Preparatory Meeting - Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)

The HRIA should provide policy recommendations to be integrated into the design and implementation of the CFTA, aligning with human rights as well as development commitments and priorities.

In that context, a scoping study was prepared with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Geneva office. With the completion of the scoping study, the next steps for the HRIA ex-ante assessment – culminating in a HRIA report – had to be defined. Therefore, this meeting aimed at consulting with invited participants from international organisations including UNCTAD and ILO, civil society groups and think tanks to brainstorm on the risks identified in the scoping study and how to design the next phase of the HRIA.