Decision on Streamlining of the African Union Summits and the Working Methods of the African Union

DECISION ON STREAMLINING OF THE AFRICAN UNION SUMMITS AND
THE WORKING METHODS OF THE AFRICAN UNION

The Assembly,

1. TAKES NOTE of

1. the Report of the Commission on the Comparative Study on the Working Methods of the African Union (AU) and the Streamlining of the AU Summits and REQUESTS Member States and the Commission to implement the recommendations agreed to by the Assembly; as well as

2. the outcomes of the Retreat of the Executive Council held in Mekelle, Ethiopia on 24 and 25 January 2016 on the implementation of Agenda 2063;

2. DECIDES to:

1. Revise and review the Constitutive Act of the African Union for it to be an effective legal instrument to accelerate, facilitate and deepen the efficiency and the integration process on the continent;

2. Call on all Member States to expedite signature and ratification of the Protocol to the Constitutive Act of the African Union relating to the Pan­African Parliament and the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, to further deepen integration on the continent;

3. Subject the items proposed by Member States to due process of prior analysis of policy, legal, financial and structural implications by the Commission before being submitted to Policy Organs and they should only relate to the Theme of the Year. The Commission should continue to exercise its responsibility to initiate the Agenda of the Policy Organs in particular taking into consideration the related legal, structural and financial implications;

4. Dissolve the Ministerial Drafting Committee as currently constituted in view of the fact that the AU has since improved its decision making process with the Commission proposing draft decisions which are considered by the PRC, before submission to the Assembly through the Executive Council;

5. Expedite the work of the PRC Subcommittee on Rules, Standards and Credentials to incorporate into the revised Rules of Procedure the decisions of the Assembly on the Streamlining of Summits and Working Methods of the African Union ;

6. Request the Commission to elaborate a roadmap on the implementation of the Decisions of AU Summits, including using the Scorecard approach on the implementation of decisions to be presented to the Assembly through the Executive Council;

7. Empower individuals, through these reforms, to directly petition the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (AfCHPR) on the implementation or otherwise of the Decisions taken by the Policy Organs as long as individual comes from a Member State, Party to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and has accepted the jurisdiction of AfCHPR to receive such cases in conformity with Article 36 of the Protocol.

3. REQUESTS the Commission to report regularly on the implementation of this Decision to the Assembly through the Executive Council.