الاتحاد الأفريقي
UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone: +251 11 551 7700 Fax: +251 115 182 072 Website: www.au.int
Opening Remarks
By
Statement by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission at the Opening of the 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
21 October 2022 Banjul-Gambia
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- Your Excellency , Alieu Badara Joof, Vice President of the Republic of the Gambia
- Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Representatives of the Member States of the African Union
- Excellency, Representing the President of the Republic of Senegal
- Distinguished Delegates of the Member States of the African Union,
- Honourable Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights;
- Distinguished Representatives of the Organs of the African Union;
- Honourable Commissioners of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights;
- Excellencies, Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
- Distinguished Representatives of International Organizations,
- Ladies and Gentlemen, Representatives of National Human Rights Institutions;
- Representatives of Civil Society and Non-governmental Organisations;
- Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
- It is a great honour and pleasure for me to address your august Assembly on the occasion of the opening ceremony of this 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights on behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat.
- Indeed, this 73rd Ordinary Session is special because, as you know, it coincides with the celebration of the 35th Anniversary of the Commission. It should be recalled that more than 40 years ago, African States adopted a fundamental instrument, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (the African Charter), in Nairobi on 27 June 1981 at the 18th Assembly of the Organization
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of African Unity. This African Charter provides for the establishment of a Commission for the promotion and protection of human and peoples' rights on the continent.
- It is against this background that the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights was established in 1987 as the leading independent regional institution for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa. In this regard, I would like to use this opportunity to thank the Government of The Gambia for its unreserved acceptance of the Commission from the beginning of its existence to the present day.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
- The human rights challenges still confronting us today show that the Heads of State and Government of the day were visionary and right to provide our Africa with its own mechanism for the promotion and protection of human and peoples' rights, to promote and preserve positive African cultural traditions and to foster change where it is needed.