Decision on the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness

DECISION ON THE COMMON AFRICAN POSITION ON
HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the First Session of the Specialised Technical Committee on Migration, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons and outcomes of regional consultations of a political process for the development of a Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness on the Theme: One Africa, One Voice, One Message at the World Humanitarian Summit to be presented at the first ever World Humanitarian Summit scheduled for Istanbul, Turkey on 23 and 24 May 2016 and APPROVES the recommendations therein;

2. TAKES NOTE of the outcome of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) led Global Consultations for the World Humanitarian Summit, and the proposed Five (5) Action areas, namely (Dignity; Safety; Resilience; Partnerships and Finance) and the need to transform the global humanitarian architecture to make it more global, inclusive and effective;

3. REAFFIRMS the need for Africa to speak with one voice in international fora in accordance with Article (3) (d) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union which provides for the need"... to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples...” and The 2013 50^th Anniversary Declaration, Paragraph (5), which reiterated the collective “...endeavour for Africa to take her rightful place in political, security, economic and social systems of global governance towards the realisation of its renaissance and establishing Africa as a leading continent.

4. NOTES WITH CONCERN the rapidly changing humanitarian landscape and the growing complexity of humanitarian crises on the continent;

5. EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN over the dire humanitarian situation of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea trying to cross over to Europe;

6. WELCOMES a Declaration on Humanitarian Effectiveness on the continent and the need for a ten (10) year action plan in line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063;

7. WELCOMES and ENDORSES the recommendation for the establishment of an African Humanitarian Agency (AHA), to streamline humanitarian action on the continent;

8. RECALLS the various Decisions of the Executive Council and the Assembly on Alternative Sources of Financing the AU, including the 2001 Lusaka Summit Decision AHG/Dec. 1 (XXXVII, the June 2006 Banjul Decision EX.CL/Dec.285 (IX), and the July 2007 Accra Declaration Assembly/AU/ Decl.2 (IX) which highlighted the need to identify additional sources of financing the activities of the

African Union; and REITERATES the imperative need for predictable, reliable and sustainable resources to enable AU fulfil its mandate;

9. DECIDES TO:

1. adopt the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness to be submitted at the World Humanitarian Summit;

2. establish an African Humanitarian Agency which should be anchored on regional and national mechanisms and funded with Africa’s own resources; and to request the Commission to embark on the process for the establishment of such an architecture anchored on principles of pan­Africanism and African shared values.

10. REQUESTS the Commission to report to the Ordinary Session of the Assembly through the Executive Council in January 2017.