Stephen Sevidzem Kingah was born in March 1980 in Cameroon. He started working for the Institute for European Studies (IES) in March 2004 on an IES project on the European Union (EU) and Regional Integration in Africa. He graduated from VUB in October 2008 as Doctor in Law with his PhD thesis is on "Access to Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines in the Southern African Development Community (SADC): Coherence of EC Rules and Policies." 

Stephen takes interest in democratization processes in Africa; on EU’s relations with the Group of African Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) and on international economic law with special emphasis international investments and on the link between development and trade.  

Before joining the IES Stephen pursued a maîtrise en droit privé at the University of Yaoundé II (2002). He obtained an LLM in Legal Theory from the European Academy of Legal Theory, Brussels (2003, magna cum laude). His LLM final paper was on the “Historical Foundations of African Law.” In 2004 Stephen equally received his diplôme d’études spécialisé (DES) in international human rights law from the l’Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL) and Faculté Universitaire Notre Damme Namur. He is associate member of scientific committee of the Revue de droit africain. In addition Stephen is associate research fellow at the United Nations University (Comparative Regional Integration Studies) Bruges.

- PhD defended at the Law Faculty of the VUB. Topic: Access to Aids Medicines in Southern Africa: Coherence of European Community Rules and Policies.

- Others interests: International Economic Law; EC-ACP relations; Law of International Organizations; Governance in Africa; the African Union.

Conference Presentations

1) “Is the African Union Gospel of Institutional Reformation to be believed?” Paper Presented at the EADI General Conference on 24 September 2005, Bonn, Germany.

2) “Swapping Money for Political and Economic accountability: Good Governance from the Yaoundé to the Cotonou Agreements between the EC and ACP Countries” Paper Presented at the UACES conference in Limerick, Ireland, 1 September, 2006 (with S. Smis).

3) “Negotiating Trade Preferences on Big Brothers’ Terms: EC and US Trade and Political Strategies in Africa” ECPR conference in Istanbul, Turkey, 23 September 2006 (with S. Smis).

4) “Reeling between the Hammer and an Anvil: How the Government of Chad can Meet its Obligations with its People without Compromising its Relations with the World Bank and the International oil Consortium,” Paper presented at the 101^st annual meeting of the American Society of International Law 28 – 31 March 2007, (29 March 2007) Washington, D.C., the United States of America. (with S. Smis).

5) “The Utility and Futility of Introducing Counter-Terrorism and Non-Proliferation Clauses in the Revised Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the ACP and EU,” Paper presented at the University Association for Contemporary European Studies Conference, 3 – 5 September 2007, Portsmouth, the United Kingdom. (with S. Smis).

6) “Selected Problems of Institutional and Substantive Coherence in SADC-EC EPA Negotiations” Conference Organized by the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden held on 5-7 October 2007.

7) “Access to Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines in the Southern African Development Community: The Coherence of EC Rules and Policies” Paper Presented at the University of Warwick, the United Kingdom, 6 November 2007.

8) “EU’s New Africa Strategy: Grounds for Cautious Optimism,” Paper presented at the Workshop on “The State of Multi-party Systems and Democratic Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Role of the European Union,” Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Brussels, Belgium, 8 November 2007.

9) “Contributions of the European Community on Access to HIV/AIDS Medicines in Africa at the WTO.” Paper presented at the Conference on EU in International Affairs, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Brussels, Belgium, 24-26 April 2008. (With Sharifah Sekalala).

10) “Access to Affordable AIDS Medicines in SADC,” Paper presented as main lecture at the National Moot Court on Access to Aids Medicines, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique, 6 November 2008.

11) "European Commission Response to the Effects of the Financial Crisis in the developing world," Presentation before the Political Affairs Committee of the Joint EU-ACP Parliamentary Assembly, 11 February 2009, ACP House Brussels, Belgium.

12) “How Countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can use the World Trade Organization and the European Community Flexibilities for Better Access to Affordable HIV/AIDS Medicines” Paper presented at Bamberg University, Germany 20 June 2009.

Books and Monographs

Books and monographs

1) “The Southern African Development Community” International Encyclopaedia of Laws (Kluwer Law International, 2009) (With S Smis).

2) Regional Integration Priorities for ASEAN, CARICOM, CEMAC, CAREC, CIS, ECOWAS, EAC, SAARC and SADC 2009-2012 (GTZ/UNU, forthcoming 2009).

Book chapters

1) Unassertive Inter-Regionalism: EU-SADC Cooperation in Addressing the Conflict in the DRC in Soderbaum and Stalgren eds EU and the Global South (Lynne Rienner, 2009). (With S. Smis)

Journal Articles

1) “Using the Palaver Settlement Paradigm in Fostering the Democratic Ideal in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 30 Revue de Droit Africain (2004), pp. 109-143.

2) “Human Rights and Trans-national Corporations in Africa” published on line at the didh Sorbonne. (2004).

3) “The Revised Cotonou Agreement between the European Community and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States: Innovations on Security, Political Dialogue, Transparency, Money and Social Responsibility,” 50 Journal of African law (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 59-71.

4) “The Capacity of the African Union to Promote Good Governance,” 3 International Organizations Law Review (Brill NV/ Martinus Nijhoff, 2006), pp. 315-337.

5) “The New EU Africa Strategy: Grounds for Cautious Optimism,” 11 European Foreign Affairs Review (Kluwer Law International, 2006), pp. 527-553.

6) “Comparing EU and US’ Trade and Political Strategies in Africa”, Studia Diplomatica: Brussels Journal of International Relations (Belgian Institute for International Relations, forthcoming, 2007). (with S. Smis), pp. 91-110.

7) “The Chad Cameroon Pipeline Project (CCPP) and the Dilemmas of the Government of Chad” Proceedings of the American Society of International Law (American Society of International Law, 2008). (With S Smis), pp. 141-143.

8) “The New Security Clauses of the Revised Cotonou Agreement” 1 International and Comparative Law Quarterly (Cambridge University Press, 2008) (With S Smis), pp 149-168.

9) “How the Government of Chad can meet its Development Pledges to the People of Chad without Breaching its Obligations with the World Bank and Multinational Companies” 4 Manchester Journal of International Economic Law (Manchester University Press, 2007) (With S Smis), pp 3-42.

10) “Recent Developments in the Southern African Development Community” Annual Report of the Interest Group on International Organizations of the American Society of International Law (2007) (With S Smis).

11) “Recent Developments in the Southern African Development Community: With emphasis on the crisis in Zimbabwe and the xenophobic killings in South Africa” Annual Report of the Interest Group on International Organizations of the American Society of International Law  (2008) (With S Smis).

12) How countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can use the World Trade Organisation and the European Community flexibilities for better access to affordable HIV/AIDS medicines, 270-302, Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa Year Book 2008, Volume 8 (2009).

13) “Assessing the Contributions of the EC at the WTO in Facilitating Access to Affordable Medicines in Africa,” 1 King’s College Student Law Review (2009).