The
Secretariat of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has embarked on a process of
establishing administrative frameworks with National Parliaments in Africa with
the aim to fast-track the ratification, domestication and implementation of
African Union (AU) legal instruments pertaining to human rights and democratic
governance.
The
process is underpinned by engagements with Clerks of National Parliaments and
Clerks working with Committees on Human Rights and Governance matters. The
engagements serve as a basis to develop administrative systems to ensure that
AU legal instruments are tabled in African legislatures and mainstreamed into
domestic legislation. The programme cadres with the PAP’s mandate to facilitate
and oversee implementation of AU policies and programmes; and coordinate the
harmonization of these policies in Regional Economic Communities and their
parliamentary fora.
The
proposed technical working sessions will focus on AU legal instruments which
promote good governance, respect for human rights, justice, and the rule of law
in Africa, in accordance with Aspiration 3 and 6 of Agenda 2063 of the AU.
These instruments include the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights in
Africa; African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; African Charter
on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; African Youth Charter; Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa;
and the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community
relating to the Pan-African Parliament.
Mr.
Vipya HARAWA, Clerk of the PAP believes that strategic partnerships with
Africa’s Parliaments on collaborative technical mechanisms to monitor the
ratification and domestication of AU legal instruments will pave the way for
the incoming Bureau of the PAP to engage with Presiding Officers of these
parliamentary institutions at political level as part of promoting human rights
and good governance on the continent.
“Our
consultations with Clerks of national Parliaments seek to put in place
administrative frameworks for the implementation of norms, standards,
decisions, and recommendations of the AU by member states. This will enable our
political leadership to hit the ground running and get on with the business of
ensuring that the PAP remains a platform for African citizens to participate in
the affairs of the AU, especially in the areas of human rights and good
governance. Throughout this programme with secretariats of national Parliaments
we are aiming to address all technical hurdles affecting implementation at national
level through Parliaments,” says Mr. Harawa.
The
initial phase of the campaign currently underway undertaken by the Secretariat
of the continental Parliament targets various deliberative organs in countries
such as Algeria, Benin, Congo DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria,
Rwanda, South Africa and Togo.
The
ongoing activity is being implemented under the auspices of the African
Governance Architecture (AGA) project. AGA is inspired by the Constitutive Act
of the AU that expresses the AU’s determination to ‘promote and protect human
and people’s rights, consolidate democratic institutions and culture and ensure
good governance and the rule of law’. It is a “platform for dialogue between
the various stakeholders” who are mandated to promote good governance and
strengthen democracy in Africa, in addition to translating the objectives of
the legal and policy pronouncements in the AU Shared Values.
Source: Jeffrey
Onganga, Media Officer, Pan African Parliament
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