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Draft protocol for Pan African parly
30/11/2000 12:27 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The soon to be established Pan-African Parliament would in future become an institution with full legislative powers and elected members, according to draft protocol released by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
But in the meantime it would only have consultative and advisory powers, the department said.
The parliament would facilitate the implementation of the policies of the Organisation of African Unity, promote human rights and democracy, good governance, transparency and accountability in
member states.
It would also promote peace, security and stability and collective self-reliance and economic recovery, facilitate co-operation and development in Africa and build a sense of common destiny among the peoples of Africa.
Each member state would have five representatives in the
parliament, at least one of whom must be a woman. The
representation of each member state must reflect the diversity of
political opinions in each national parliament.
Until the Pan-African Parliament appoints its staff, the general secretariat of the OAU would act as its secretariat.
The seat of the new parliament would be determined by its assembly and its working languages would be African languages, Arabic, English, French and Portuguese.
The Pan-African Parliament would work in close co-operation with the parliaments of the regional economic communities and the national parliaments of members.
It would hold annual consultative fora with the parliaments of the regional economic communities and the respective national
parliaments to discuss matters of common interest. - Sapa
- SAPA
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