Table Of Contents Preface....................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms and Abbreviations....................................................................................................... 8 Figures and Tables...................................................................................................................... 9 Executive Summary................................................................................................. 10 Chapter I – The Continental Free Trade Area in Context.................................... 19 A Introduction to the CFTA............................................................................................................ 19 B The trade landscape in Africa..................................................................................................... 21 C African regional trade arrangements.......................................................................................... 22 D Boosting intra-African trade....................................................................................................... 24 E Development, trade, and human rights commitments in Africa................................................... 27 Chapter II – The rationale for a human rights impact assessment......................... 32 A Consistency with CFTA objectives and negotiating principles....................................................... 32 B An inclusive and just CFTA will be a robust CFTA........................................................................ 33 C Human rights provides insights into the distribution effects of the CFTA...................................... 33 D A human rights impact assessment can usefully inform CFTA negotiation and implementation.... 37 Chapter III – Methodology of this Human Rights Impact Assessment................... 40 A Theory and Practice of HRIAs...................................................................................................... 40 B Process of the CFTA HRIA........................................................................................................... 40 C Research Questions.................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter IV – The human rights framework............................................................ 46 A Introduction............................................................................................................................... 46 B General human rights principles................................................................................................. 48 C The right to an Adequate Standard of Living.............................................................................. 51 D The Right to Work and Social Security........................................................................................ 52 E The Right to food...................................................................................................................... 55 F Women’s rights.......................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter V – Informal Cross-Border Traders............................................................ 61 A Introduction............................................................................................................................... 61 B Key features............................................................................................................................... 61 C Possible impacts of CFTA on informal cross-border traders.......................................................... 65 D Recommendations..................................................................................................................... 72 1