Social justice: The link between trade liberalisation and sub-Saharan Africa's potential to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015

Abstract

The possible impact of the unintended worst possible effects of the current multilateral WTO sponsored trade liberalisation project on Sub-Saharan Africa’s potential to realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015 is examined. The article shows that the WTO’s current approach to trade liberalisation is nurturing and strengthening economic inequalities between and within economic regions of the world and also between and within States themselves without taking any steps to mitigate this difficulty. The article recommends the integration of ILO and WTO dynamics to ensure human development oriented wealth maximisation under the WTO trade liberalisation regime. In this sense the ILO would become the broker and insurer of equality in the dignity of labour between Sub-Saharan African workers and other workers of the world, increasing thereby the chances for Sub-Saharan African States to achieve the MDGs by the target date of 2015.