The African Union has declared 2016 the Year of Human Rights in Africa.
Director of Political Affairs of the African Union Communication (AUC) Dr Khabele Matlosa said the resolution was reached after several consultations among core African Union Organs with mandate on human rights including the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the African Union Commission and the African Committee on the Rights and Welfares of the Child.
Dr Matlosa disclosed this recently when speaking at a meeting organised by the Department of Political Affairs of the African Union (AU) in collaboration with the Arusha-based African Court on Human and People’s Rights.
The meeting was held to brainstorm and exchange views on the theme of the upcoming year: “Human Rights in Africa with a particular focus on women” generally referred to as ‘Project 2016’.It also sought to deliberate the Draft African Union Transitional Justice Policy Framework and outcome of the Human Rights and Transitional Justice Cluster of the African Governance Architecture (AGA) meeting.
Further, they discussed the consultative meeting on the implementation of the AU Transitional Justice Policy Framework, as part of the Action Plan of the Human Rights Strategy for Africa, which brought together participants from AU Organs, CSOs, Political Parties and continental organisations dealing on human rights.
It was resolved that the year 2016 would mark the 35th Anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter in 1981, the 30th Anniversary of the entry into force of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights in 1986, the 29th Anniversary of the operationalisation of the Commission in 1987, 10th Anniversary of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights; and the 13th Anniversary of the Maputo Protocol that ushered in a new thinking on how to address gender inequality and the rights of women in Africa.
According to the AU’s Director of Political Affairs, the African Year of Human Rights with Special Focus on the Rights of Women is not only timely but justifiable.
“It will enhance public awareness on human rights, assess the ratification and implementation of the human rights instruments, in particular, the Maputo Protocol, and progress made in advancing the rights of women since the adoption of the Protocol,” he said.
“It would also encourage AU Member States to develop policies, plans of actions and programmes on the promotion and protection of human and peoples' rights, and specific programmes with the intention of enhancing women’s empowerment in all spheres of society on the continent,” underlined Dr Matlosa.
Justice Kioko stated that the year 2016 will provide an opportunity for the entire continent to take stock of the human rights situation on the continent in general, and the rights of women in particular.
“These Consultations will give us the opportunity to reflect and brainstorm on how to shape the course of human rights in particular and the justice landscape on the continent as a whole,” he underscored.
Justice Kioko recalled that, the decision of the African Union to establish a Transitional Justice Framework is rooted in the continent’s history.
He explained that, since independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most African governments have been undemocratic, repressive and authoritarian.
“This has often been marked by serious violations of human rights,” he noted.
“The attempts to move away from this dark era of dictatorship with the advent of the third wave of democratisation in the 1990s have been accompanied by numerous challenges,” he went on to note.
“The African Union Transitional Justice Framework is thus a positive reaction to the numerous challenges African States face when confronted with violence as they transition from one political system to another or as they emerge from a violent situation,” said the Judge.
He said in a continent marked by violence and political upheaval, from the era of slave trade through colonialism, apartheid and dictatorship, one cannot help but focus on the transitional nature of many African societies.
“The third wave of democratisation of the late 1980s and early 1990s has given transitional justice a new and added impetus in Africa,” he added.
He went on to point out that the concept has now assumed a broader perspective involving a comprehensive re-examination of a society in transition from a retrospective position to a prospective one with democratic consolidation as one of its primary objectives.
“The democratisation process in Africa, as anywhere else, invoked transitional justice principles in order to redress legacies of human rights abuses in a manner that respects and protects the dignity of survivors and their relatives, without threatening future peace and security,” summed up Justice Kioko.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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