claim that anthropology through food is, on the contrary, an excellent analyst of dynamics in contemporary Beninese society. The prism of daily practices and routes makes it possible to understand the construction of diverse and complex social and cultural identities, in which the history of the social, economic, political and cultural transformations of Dahomey, colonised by France in 1874, independent in 1960, then the People's Republic of Benin under the Marxist regime of Matthieu Kerekou from 1972 to 1991, becomes the current Republic of Benin. ; International audience ; The survey from which this article was drawn is part of a programme of international cooperation and exchanges on the feeding of young people in cities. The ethnographic survey in Cotonou, the port and main city of Benin, was conducted for three months with Lazare Hoton, research assistant at the National University of Benin. In addition to the traditional anthropology tools — participating observation and semi-directive interviews with some 20 people, we have mobilised the "itinerary" method developed by Desgames in the field of anthropology of ...

This doctoral thesis analyses the ecological inequalities in the african cities, by focusing on the example of Cotonou in Benin, with regard to cholera. As a pathology related to the exposure to an unhealthy environment, cholera forms a relevant marker of the ecological inequalities under all their forms: whether they are inequalities of exposure to the environmental nuisances, access to urban amenities, capacity to question the public power as far as environmental nuisances are concerned or participation in environmental projects. Through the approach by "effect of place", we showed that the differential incidence of the cholera between the districts of Cotonou is related not only to the combined effect of the environment and the socio-economic profiles, social practices, but also with the public policies, inspired sometimes of the international recommendations in the field of the environment, and that overlook the socio-political local context. ; Cette thèse de doctorat analyse les inégalités écologiques dans les villes africaines, à travers l'exemple de Cotonou au Bénin, à l'aune du choléra. En tant que pathologie liée à l'exposition à un environnement insalubre, le choléra constitue un marqueur pertinent des inégalités écologiques, qu'il s'agisse d'inégalités d'exposition aux nuisances environnementales, d'accès aux aménités urbaines, de pouvoir d'interpellation de la puissance publique face aux nuisances environnementales ou de participation aux projets environnementaux. A travers l'approche par « effet de lieu », nous avons montré que l'incidence différentielle du choléra entre les arrondissements et les quartiers de Cotonou est liée non seulement à l'effet combiné du milieu et des profils socio-économiques, aux pratiques sociales, mais aussi aux politiques publiques, inspirées parfois des recommandations internationales dans le domaine de l'environnement, et qui occultent le contexte socio-politique local.

Derzeit verhandelt die EU mit den Staaten Afrikas, der Karibik und des Pazifiks (AKP) über ein Nachfolgeabkommen des seit 2000 geltenden Cotonou-Abkommens. Seither haben sich die politischen und ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen sehr verändert. Die Handelsbeziehungen zwischen der EU und den weiter entwickelten AKP-Ländern werden überwiegend durch bilaterale und regionale Wirtschaftspartnerschafts­abkom­men geregelt. Seit 2015 müssen gemäß den internationalen Nachhaltigkeitszielen Sozial- und Umweltaspekte auch in internationalen Verträgen berücksichtigt werden. 2018 wurde im Rahmen der Afrikanischen Union (AU) die Afrikanische Freihandelszone beschlossen, die einen freien Markt innerhalb Afrikas schaffen soll. Ein Cotonou-Folgeabkommen bietet die Chance für moderne Regelungen zu Themen wie Investitionen, Dienstleistungen und Migration. Dies könnte auch in Deutschland mehr Interesse an den Verhandlungen wecken. Allerdings müsste die Zusammenarbeit auf ein neues Fundament gestellt werden und die afrikanischen Staaten müssen sich entscheiden, ob sie gemeinsam, das heißt als Kontinent, verhandeln möchten.

There is profound concern in large circles in Africa that the Cotonou Agreement obstructs African governments from supporting domestic production, and that the EU is splitting Africa in two by striking separate deals with different African regions. These perceptions are important considerations for those involved in the upcoming negotiations to replace the existing agreement.

Ebbe Prag's paper - Entrepôt Politics: Political Struggles over the Dantokpa Marketplace in Cotonou, Benin - argues that marketplaces are a hub of formal and informal international trade. Furthermore, marketplaces are an important site for understanding national political struggles in Benin due to their key position in the economy. The lines of conflict at the very large Dantokpa marketplace in Cotonou duplicate the general pattern of fluid and opportunistic political alliances between 'regionally'-based parties around the government and the opposition in Beninese politics. At the market, political networks of non-state and state actors, party leaders, government officials and 'big men and women' compete for control over the huge resources generated from the market. Ebbe Prag's paper argues that the competition is embedded in and has been spurred on by democratisation in 1990 and decentralisation in 2002. Formally, the Beninese state governs the market, but its authority is weak, and public authority is shaped through and by struggles and negotiations between the competing political networks in a fluid and informal environment of clientelistic politics.

The present study analyses the use of the political instruments for the protection of Human Rights, democracy and the rule of law under the Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the African-Caribbean–Pacific (ACP) countries embedded in the Cotonou Agreement: the consultations under article 96, intensified and regular political dialogue. It briefly outlines the legal provisions of the revised treaty, reviews recent practice, and looks into the involvement of civil society and parliamentary bodies in the political dialogue.

The negotiation of post-Lome economic cooperation arrangements between the European Union and the African-Caribbean-Pacific Group ended its first phase in February 2000 with the signing of the Treaty of Cotonou. For Caribbean actors, the Cotonou negotiations marked a significant watershed in the adaptation of their foreign policies and diplomatic strategies to cope with a globalized international environment. The issues and themes addressed in Cotonou demonstrate the collision of development concepts forged in the 1970s with the Neoliberalism of the 1980s and 1990s. Cotonou symbolizes the transition from one economic order to another. Its negotiation involved the establishment of new diplomatic and administrative structures in the Caribbean and the participation of many interest groups not previously involved in such diplomatic activity. It became the forerunner to even more complex negotiations in the World Trade Organization and the free Trade Area of the Americas. This paper explores the Caribbean role and experiences in the negotiation of the Cotonou Treaty and the lessons of this diplomatic exercise for future multilateral trade negotiations. Resumen: Tocando en la misma cuerda: La diplomacia caribeña y el acuerdo de CotonouLa negociación de los acuerdos de cooperación económica tras los acuerdos de Lome entre la Unión Europea y el Grupo África-Caribe-Pacífico concluyó su primera fase en febrero de 2000 con la firma del Tratado de Cotonou. Para los participantes caribeños, las negociaciones de Cotonou señalaron un importante y crítico momento en la adaptación de sus políticas exteriores y estrategias diplomáticas para funcionar en un ambiente internacional globalizado. Los problemas y temas tratados en Cotonou reflejan el choque de conceptos de desarrollo forjados en los años setenta, con el neoliberalismo de los años ochenta y noventa. Cotonou simboliza la transición de un orden económico a otro. Su negociación implicó el establecimiento de nuevas estructuras diplomáticas y administrativas en el Caribe y la incorporación de muchos grupos de interés que no participaban previamente en esas actividades diplomáticas. Se convirtió en el precursor de negociaciones todavía más complejas en la Organización Mundial del Comercio y el Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas. En este artículo exploramos el papel y experiencias del Caribe en la negociación del Tratado de Cotonou y las lecciones aprendidas en este ejercicio diplomático para futuras negociaciones comerciales multilaterales.

En utilisant la fonction multi dates disponible dans Google Earth, cet article estime la superficie érodée à Cotonou entre 2002 et 2011 à l'est de l'exutoire du Lac Nokoué. En outre, il évalue le nombre de maisons détruites ainsi que le nombre de personnes contraintes à une migration forcée. Les figures sont importantes puisque de l'ordre de cent mètres de zone côtière ont totalement disparu en une décennie sur un tronçon de près de six kilomètres de long en pleine ville ou en proche périphérie. ; Peer reviewed

Access to electricity is a crucial issue in the cities of the South. As demand increases, conventional networks are failing, insufficient and sometimes absent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. To satisfy their various needs, city dwellers turn to other solutions, giving rise to various socio-technical assemblages that vary according to the city, the neighbourhood and the household, depending on the conditions of (dys)functioning of the networked service and the modalities of appropriation of the technologies available locally. At the scale of each city, the result is an urban electrical configuration that is perpetually reshaped by the interactions of its constituent parts, in symbiosis with the urban environment. Borrowing its theoretical frameworks from science and technology studies and the social sciences, the research aims to understand the dynamic stability of the configurations and the implications of their incremental transition on urban functioning, particularly in terms of socio-spatial inequalities. In a multiscalar comparative approach, extensive empirical work was carried out in 2017 and 2018 with 160 households in a selection of neighbourhoods reflecting urban diversity in Ibadan in Nigeria and Cotonou in Benin. Mapping, at the heart of the analysis, reveals the distribution and diversity of accommodations between socio-technical assemblages, inequalities of access and differentiated urban integration.The research shows that urban practices, which are both open to new opportunities for bricolage, constrained by individually mobilisable access mechanisms and shaped by power relations, stabilise regimes of access to electricity and fuel processes of transition through hybridisation that are extremely sensitive to multi-level political and institutional dynamics, to the various channels of market globalisation and to local networks of solidarity and influence. The regularities observed make it possible to define three regimes in these fields: the combination of intermittencies, makeshift bricolage ...