A paper published in the last edition of the African Human Rights Yearbook edited by the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) raises an interesting issue, concerning the lack of social clauses in the AfCFTA framework to protect labour standards and the rights of workers for the new jobs that will be hopefully created by the trade liberalisation process triggered by the AfCFTA. This exposes such workers at further risk of job loss (for unlawful dismissal) and exploitation. If, on one hand, extensive research has been conducted so far to estimate the potential job creation effects arising from the implementation of the AfCFTA, studies aimed at analyzing the quality of jobs that will be generated are very limited. There is a risk that these workers will not be guaranteed with decent working conditions, the paper warns, and that the liberalisation of trade that the AfCFTA will stimulate will undermine the quality of employment, leading to lower wages, less job security, health and safety problems, longer working hours and increased workloads.
