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SYMPOSIUM ON THE AFRICAN UNION - STATEMENT OF CONSENSUS
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5. Peace, Security, Humanitarianism and Human Rights
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- Peace is fundamental to human existence. Human security is the foundation of all forms of security, including state security. In this regard, peace and security are the foundation for political integration, as well as the durable means for solving internal and international conflicts in Africa. Without peace, nothing else can be achieved.
- The breakdown of peace and security in Africa is in part a result of the erosion African ethical values and philosophies. The quest for peace and security should therefore aim to rehabilitate and revitalise those values as well as the ways and means through which these values were transmitted from the old to the young. Insertion of these values in the education curricula as well as deep study of African history would go a long way towards deepening of commitments to African unity through the African Union.
- In pursuit of peace and security, it is both desirable and necessary to seek harmonisation and coordination between the African Union and RECs. The African Union should seek means of clarifying the roles and responsibilities of these different African organisations, and should create a formal mechanism for cooperation between them.
- The African Union should be active where it has comparative advantage, in setting standards and conflict preparedness and prevention, acting in partnership with the United Nations when there is a need for intervention, with a special African force set up in accordance with the requisite provisions of the Constitutive Act. This demands a strong ‘security council’ at the African Union, coordinating with the security functions of CSSDCA and NEPAD, backed by the technical resources of an enhanced Conflict Management Centre, with an effective interface with the RECs.
- The clarification of national and regional security doctrines is a precondition for effective security policies and an integral part of good governance. Governments should be encouraged to define their national security interests within the framework of the principles and goals of the African Union, and maintain armed forces consistent with these definitions. Special efforts should be made to restrict the illegal flow of small arms, to demobilise child soldiers, and to prevent the use of anti-personnel landmines in accordance with the Ottawa Convention.
- The various human and people’s rights instruments, adopted by the OAU and ratified by African states, should be incorporated in the Constitutive Act of Union , thus making them integral components of the African Union. There should be rationalisation, consolidation and strengthening of the implementation mechanisms of these instruments. In particular, ratification of the Protocol on the Establishment of the African Court for Human and People’s Rights should be expedited. African states are urged to incorporate the fundamental human rights instruments into their domestic legal systems. An observer function within the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should be instituted that could monitor and report on human rights violations while they are taking place, with a view to taking preventive action as well as seeking remedies after the fact.
- The ECA and OAU should organise training of trainers to sensitise and educate African CSOs and institutions on all aspects of the African Union as well as the relevant protocols and conventions that governments have signed with respect to human rights.
- The OAU Convention against Terrorism should be ratified and enforced by all African states.
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