Pan-African Parliament signs MOU with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) on Saturday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) at the political and technical levels.

The MoU is intended to provide a framework of cooperation and facilitate and strengthen collaboration between the Parties, in a non-exclusive basis, in areas of common interest.

The Pan-African Parliament, represented by its President, H.E. Hon. Chief Fortune Z. Charumbira, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, led by Hon. Remy Ngoy Lumbu, Chairperson of the Commission, have agreed to collaborate, cooperate and interact through initiatives and activities in the fields of human rights, good governance and democracy.

As African Union institutions, the PAP and the ACHPR are vested with human rights promotion and protection mandate in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament, as well as other relevant African Union legal and policy instruments.

Both Parties have resolved to promote the attainment of the objectives laid down by their respective founding instruments and to act in close co-operation, on matters of mutual interest with a view to harmonize their efforts towards greater effectiveness, as far as possible, having due regard to their respective mandates and functions.

The signing ceremony took place today in Nairobi, Kenya on the margins of the African Union 5th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting.