RESOLUTION IN PREPARATION FOR THE AU THEME FOR 2025 “JUSTICE FOR AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT THROUGH REPARATIONS” THROUGH CONSULTATIONS ON AFRO DESCENDANTS, INDIGENOUS/ETHNIC ANCESTRY, REPARATIONS AND THE 6th REGION OF THE AFRICAN UNION. ACHPR/Res.616 (LXXXI) 2024
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Commission) meeting in Banjul, The Gambia at its 81st Ordinary Session from 17 October to 6 November 2024:
Recalling its mandate to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in Africa under Article 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter);
Acknowledging the African Union Theme for the Year 2025 - “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations”;
Recalling that the Working Paper on desirable results of the 6th Pan African Congress held in 1974 encouraged “African and Caribbean states to recognize the principle of dual citizenship for Africans from the West…and that special effort be made to facilitate their acquiring of African citizenship”;
Recalling that the African Charter provides that, “Every individual shall have the right to leave any country including his own, and to return to his country”;
Recalling that the World Conference Against Racism held in 2001, in its Durban Declaration and Program of Action point 158, called for “facilitation of welcomed return and resettlement of the descendants of enslaved Africans” and point 160 “urges States to take all necessary measures to address, as a matter of urgency, the pressing requirement for justice for the victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and to ensure that victims have full access to information, support, effective protection and national, administrative and judicial remedies, including the right to seek just and adequate reparation or satisfaction for damage, as well as legal assistance, where required” among others.
Recalling that the First African Union - Western Hemisphere Diaspora Forum in Washington D.C. in 2002 requested that “each member state legislate the right of citizenship to members of the Diaspora”;
Highlighting that on 3 - 4 February 2003, the first Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted the historic Article 3(q) that officially, “invite(s) and encourage(s) the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the African Union in its capacity as an important part of our Continent.” From this decision, the African Diaspora would become designated as the 6th Region of the African Union”;
Recalling that Article 3 of the Protocol on Amendments of the Constitutive Act of the African Union recognizes the important role the African Diaspora has to play in the development of the continent and states that the Union will “invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our Continent, in the building of the African Union.”
Further recalling Executive Council Decision - Ext/EX/CL/Dec.6 (III) of the Third Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, held in South Africa in May 2003, on “the Development of the Diaspora Initiative in the African Union.”
Recalling that the Report of the First Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora held in Senegal in 2004 recommended that, “the African Union should develop a framework for a wider African Citizenship Initiative” and “The African Union Commission should among others hold consultation with the Diaspora.
Emphasizing that the Declaration of the Global African Diaspora Summit in South Africa in 2012 “agree[s) to set up a Diaspora Advisory Board which will address overarching issues of concern to Africa and its Diaspora such as reparations, right to return and follow up to WCAR plan of action”;
Further emphasizing that the AU 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration of May 2013 declared, “unflinching belief in our common destiny, our Shared Values and the affirmation of the African identity; the celebration of unity in diversity and the institution of the African citizenship;” and “Consolidating existing commitments and instruments and among others agreed to facilitate African citizenship to allow free movement of people through the gradual removal of visa requirements”;
Mindful of the Resolution on Africa’s Reparations Agenda and The Human Rights of Africans In the Diaspora and People of African Descent Worldwide - ACHPR/Res.543 (LXXIII) 2022 that calls upon member states to “take measures to eliminate barriers to acquisition of citizenship and identity documentation by Africans in the diaspora” and “conceptualize reparations from Africa’s perspective, describe the harm occasioned by the tragedies of the past, establish a case for reparations (or Africa’s claim), and pursue justice for the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans”;
Restating the Pan-Africanist Law of Return: Quintessential Reparations conviction that reparation is one option to repair the wrongs committed against African peoples through slavery and its apprentices, colonization and imperialism as the first wrong committed was taking millions of peoples from their homeland through which they lost their African citizenship and this is the first thing that needs to be given back. It is morally and philosophically the first step in the journey of a thousand miles that needs to be undertaken if Africa and African peoples are to move forward in a forceful, positive and determined manner in the 21st Century and any African government which challenges the right to return to African for proof of specific identity is in breach of their own claim for compensation for slavery;”
Further highlighting that the 2023 Accra Proclamation on Reparations “creates a transcontinental partnership framework between the AU, CARICOM Latin American States, and the African diaspora in Europe and all other regions in the world, including, where appropriate, relevant CSOs to explore the legal and judicial options for reparations through the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC).
Recognizing the need to host a Roundtable discussion on Reparations and the African Union 6th Region during the African Union Theme for the Year 2025 - “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations”
THE AFRICAN COMMISSION:
i) Resolves to hold consultations ahead of its 83rd Ordinary Session on the AU Theme of the Year 2025, on Reparations and the African Union 6th Region. The consultations will inform the overall theme and particularly Afro-Descents, Indigenous/Ethnic Ancestry, and Integration, of the AU 6th Region, as well as the notion of human rights abuses from abduction and enforced disappearances of Africans through Slavery and Reparation arising from Slavery, Colonization of the Motherland and Neo-Colonialism).
ii) Calls on the Chairperson of Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and Minorities in Africa and the Chairperson of ECOSSOC to lead this initiative and co-organize the Roundtable in conjunction with associated mechanisms in the Commission.
iii) Calls the Chairperson of Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and Minorities in Africa to work closely with the host country of the International Conference on Xenophobia (the Republic of South Africa) in order to spotlight the Roundtable at the February 2025 AU Summit.
iv) Resolves to work jointly with the African Diaspora for the Launch of AU 6th Region during the 2025 Theme Year.
v) Urges the African Diaspora organizations to establish an appropriate process for determining modalities for elections and elect twenty (20) CSOs to the AU ECOSOCC General Assembly, in conformity with Article 5 (3) of the States of AU ECOSOCC, and to cooperate with the African Commission, AU ECOSSOC, the AU Member States and other relevant stakeholders to make the AU Theme of the Year 2025 a success.
Done in Banjul, The Gambia on 6th November 2024
