AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA TECHNICAL CONSULTATIVE MEETING TO ENHANCE COORDINATION AMONGST AU ORGANS WITH A HUMAN RIGHTS MANDATE AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY FOR AFRICA LOME, TOGO 09-10 AUGUST 2012 CONCEPT NOTE SHARED VALUES: OUR COMMON DESTINY, OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY 1
1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONAL 1.1 Africa, through the leadership of the African Union (AU), has developed a number of initiatives aiming at promoting and protecting human and peoples rights in Africa. Historically, the African political and legal order has always been driven by the need to respect human dignity and the rule of law in Africa. This concern expressed itself in the 1963 Charter of the Organization of African Unity, in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights adopted in June 1981, in the Constitutive Act of the African Union adopted in Lomé in 2000 and more recently in the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, 2007. These four documents indicate the distance covered by the African regional political order in the formulation of principles and standards to guarantee human dignity and rights in Africa, and the development of appropriate mechanisms responsible for securing adherence to and enforcement of those principles and standards. 1.2 To facilitate coordinative impact and action, the AU Human Rights Organs with a human rights mandate and RECs Courts and Tribunals adopted the Human Rights Strategy for Africa in Banjul, The Gambia in April 2011. 1.3 The purpose of the Strategy is to strengthen the African human and peoples rights system in order to deepen the culture of democracy and human rights in conformity with the objectives of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and other relevant instruments. The Strategy seeks to address the current challenges of the African human rights system in order to ensure effective promotion and protection of human rights on the continent. These challenges include: Inadequate coordination and collaboration among AU and RECs organs and institutions; Limited capacity of human rights institutions; Insufficient implementation and enforcement of human rights norms and decisions; and Limited awareness and access to the African human rights mechanisms. 1.7 The Human Rights Strategy for Africa therefore seeks to achieve the following specific objectives: Enhanced policy, programmes and institutional coordination and coherence among AU, RECs and Member States; Strengthened capacity of institutions at continental, regional and national levels; Accelerated ratification, domestication, and effective implementation of human rights instruments; and Increased promotion and popularization of African human rights norms. 2
1.8 The Strategy comes with a five-year Action Plan that should be implemented at the continental level by Member States, AUC, AU Organs/Institutions, RECs, with active support of the NHRIs and Civil Society. 1.4 The Strategy recommended that AU organs and other stakeholders should establish a mechanism where there will be regular consultations and meetings to enhance coordination and collaboration to better promote and protect human and peoples rights on the continent. These regular consultations allow all organs and other stakeholders to share information on their respective calendar of activities, planned missions, annual work plans and reports. 1.5 As part of the implementation of the Action Plan of the Human Rights Strategy for Africa, the Department of Political Affairs in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) intends to organize Consultative Meeting to Enhance Coordination Amongst AU Organs to better fulfill their mandate. The meeting will focus on strengthening the relationship between the ACHPR, AfCHPR and ACERWC and will bring policy makers and technical staff from these organs to facilitate the process of developing a roadmap for an enhanced coordination and collaboration between these organs. 2. OBJECTIVE OF THE TECHNICAL MEETING 2.1 The main objective of the technical meeting is to ensure the involvement of the AU organs in the implementation process of the Action Plan of the Human Rights Strategy for Africa. However, the specific objectives of the meeting are: a. Kick start the work of the Human Rights Cluster of the African Governance Platform; b. Develop a roadmap for enhanced coordination and collaboration among AU Organs to ensure effective implementation of the Action Plan of the HRSA. 3. EXPECTED OUTCOME AND RESULT OF TECHNICAL MEETING 3.1 It is anticipated that the AUC together with the AU Organs with a human rights mandate, RECs and Institutions will agree on a roadmap for enhanced cooperation and collaboration as part of the implementation of the Action Plan of the HRSA. 5. METHODOLOGY 5.1 The meeting is expected to bring together participants and experts from the AUC, African Union Organs, RECs Institutions, as well as Human Rights Experts in the presence of partners and other stakeholders. 5.2 Participants will enrich the discussions and come up with clear ways and means to achieve the expected outcome. 3
5.3 The Meeting will be conducted in a Plenary Session in English and French, and presentations will be followed by discussions to facilitate greater participation and experience sharing. 6. AN INDICATION AND EVIDENCE THAT THE TECHNICAL MEETING FORMS PART OF THE AUC STRATEGIC PLAN AND HOW IT CONTRIBUTES TO IT. 6.1 The AU Constitutive Act provides a clear mandate to promote and protect human and peoples rights on the continent. The need for coordinated actions and interventions within the African Union is informed by the imperative of optimising the impact of various initiatives. Within this context, the approved AUC Strategic Plan (2009-2012) calls upon the AUC and all AU Organs with human rights mandate to develop a Human Rights Strategy for Africa to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. 7. THIS TECHNICAL MEETING AND THE YEAR OF SHARED VALUES 7.1 The Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission as the focal point for the AU Strategic Pillar on Shared Values has embarked on a programmatic process to implement both the Summit Declaration and the Executive Council Decision declaring 2012 as the Year of Shared Values. To this end, a number of activities relating to Shared Values are to be implemented throughout the year and this meeting is one of these planned activities. 4
TECHNICAL CONSULTATIVE MEETING TO ENHANCE COORDINATION AMONGST AU ORGANS WITH A HUMAN RIGHTS MANDATE AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY FOR AFRICA LOME, TOGO 09-10 AUGUST 2012 DRAFT AGENDA DAY 1: 09 AUGUST 2012 10:00-10:30 OPENING CEREMONY: 10:30-11:00 TEA/COFFEE BREAK Opening Statement by the Department of Political Affairs 11:00-13:00 PRESENTATION ON THE EXISTING WORK-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACHPR AND THE AFCHPR, A MODEL FOR COOPERATION This presentation will focus on the existing relationship between the ACHPR and the AfCHPR with focus on the process which led to the harmonization of the internal Rules of Procedures between the two organs. Also, it will highlight current and future areas of cooperation Chaired by: DPA/AUC Presented by: ACHPR/AfCHPR General Discussions 13:00-14:30 LUNCH BREAK 14:30-16:00 PRESENTATION ON THE NEED TO ENHANCE COOPERATION AMONG AU ORGANS AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY FOR AFRICA This presentation will focus on the need for enhance cooperation between the ACHPR, the AfCHPR and the ACERWC and indicate areas for this cooperation with clear objectives, goals and outcomes. Discussion will pave the way for the development of a roadmap for an enhanced cooperation. 5
Chaired by: DPA/AUC Presented by: DPA/AUC General Discussions 16:00-16:30 TEA/COFFEE BREAK 16:30-17:30 CONTINUE DISCUSSION ON THE NEED TO ENHANCE COOPERATION AMONG AU ORGANS AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY FOR AFRICA Chaired by: DPA/AUC General Discussions DAY 2: 10 AUGUST 2012 09:30-11:00 PRESENTATION ON THE AFRICAN GOVERNANCE PLATFORM AND THE YEAR OF SHARED VALUES This presentation will provide information on the newly launched African Governance Platform and highlight its areas of function. The Presentation will focus on the Human Rights Cluster of the Platform and how it could enhance coordination amongst AU Organs with a human rights mandate. This is in addition to sharing information on 2012 the Year of Shared Values. Chaired by: DPA/AUC Presented by: DPA/AUC General Discussions 11:00-11:30 TEA/COFFEE BREAK 11:30-13:00 WAY FORWARD ON ENHANCING COORDINATION AMONG AU ORGANS AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION PLAN OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRAETGY FOR AFRICA Chaired by: DPA/AUC 6
General Discussions 13:00-14:30 LUNCH BREAK 14:30-17:00 PREPARATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS 17:00-18:00 ADOPTION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS Chaired by: DPA/AUC 7
TECHNICAL CONSULTATIVE MEETING TO ENHANCE COORDINATION AMONGST AU ORGANS WITH A HUMAN RIGHTS MANDATE AS PART OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS STRATEGY FOR AFRICA LOME, TOGO, 09-10 AUGUST 2012 SPONSORED PARTICIPANTS A. AUC (7) PARTICIPANTS LIST 1. Dr. Mamadou Dia, Head, Division for DGHRE, DPA/AUC 2. Mr. Mbari Calixe, Sr. Governance Officer, DPA/AUC 3. Mr. Salah S. Hammad, Human Rights Expert, DPA/AUC 4. Mr. Abraham Roch Okoko-Esseau, Governance Coordinator 5. Ms Litha Ogana, Director of WGDD/AUC 6. Legal Counsel 7. Documentalist B. TECHNICAL STAFF (5) 8. Interpreter (English) 9. Interpreter (English) 10. Interpreter (French) 11. Interpreter (French) 12. Translator (French) C. AU ORGANS (5) 13. President of the AfCHPR Arusha, Tanzania E-mail: robert.eno@african-court.org 14. Chairperson the ACHPR, Abuja, Nigeria E-mail: secretary@achpr.org 15. Chairperson of the ACERWC Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Tel: +226 50 35 82 65/ GSM : +226 70 25 47 67/ Office : +226 50 31 68 96 E-mail:agneskabore@hotmail.com 16. Chairperson of PAP Committee of Justice and Human Rights Kigali, Rwanda E-mail: Galal.Nassir@panafricanparliament.org 8
D. RECs TRIBUNALS AND COURTS (4) 17. Hon. Justice Mr. Charles MKANDAWIRE Registrar of the SADC Tribunal Windhoek, Namibia Tel: +264 61383600 E-mail: mkandawirem@sadc-tribunal.org / kamkandawire@yahoo.co.uk 18. President of the ECOWAS Court Abuja, Nigeria Tel: +2348068056664 E-mail: ndopab@yahoo.fr 19. Ms. Isabelle F. Waffubwa Head of Political Department East African Community Arusha, Tanzania E-mail: eacj@eachq.org 20. Dr. Frank Okuthe-Oyugi Executive Director Levy Mwanawasa Regional Centre for Democracy and Good Governance Lusaka, Zambia E-mail: frank.okuthe@icglr.org E. HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS (2) 21. Mr. Mabassa Fall The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Dakar, Senegal E-mail: mabassafall@orange.sn 22. Ms. Rumbidzai DUBE The Centre for Human Rights Harare, Zimbabwe E-mail: rumbiedube@gmail.com 23. Maitre Paulette OYANE-ONDO Présidente du Centre pour la Démocratie et la Défense des Droits de l'homme au Gabon, (CDDG Gabon), Libreville, Gabon Téléphones: 00 (241) 06 26 73 12; 00 (241)70 71 16 48; 00 (241) 07 30 70 82. Email:cabinet_oyaneondo@yahoo.fr 24. Mrs. Lindiwe Nesila Khumalo The Media Institute for Southern Africa Johannesburg, South Africa E-mail: lindikm@gmail.com 9
25. Prof. Poaty Jean Professeur de Droit à l Université de Brazzaville Brazzaville, République du Congo Tel: +242 551 5697 Email: jpoatybz@yahoo.fr 26. Ms. Mahlet Fitsum Advocate Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel-+251911666535 E mail: mahlet_fitsum@yahoo.com F. SELF -SPONSORED PARTICIPANTS (9) 1. Ms. Evelyn EDROMA Programme Officer, UNDP Sub-Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa Johannesburg, South Africa E-mail: evelyn.edroma@undp.org 2. Mr. Mousa GASSAMA Regional Representative of the OHCHR-EAR Addis Ababa, Ethiopia E-mail: MGassama@ohchr.org 3. Mr. Ibrahima KANE Director of AU Advocacy, OSIEA Nairobi, Kenya E-mail:ikane@osiea.org 4. Ms. Marie-Therese KEITA UNAMID Human Rights Department Elfashir, Darfur, Sudan E-mail: mikalac@un.org; amadu_shour200@yahoo.co.uk 5. Mr. Irungu Houghton Pan Africa Director, OXFAM Nairobi, Kenya E-mail: irunguh@oxfam.org.uk 27. Mr. Paul Yao Ahiave Sr. Political Officer, CDD Abuja, FR of Nigeria Fax: +234094619687 E-mail: cddabv@cddwestafrica.org 28. Mr. Don Deya Executive Director 10
Pan African Lawyers Union E-mail : donald.deya@gmail.com; ddeya@lawyersofafrica.org 29. Dr. George Mukundi Independent Expert Nairobi, Kenya E-mail: mukundigeorge@gmail.com 30. Ms. Delphine Serumaga Executive Director of CSVR Johannesburg, South Africa Tel : +27823790255 E-mail: cernest@csvr.org.za 31. Ms. Carnita Ernest Programme Manager of CSVR Cape Town, South Africa Tel : +27823790255 E-mail: cernest@csvr.org.za 11