CONFLICT, DISPLACEMENT, AND THE PARADOX OF FREE MOVEMENT IN WEST AFRICA

Ejiofor Kenechukwu Emmanuel — (Page 23-34)                            

Abstract

The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement represents one of Africa’s most ambitious mobility regimes, yet everyday realities of conflict, border securitisation, and state sovereignty routinely undermine its practical operation. This article examines the disjunction between the legal promise of free movement and the political and social conditions that constrain mobility in West Africa.

Drawing on African philosophy, political theory, and migration studies, it argues that movement in the region operates less as an enforceable right than as a contingent condition shaped by insecurity, inherited borders, and state interests. Using critical philosophical analysis of regional legal instruments and scholarly literature, the study shows how migration governance simultaneously affirms regional unity and reproduces forms of exclusion. It concludes by proposing a normative re-orientation of mobility understood not merely as physical relocation but as a claim to dignity, belonging, and political recognition.

Framing movement as an ethical and political demand rather than an administrative concession offers a pathway for rethinking regional integration beyond formal commitments toward substantive inclusion.

Keywords: African philosophy; borders; displacement; ECOWAS; free movement