This page gives information on the discussions on governance, democracy and human rights in the first phase of the public consultation (February-May, 2007).
Basis for discussion
An issue paper drafted by the ECDPM and approved by the EU and the AU was presented on the website and participants were encouraged to respond to questions raised in it. After some time another discussion paper was drafted, based on issues raised in the consultation as well as in the official negotiations. The consultation also made space for participants to raise other questions, priorities, or challenges that they would like to put on the agenda.
Issue paper (February, 2007) – doc ; pdf
Discussion note (April, 2007) – html ; doc ; pdf
The main messages
The main messages from the actors participating in the first phase of the consultation were the following:
- Governance needs to be owned and African grown initiatives and instruments should be supported by the European Union
- Key governance players, such as Parliaments, Courts of justice and the police as well as other accountability bodies, need to be supported and a bottom up approach to governance promoted. The local level and civil society are of particular importance in ensuring governance and should be associated to all initiatives.
- Attention has been called to the widespread violations of human rights in Africa. The joint Strategy provides an opportunity for the EU to strengthen its support to African human rights mechanisms.
- The joint Strategy should provide a framework to discuss contentious issues such as Zimbabwe.
- Mutual accountability is a key principle to implement governance within both sides of the relationship and proper ‘governance of aid’ is an important element of it. In that framework conditionality should be agreed upon and not imposed unilaterally.
- Civil society, in particular in Africa, should have the opportunity to engage with the European governance initiative in order to ensure appropriate policy decisions, programming and implementation.
See the report of the internet consultation for more information on the issues raised.
The contributions made
Comments could be made directly on the websites and contributions could also be sent in the form of position papers.
Position papers received focusing on Governance can be viewed here.
All comments made on this cluster, until it was closed on 26 June, 2007 – doc ; pdf
