DECISION ON THE REPORT OF THE THIRD SESSION OF THE
AFRICAN UNION CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS
OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Doc.EX.CL/769(XXII)
The Executive Council,
1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Third Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Social Development (CAMSD3), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 26 to 30 November 2012;
2. ENDORSES the recommendations contained therein as follows:
i) The African Union Disability Architecture (AUDA), consisting of the Legal, Programme and Institutional components aimed at accelerating the full participation, equality and empowerment of people with disabilities in Africa;
ii) The Continental Plan of Action on the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2010-2019);
iii) The dissolution of the African Rehabilitation Institute (ARI) according to Article XVII of its Agreement and the Committee of 7 Member States to oversee the liquidation of the assets of ARI and to prepare a report to be submitted to the Assembly of Heads of States through the Executive Council on the dissolution;
iv) The Renewed Call for Accelerated Action on the Plan of Action Towards Africa Fit for Children and URGES all Member States to implement the Renewed Call;
v) The African Common Position on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa;
vi) The African Common Position in preparation for the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014;
vii) The Social Policy Framework for Africa (SPF) should be implemented by Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and for Member States to accelerate their implementation of the SPF through increased investment and budget allocation to the social sector.
3. REQUESTS the AU Commission to:
i) Facilitate capacity building and training for social policy analysis and expertise in Member States for the successful implementation of the SPF;
ii) Facilitate the take-off of the Advisory Council on Ageing to monitor and support the implementation and follow-up of the AU Policy Framework and Plan of Action on Ageing;
iii) Facilitate the dissolution of the ARI through support for the Committee of 7, development of a replacement structure to ARI , as well as a transition mechanism;
iv) Follow-up on the implementation of outcomes of CAMSD3 and report thereon to the Executive Council.
4. WELCOMES the offer of the Republic of Guinea to host the fourth session of the Conference of AU Ministers responsible for the Social Development and requests the Commission to take account of the provisions of the decision of the Conference of the African Union on the specialized technical committees (CTS) which the operationalization is expected as early as January 2014.