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The Economic Commission for Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

A. H. Akiwumi
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Extract

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) was established in 1958 by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations ECOSOC) by virtue of its powers contained in Article 68 of the United Nations Charter and in pursuance of resolution 1155(XII) adopted on November 26th, 1957 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. In exercise of its power aforesaid, the ECOSOC by its resolution 671A(XXV) of April 29th, 1958, not only established the ECA but also prescribed the legal framework in relation to the functions, membership, etc. of the ECA. The geographical scope of the work of the ECA is the whole continent of Africa, Madagascar and other African islands. This legal framework, which is referred to in resolution 671A(XXV) above as “the Terms of Reference of the Economic Commission for Africa”, provides that the ECA shall be subject to the general supervision of the ECOSOC in the performance of its functions which shall be within the framework of the United Nations, and that the ECA shall take no action with respect to any country without the agreement of that country. In particular, the functions of the ECA are to initiate and participate in measures for facilitating concerted action for the economic and social development of Africa with a view to raising the level of economic activity and levels of living in Africa, and for maintaining and strengthening the economic relations of the countries and territories of Africa both among themselves and with other countries of the world.

Type
Papers of the Uppsala Conference
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 16 , Issue 3: Special number: UPPSALA CONFERENCE O LEGAL MECHANISMS OF ECON CO-OPERATION IN AFRICAN INTER ORGANIZATIONS , Autumn/Automne 1972 , pp. 254 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1972

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References

2 “The Economic and Social Council shall set up commissions in economic and social fields…and such other commissions as may be required for the performance of its functions”. By virtue of this Article, the ECOSOC had established the following commissions for their corresponding geographical areas: the Economic Commission for Europe in 1947, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East in 1949 and the Economic Commission for Latin America in 1948. By 1953, the ECOSOC had also established the United Nations Economic and Social Office in Beirut to serve the Middle East.

3 This resolution, noting that the work of the then existing economic commissions had been very useful and that the report of a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations had as far back as 1951 recommended the establishment of an Economic Commission for Africa and a related international secretariat, as a means of assisting the economic development of Africa, recommended the establishment of the ECA by the ECOSOC.

page 255 note 1 See paragraph 2 of the Terms of Reference of the Economic Commission for Africa.

page 255 note 2 The high level of economic and social development and infrastructure in Europe, the long-standing history of intercourse among European countries and the birth of Europeanism that was generated after the second World Warṙ, were such that the weaknesses inherent in the framework and functions of the Economic Commission for Europe did not hinder the economic and social development of that region. In Latin America and Asia and the Far East, there were countries, pace setters as it were, such as Brazil and Argentina, and Japan, Australia and now China, respectively. This leaves Africa in a category all its own. The low level of economic and social development and infrastructure that uniformly applied in 1958 and still does, in Africa, called for one African machinery that could effectively deal with the fundamental economic and social problems of the region.

page 257 note 1 “The Commission may, after consultation with any specialized agency and with the approval of the Economic and Social Council, establish such subsidiary bodies as it deems appropriate for facilitating the carrying out of its responsibilities”.

page 257 note 2 “The Commission may, after consultation with any specialized agency concerned, and with the approval of the Economic and Social Council, set up such continually acting subsidiary bodies as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions and shall define the powers and composition of each of them”.

page 259 note 1 The geographical scope of the Commission's work shall be the whole continent of Africa. Madagascar and other African islands.

page 261 note 1 See pp. 35–36 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, What it IS, what it DOES, how it WORKS, Office of Public Information—OPI-330, United Nations, 1969.