DECISION ON THE PROPOSAL TO DECREE 2021-2031 AS “DECADE OF
AFRICAN ROOTS AND DIASPORAS”
The Assembly,
TAKES NOTE of the proposal, presented by the Togolese Republic, to declare the period 2021-2031 as the “Decade of African Roots and Diasporas”, and the interest of this issue of the Diaspora for the African Continent;
ALSO TAKES NOTE of the Declaration of the World Diaspora Summit in 2012, which recognised the need to build sustainable partnerships between the African continent and the African Diaspora, through sustainable constructive dialogue and effective collaboration;
FINALLY TAKES NOTE of the various reports and other publications of the Commission of the African Union on the contributions of members of Diasporas and communities of African Roots in favour of the development of the Continent;
RECOMMENDS that the Commission, in coordination with all Member States, establish a formal framework for communication and exchange of information between Africa, the Diaspora and Afro-descendants;
RECALLS Decisions:
Ext/EX/CL/Dec.6(lll) of the Third Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council, held in 2003 in South Africa, on the Implementation of the Diaspora Initiative within the framework of the African Union;
EX.CL/Dec.221(VII) of the Seventh Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, held in June/July 2005, in Sirte, on the definition of the Diaspora;
EX.CL/406(XII) Add.1, by which the Executive Council requests the Commission to conduct a detailed feasibility study on the idea of considering the Diaspora as the sixth region of Africa, and to define the modalities of participation of the Diaspora in the organs and activities of the Union;
Assembly/AU/Dec.393 (XVIII), adopted at the Eighteenth (18th) Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held in 2012, on the Global African Diaspora Summit, by which the Assembly decided to make the question of the Diaspora a permanent item on the agenda of the sessions of the Assembly;
Assembly/AU/Dec.630(XXVIII), adopted at the Twenty-Eighth (28th) Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held in January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, relating to the implementation of African Union Agenda 2063’ and the role of the Diasporas, and Article 3 (q) of the Protocol on the Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union (2003), which already expressly invited the latter to participate as an important party in the construction of the Union;
EX.CL/1032(XXXIV), which adopted the recommendations of the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Specialised Technical Committee (STC) on Youth, Culture and Sports, on the institution of the International Day of African and Afro Descendant Culture.
FURTHER RECALLS that the Diaspora constitutes an important economic, social, political and cultural power, which cannot leave indifferent the African countries in the implementation of Agenda 2063 of the African Union;
TAKES NOTE that the "Lome Framework", called "2021 -2031: Decade of African Roots and Diasporas", is an initiative aimed at bringing together, federating and supporting projects, events and other initiatives to strengthen the role and contributions of people from African Roots and Diasporas to the economic, social and cultural development of the African continent;
EMPHASISES that the Decade of African Roots and Diasporas offers the Commission, in collaboration with States and representative organisations of African Diasporas, the opportunity to implement a solid plan of global actions to make it possible to materialise the return and greater involvement of the Diaspora of African descent from the West Indies, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Americas in the development process of the Continent;
AGREES that the objectives of the Decade of African Roots and Diasporas in the artistic, cultural and heritage fields as catalysts in the development of the Continent, are in perfect coherence with the Theme of the African Union for the Year 2021: "Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building an Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa in the Context of Multisectoral Challenges, “and in that regard, urges all Member States of the African Union to sign and ratify the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance, with a view to its entry into force”;
DECLARES the period 2021-2031 as "Decade of African Roots and Diasporas";
REQUESTS Togo, in collaboration with the Commission, to:
• Set up a High Committee in charge of the 2021-2031 Agenda, Decade of African Roots and Diasporas, and submit the draft composition and mandate of the Committee for endorsement by the Policy Organs, through the PRC;
Take the necessary measures and steps for effective implementation and completion of this "Decade of African Roots and Diasporas" project, and to support the holding of all events, such as organising the Afro-descendants Forum in August 2021 or in March 2022 in Equatorial Guinea, an annual Congress of African Diasporas, and other initiatives involving members of Diasporas and communities of African Roots, wherever they are in the world;
Collaborate with all African Union Member States and other stakeholders (Regional Economic Communities, international institutions such as the United Nations system, IMF, World Bank, and other international partners, organisations of communities of African Descent, development NGOs and the African Diaspora, etc), in order to achieve the expected results of “2021-2031, Decade African Roots and Diasporas”.