AFRICAN UNION
CONTEXT:
- Recently, African Union (AU) was admitted as a new member of the G20.
ABOUT AFRICAN UNION :
- The AU is an intergovernmental organisation of the 55 member states located on the continent of Africa.
- Launched on July 9, 2002, the grouping is the successor of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was formed in 1963.
- The AU seeks to build “an Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens”, according to its website.
- The AU’s secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa.
- Collectively the group has a gross domestic product (gdp) of $3 trillion with some 1.4 billion people.
OBJECTIVES OF AFRICAN UNION:
- Unlike the OAU, the AU concentrates its energy and resources on achieving greater unity and solidarity between African countries and their people.
- Its key objectives also include promoting peace, stability, and security across the region.
- Protecting and promoting human rights are also part of the agenda.
- It seeks to accelerate the process of the political and socio-economic integration of the continent.
- Moreover, the AU addresses the multifaceted social, economic and political problems that the African nations have been facing.
AIM OF AFRICAN UNION :
The Constitutive Act of the African Union and the Protocol on Amendments to the Consitutive Act of the African Union lay out the aims of the AU which are:
- Achieve greater unity and solidarity between African countries and their the people
- Defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its Member States;
- Accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
- Promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples;
- Encourage international cooperation
- Promote peace, security, and stability on the continent;
- Promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance;
- Promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant human rights instruments;
- Establish the necessary conditions which enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international negotiations;
- Promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as well as the integration of African economies.
BENEFITS OF AFRICAN UNION’S INCLUSION IN G20 :
- The AU now has an opportunity to use its G20 permanent seat to craft a win-win pathway for the entire world with an uncompromising demand to redesign the global trade, finance, and investment architecture.
- The group’s inclusion will also give African interests and perspectives voice and visibility in the G20.
SYLLABUS: PRELIMS, CURRENT AFFAIRS
