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HIGH LEVEL THEMATIC DEBATE: STREGHTENNING COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE REGIONAL AND SUB-REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

DRAFT STATEMENT BY H.E. DR. ERASTUS MWENCHA, DEPUTY-CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

H. E. Mr. Sam Kutesa, President of the United Nations General Assembly,
H. E. President Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda,
H. E. Mr. Ban Ki –Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations,
H. E. Mr. Georges Rebelo Chikoti, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola and Chair of International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR),
H. E. Mrs. Annika Sodar, Vice Minister and State Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Sweden,
H. E. Mr. Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Bahamas;
Honorable High Officials and Representatives of Regional and Sub regional Organizations,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The African Union is grateful to you Mr. President for organizing this timely and important high level debate on the important subject of strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and Regional and Sub-Regional Organizations. This debate is both timely and vital.
Timely because as rightly indicated by those that have spoken, the world has changed and equally so the theatre in which Pearce Operations takes place. This debate is also taking place on the threshold of milestone developments both at the African Union and the United Nations. The Reviews of UN Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Peace Building Commission, the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations, the preparation of the July 2015 Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development and the Humanitarian Summit to take place in Turkey in 2016, the development of a post 2015 development agenda and, the adoption of the African Union agenda 2063.
Africa has also adopted and submitted a Common position on Peace Operations based on: (1) lessons learned from close collaboration with the UN on the entire spectrum from Mediation to post conflict political transitions, peace keeping and peace building; and (2) approximately 70% of Special Political Missions and Peace Keeping Operations of the UN are deployed in Africa and has become the largest regional contributor of UN peace operations and now contributes approximately 45% of the UN’s uniformed peacekeepers.
The conflict dynamics facing UN and African peace operations have become more complex and asymmetrical since the Brahimi Report fifteen years ago. In many contemporary conflict zones, terrorists, criminal gangs, traffickers and armed groups or militias deliberately choose to use violence targeted against civilian populations, aid workers and, increasingly peacekeepers, to achieve their aims. Conflicts are also more regional in character and therefore require a more regional approach with the challenge of balancing the interests of the various States affected by the conflict.
While conflicts typically emerge in response to local conditions they are increasingly linked to international ideological trends. Here, I wish to mention as an example the ever-increasing trend of violent extremism which encompasses a generalized ideology less amenable to negotiated solutions, while at the same time providing networks for the trafficking of arms, money, fighters and tactics from one conflict zone to another.
Mr. President this debate is vital because, in these contexts, effectively managing such conflicts requires robust peace operation capabilities and, increasingly, offensive fighting capacity. While a decade ago, most UN peacekeeping operations were deployed after the negotiation of a peace agreement, today, by contrast, most UN peacekeeping missions are deployed amidst on-going conflict in countries where there is “no peace to keep” and where it is difficult to distinguish between armed groups and the local civilian population marking a significant shift in UN peacekeeping doctrine.

Mr. President,
The African Union, like the rest of the international community is forced to adapt to these changing conflict dynamics. A partnership model, even better, a division of labor is therefore emerging where the AU and/or Regional Economic Communities /Regional Mechanisms with support from the UN and other international partners, act as first responders to African crises. Close cooperation between the UN and the African Union is thus a strategic necessity. However, more efforts are needed to find creative and innovative ways to support African peace operations. Effective African peace operations represent a significant contribution to the global common good. It is in this regard that we welcome the political declaration to be adopted by this High Level meeting specifically the recognition that, in cases when regional or sub-regional organizations deploy peacekeeping operations authorized by the Security Council, they contribute towards maintenance of international peace and security consistent with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the UN charter and the need to enhance the predictability, sustainability and flexibility of financing regional organizations when they undertake peacekeeping under a Security Council mandate.

Mr. President,
Ten years after the establishment of the UN’s Peace Building Commission (PBC) and 9 years after the adoption of the AU’s policy on Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD), a number of challenges remain as shown by the relapse of some post conflict countries into violence. These challenges are even aggravated by the advent of new phenomenon such as radicalization and extremism, frequent droughts/floods emanating from climate change or of health nature such as the Ebola crisis in 3 of the 6 countries on the agenda of the PBC, namely in Liberia, Guinea and Serra Leone. In our opinion, the PBC should strengthen its leverage as a strategic partner to the AU and the RECs by applying a bottom up approach in engaging in peace building in Africa through close collaboration with the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

Mr. President,
Our two Organizations have also made progress in other areas of cooperation such as humanitarian issues, marked by the signing of a memorandum of Understanding between UN/OCHA and the African Union, while agencies, Funds and Programs of the UN system have been instrumental in the materialization of the objectives of the cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations.
It is however important to underscore that While the African Union's Cooperation with the United Nations has evolved significantly in the area of peace and security, including establishment of mechanisms such as Joint Task Force, Desk to Desk and annual consultative meetings between the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council as well as existence of the Ad Working Group of the Security Council on Conflicts Resolution and Prevention in Africa, there is still considerable room for improvement in other areas of cooperation. These are indicated in the African Common Position on Peace Operations that I referred to earlier.
At this juncture, allow me to express the African Union's appreciation to the United Nations for the continued support to the African Union in the context of the Declaration on Enhancing UN-AU Cooperation Framework for the Ten Year Capacity Building Program for Africa adopted in November 2006. The expiration of the TYCB comes on the heels of the 70th anniversary celebration of the United Nations which informed the decision of the Regional Coordination Mechanism for Africa at its recent meeting held in Addis Ababa to elaborate a successor program to respond to new continental imperatives and strategically aligned and synchronized with Africa's aspiration for a transformative development.
These efforts have found expression in the Framework for a Renewed UN/AU Partnership on Africa's Integration and Development Agenda (PAIDA) 2017to2027 as a successor to the Ten Year Capacity Building. PAIDA is anchored on the AU Agenda 2063 and its Ten Year Implementation and is based on shared values and core principle of African ownership and leadership.
As African Leaders roll out PAIDA by its adoption at the forthcoming African Union Summit, it is our expectation that the United Nations through the General Assembly will accompany the African Union by giving concrete effect to the support of PAIDA through the adoption of a resolution during the 70th Session of the UNGA. The draft resolution, will among other things, seek to secure enhanced cooperation and partnership between the United Nations and the African Union in implementation of PAIDA while at the same time ensuring predictable funding given the lessons learned from the implementation of the Ten Year Capacity Building Program. We count in the system wide support of the United Nations as we embark on this new endeavor.
I thank you for your kind attention.

Statement of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma,

at the Opening of the 7th Europe Economic Congress,
Katowice, Poland 20 April 2015

 
Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Bronisław Komorowski
Honourable Jerzy Buzek
Excellencies, EU Commissioners
Excellency, Former President Kohler
Esteemed Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour to address this 7th European Economic Congress, and to thank our Polish hosts for their warm and friendly hospitality.

We are particularly pleased to address this Congress on behalf of the African Union, at a time when Poland and other countries of central Europe are looking towards Africa.

This is of course not a new relationship. Countries across the region played an important role in supporting Africa’s struggles for self-determination.

Thousands of African professionals trained in your countries, and continue to make invaluable contributions to the development of the continent.

We look towards renewed partnerships with you in a changed world, hence our participation in this Congress.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the turn of the century, Africa was undergoing a transition - politically with the end of long-standing conflicts, including the end of apartheid in Namibia and South Africa, and the spread of multi-party democracy.

Economically, we successfully campaigned against the crippling debt, and introduced reforms to improve the performance of our economies.

Thus over the last decade, Africa is the second fastest growing region in the world after Asia, with some of the fastest economies in the world.

Improvements in economic management, the development of infrastructure, and greater regional integration, have seen the emergence of a stronger African private sector.
As the youngest continent, Africa is a continent of the future, with a young population until at least the middle of this century and a growing middle class.

It still has vast and untapped natural resources, including minerals, oceanic resources, arable land, forests and water.

Thus, at the beginning of this year, the African Union adopted a fifty-year vision, Agenda 2063, as a framework to mobilise all 54 Member states, the private sector, civil society towards the common goal of creating an Africa that is integrated, prosperous, people-centered and peaceful, and that can take its rightful place in the world.

Agenda 2063 prioritises investment in people, especially health, education, and access to basic services.

More specifically, we are working towards an African skills revolution, especially in sciences, engineering, technology and mathematics.

To address our infrastructure backlogs, we look at new technologies and public private sector cooperation, to leapfrog development (transport, ICT and energy) and with regional infrastructure that link and economies.

This is especially true in the case of energy, where we are developing a mix including tradition oil, gas and coal resources, as well as renewables: geothermal, solar, wind, biomas and hydro.

African agriculture is still largely performing way below its potential, it is therefore another focus area: improving irrigation, storage and transport facilities; access to land rights, technology and capital especially for women, who are the majority in the sector; and growing agro-processing and agribusinesses.

More generally, African countries are hard at work to diversify their economies, and move beyond raw materials, building manufacturing and services, the green and blue economies and towards value-addition of their mineral resources.

Lastly, we pay special attention in all the above on the empowerment of women and young people, whom are the key drivers and innovators of our development.

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is on the basis of the above priorities that we seek partnerships with rest of the world: encouraging investments in agro-processing and agricultural technologies; in value-addition; in manufacturing; in infrastructure and in logistics.

These should be win-win partnerships, that makes money for investors as well as build African productive capacity, results in technology transfer and the development of skills.

We believe that there are synergies that we share with Poland and the region, learning from your experiences of the transition.

We therefore want to work with you on facilitating business to business contacts, starting in the specific areas that I mentioned above.

In addition, we raise with governments and the private sector our request for the urgent revival of scholarship programmes to African students, to aid the much-needed African skills revolution, especially in sciences, engineering, technology and vocational areas.

In conclusion, we are determined that the current positive trajectory of the continent will continue, as a result of the actions we take in the economic and political spheres, and the investments we make today.

We invite you as partners on this journey with us.

I thank you.

Speech of Her Excellency the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy

Dr. Elham M.A. Ibrahim

Building a Sustainable Future for Africa

Welcome Remarks at the

Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
27 - 29April, 2015

 Excelencies African Ministers
 Distinguished Representatives of African Member States
 Distinguished Representaiveand Delegates from the International, Public and Private Organizations;
 Distinguished Representatives and Delegates from Development Institutions and Development Partners;
 Distinguished Experts;
 Ladies and Gentlemen:

All Protocols Observed:
1. I greet you all on behalf of the African Union Commission and on my own behalf, at this very important event, the "Africa Climate Resilient Infrastructure Summit”.

2. First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude to all the sponsors and organisers of this important Summit, I am also happy that the focus of this Summit brings to the fore, the need to ensure climate change resilience in developing Africa's infrastructure.

3. This is more so important as Africa is currently at the stage of building its infrastructure both at the national and regional levels, which are all geared towards achieving a Sustainable Future for Africa. Africa's vision for a sustainable future involves addressing its many developmental challengesincluding poverty reduction and jobs creation, achievements of the MDGs, expansion of modern energy and healthcare services, etc. Although some gains have been recorded in many African countries in terms of these developmental challenges in the last decade, climate change poses significant threats to the continued development efforts in African countries.

4. There is an ample amount of evidence that climate change is already impacting negatively on key areas/sectors in Africa including agriculture and food security, water supply, healthcare, energy and regional security, biodiversity, etc. For example, in terms of Agriculture and Food Security, over 90% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on rain-fed agriculture. Extreme weather conditions such as persistent droughts and floods are projected to compromise agricultural productivity in terms of yield potential, length of growing season and arable land resources. In terms of energy security, climate change related factors such as drying of lakes and rivers and persistent droughts will decrease water flow to hydropower dams. Coupled with the increasing depletion of biomass stock due to unsustainable consumption and climate change, the region will experience reduced energy availability that will have negative implications on development.

Distinguished Experts and Delegates:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

5. Currently, Africa stands out as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of climate change, despite accounting for less than 4% of the global GHG emissions. One of the major reasons for the high vulnerability in Africa is the low levels of infrastructure to adequately adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. The high vulnerability of the Region to the impacts of climate change is also directly linked to the developmental challenges facing the continent including weak economies and institutions, widespread poverty, limited human, financial and technical capacities, conflicts and inadequate social infrastructure.

6. To Consider in the implementation of the PIDA projects the impactof the large infrastructure projects in the climate change especially in hydropower and irrigation

7. To address the climate change problem in Africa, there is a vital need to mainstream climate change into development policies, which will provide opportunities for designing climate-resilient and low carbon development pathways for Africa.The benefits of following a low carbon and climate-resilient development in Africa include meeting our development challenges while also adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of climate change at the same time.

Distinguished Experts and Delegates:
Ladies and Gentlemen:

8. There is no doubt that increasing weather events across the world – droughts, floods, cyclones, severe storms, heat waves, etc – indicate that climate-proofing of current and future infrastructure is of utmost importance and it also provides a sustainable and cost-effective option in the long-run.

9. In Africa, vital infrastructure including power systems, roads, rail and communication, buildings, etc., are clearly vulnerable to weather events. However, the currently low levels of infrastructure on the continent provide Africa with ample opportunities to integrate the climate change dimension into its infrastructure development plans. Therefore, there is a great need to take into account climate change in designing, building and managing our infrastructure. Although climate-proofing of our infrastructures will add significant economic costs to our development goals, it provides a cost-effective opportunity in the long-run while also ensuring environmental and social benefits.

10. For Africa, ensuring a climate-proof and sustainable future will entail:
i. Integrating climate-change policies into planning and implementation processes.
ii. Repositioning current policies to stimulate adoption of climate change strategies and opportunities in our institutional frameworks, and financial and capital markets.
iii. Introduction and promotion of innovative and climate financing initiatives as well as mobilising private sector participation.
iv. Enhance technical capacity building that ensures technical innovations, and technology transfer and adoption.
v. Informed decision-making through awareness creation, and research and development.

11. This Summit provides an excellent platform for our experts, policy-makers and partners to engage in fruitful deliberations and make recommendations on the way forward in enhancing the climate resilience of Africa's infrastructure. For the African Union Commission (AUC), one of our mandates is to ensure the implementation of large regional infrastructure on the continent in several key sectors including Power, Transport and ICT sectors. We are very keen to understand and deliberate on the range of vulnerabilities we could expect on our current and future infrastructure plans, the costs implications, and also the various ways and strategies that could be deployed to address these range of vulnerabilities.

12. I also believe that this Summit is going to serve as a wake-up call for our institutions and decision-makers to consider the likely impacts of climate change on our existing and planned infrastructure in various key sectors in Africa.

13. I would like to thank everyone here for attending this important Summit, and most importantly for their continuing efforts in addressing Africa's development agenda.

I thank you all for your kind attention.

OPENING STATEMENT BY

H.E. DR. MUSTAPHA S. KALOKO
COMMISSIONER FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS

AT THE 1ST MEETING OF THE SPECIALISED TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (STC-SDLE-1)
Theme: “Social Protection for Inclusive Development”

NELSON MANDELLA HALL, AU HQ
23 APRIL 2015
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Honourable Ministers from AU Member States and Brazil participating in this Ministerial Meeting,
Distinguished Chairperson and Members of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,
Distinguished Experts and Social Partners from Member States,
Esteemed UN Partners,
Partners from the CSO community, in the fields of children, persons with disabilities and older persons,
Representatives of Women and Youth Organisations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I bring you the greetings of H.E. Dr Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, who wished to be here, but who is still returning from a meeting with the EU in Brussels.
Let me start by emphasizing how high the theme of this meeting, namely “Social Protection for Inclusive Development”, is on the African Union Agenda. The AU Assembly adopted the African Union Agenda 2063 in January 2015. Agenda 2063 claims that the Africa of 2063 will be a “compassionate and caring society”. Aspiration 1 of the AU Agenda 2063 aims at a “Prosperous Africa based on Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development”. Its Goals 1, 2 and 3 of are built on the life cycle approach of social protection, as reflected in the AU Social Policy Framework and the ILO Social Protection Floors.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The First Goal of Agenda 2063 is aiming at “A high standard of living, quality of life and well-being for all citizens”. It will be pursued through a set of interlinked priority areas, which are, and I quote:
1. Affordable social security and protection for all
2. Increase incomes and provide decent jobs for working age adults
3. End poverty and eliminate hunger and malnutrition Unquote
The thrust is to “leave no one behind” in the pursuit of growth and development, through appropriate and well managed social protection and social security policies and programmes. This means that we should put in place policies to ensure that growth benefits the poor and the marginalized, which mostly include women, elderly, people with disabilities and people from socially excluded groups.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Social protection systems are investments with a multiplier effect that promote sustainable development, inclusive economic growth, job creation, promote local markets, improving occupational and economic inclusion.
The first order of business here is to make sure that social protection is grounded on human rights, including social, economic, cultural as well as civil and political rights. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights stipulates that every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. This encompasses the rights of social protection and social security for the person. The Charter further elaborates on the right to work under equitable and satisfactory conditions, and shall receive equal pay for equal work, and the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health. It also stipulates the rights of older persons and of persons with disabilities to special measures of protection in keeping with their physical or moral needs. Subsequently, in terms of the provisions of Article 66 of the Charter, we have developed protocols on the rights of older persons and persons with disabilities, respectively.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Would it not be prudent and farsighted to develop a Protocol on Social Protection and Social Security, also in view of the aspirations of Agenda 2063? I ask this question, because Africa lags far behind other world regions on the 4 basic pillars of Social Protection Floors as components of the Minimum Social Protection Package advocated for by the AU Social Policy Framework, and I wish to highlight them: Essential Health Care for All, Income Security for Children and Families; Income Security for Women and Men in Working age; and Income security for older persons.
On social protection for Children and Families, Africa expends 0,2% of its GDP with 42% of children as share of the total population, compared to 0,2% of GDP for its 26.5% of children in the total population in the Asian region, and 0.7% of GDP for their 27.9% of children in Latin America. On Social protection for Women and Men of Working Age, Africa allocates only 0.5 of GDP for 56.1 % of its population, compared to 1.5% and for 68.4% of this population in Asia, and 5.1 on 66% men and women of working age in Latin America. On Social Protection for Older Women and Men, Africa allocates 1.3% of GDP compared to 2.0 in Asia and 4.6% in Latin America.
The most important policy gap on social insurance, concerns the informal economy and rural workers who make up approximately 80% of the labour force in the continent. Indeed, we must acknowledge that the specifics of African labour markets, dominated by informal and rural occupations, open up large avenues for a mix of contributory and non-contributory social protection regimes in our countries. The challenge is further amplified by the demographic dividend of the continent, meaning that we don’t have the largest proportion of adults to contribute to social security. To address these challenges, in January 2015, the AU Assembly adopted the Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development. These policy instruments are based on six Key Priority Areas with one dedicated to Social Protection and Productivity, thus highlighting the interplay between social protection, productivity, poverty eradication and inclusive development.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
A series of constraints limit the achievements on the social protection front. The main limitations relate to the challenges of coordination, fiscal space and funding, overall governance frameworks, including institutional capacity, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholders and beneficiaries participation, knowledge and statistics, political will and vision embracing social protection for all. There are also particular challenges on the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing legal contributory social security regimes covering the workers in the formal economy. The mentioned constraints, and others, are well documented and require comprehensive policies at all levels.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have underlined the historic and opportune time for Africa to adopt a Protocol on Social Protection and Social Security. Considering the constraints faced in the implementation of the policy documents alluded to above, this rights based approach of the Protocol should furthermore be supplemented and supported by a Social Protection Agenda to be developed within the framework of the AU Agenda 2063, and to constitute the programmatic component of an African Social Development Architecture. This will ensure that economic and social commitments are pursued in tandem, reinforcing each other for well-balanced development.
Allow me to repeat the two essential future steps to be taken:
• Development of a Protocol on Social Protection and Social Security; and
• Development of a Social Protection Agenda for Africa in line with the AU Agenda 2063.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Based on your deliberations today and tomorrow, this First STC on Social Development, Labour and Employment will also consider a Declaration for submission to the Summit in June 2015. I understand that frank discussions have taken place in the Experts’ meeting, among others on the effectiveness and impact of social protection policies, and that best practices in the development, financing and management of social protection policies have been shared.
I wish to conclude with reference again to the theme of this STC meeting, namely, “Social Protection for Inclusive Development”. Indeed, for development to be sustainable, it needs to be inclusive, and in this regard, all members of society have the right to contribute to the development of their communities and countries. In turn, societies should provide its members with the opportunities, space and support for them to make their contributions.
I wish you fruitful deliberations.
Thank you.