AU to discuss African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

March 17th, 2008 | EthioPolitics.com |

Capital - The African Union is to deliberation the popularization and ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, from March 17-19 2008, in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The Member States of the African Union adopted the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, in January 2007. The Charter was developed and finalized over a three-year period and after extensive consultations and engagements with experts from Member States and external experts.

The Charter, as adopted, emanates from a concern with unconstitutional changes of government as a cause of insecurity, instability and violent conflict in Africa. Its adoption thus serves as a determination by the African Union to promote and strengthen good governance through the institutionalization of transparency, accountability and participatory democracy.

The adoption of the Charter has received substantive focus and attention across Africa and is viewed as an essential instrument for enhancing the overall state of democracy, elections and governance across Africa.

The Conference Statement of the International Conference on Sustaining Africa’s Democratic Momentum, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from March 5 - 7 2007, on acknowledging Africa’s commitment to democracy as demonstrated by the approval of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and the critical need for this and other key AU Charters to be ratified and implemented, as a matter of top priority.

The adoption of the Charter is perceived as the first step in the direction of achieving the ‘democracy, elections and governance’ objective articulated in the Charter. To be effective, the Charter has to be ratified by member States before it comes into force as an instrument of the African Union Commission.

Though the Charter has been adopted by Members States, formal ratification takes time and requires ongoing encouragement and engagement with Member States. To give effect to this process, it is imperative that the AUC facilitates a Brainstorming Meeting to begin a process of reflection on the most appropriate strategy for taking forward the Charter process.

In addition to the initial brainstorm on the Charter, it is anticipated that workshops will be held on a regional basis to engage with Member State Experts, Civil Society Stakeholders and other external experts on the ratification and subsequent implementation of the Charter.

In view of the objective of popularizing the Charter and ensuring that all member states ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the objectives established for the workshop are as follows:

According to the AU’s statement, the discussion in Bujumbura objectives of sensitizing decision makers and other key stakeholders on the value and contents of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Develop common perspectives on how Charter ratification can contribute towards governance improvements within the region, Build an understanding of the role of different actors in the ratification process and the procedures for ratification that exists amongst the various member states, Establish a common perspective on the actions that would be taken at a sub-regional and member state level to ensure that the Charter is ratified, Contribute towards the overall continental ‘framework for action’ on the popularization, ratification and application of the Charter, It is anticipated that the workshop will be concluded with a presentation of a brief ‘action plan’ that embodies the commitments that have been made towards the popularization and ratification of the Charter. As appropriate, the ‘action plan’ will be embodied in a Workshop Communiqué for wider distribution and communication.