As part of efforts to give the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU ECOSOCC) its rightful privilege of being independent and to accelerate the realisation of the people centered agenda of the African Union, the Assembly of Head of States in its Decision No. 4 (XXVI) Rev.1 of January 2016 has welcomed the relocation of the Secretariat of ECOSOCC to Lusaka, Zambia.
The Assembly then urged the Zambian government to work with the African Union Commission (AUC) to expedite the processes regarding legal, structural and financial implications of hosting the council’s headquarters as approved.
In the decision, the Assembly welcomed and fully supported the offer by Zambia to host ECOSOCC, “urging Zambia to work with the Commission to expedite the processes regarding legal, structural and financial implications, requesting the Commission to undertake the appropriate evaluation mission and present a detailed report to the next session of the Executive Council scheduled for June/July 2016.’’
Also for legal implications, the AUC, the office of the Legal Counsel, the Citizens and Diaspora Organisations directorate and the AU director of administration and Human Resources Management Department has said the Bureau of the ECOSOCC should initiate the amendment of the ECOSOCC Statutes in line with Article 20 of the statutes.
It is understood that as part of the requirement of the PRC process to discuss and approve the structure to facilitate the provision for 2017, the Bureau of ECOSOCC has the responsibility of defining the structure of the secretariat as a fully functioning organ of the African Union.
Speaking on the development, AU ECOSOCC Presiding Office, Dr. Joseph Chilengi, said ECOSOCC is better off standing independently in a country adding that “the moving of the headquarters is intended to, one, give room to the organ to function independently within the African Union family and of course interact with other organs as partners.
“Two, that independence will also speed up the implementation of various programmes and activities aimed at achieving the people centered agenda of the African Union. Three, it will also accelerate the realization of the people centered agenda within the Union.”
The Extra-Ordinary meeting of the standing committee on which the amendment process rest will be taking place between 13th to 16th of April, 2016 holding in Lusaka, Zambia to initiate the process of amending the relevant provisions in the statutes and to define the structure for a fully-fledged secretariat that would be approved by the Assembly of Head of States during their forthcoming meeting by July.
Sign
OBA J.A. OLASUNKANMI
Media Assistant to the Presiding Officer
APRIL, 11th, 2016
