By Desmond Davies, GNA
London, Feb 26, GNA – The African Union Mission for Mali and the Sahel (MISAHEL) and Africa Legal Aid (AFLA) have signed a cooperation agreement to promote justice and the rule of law in the turbulent in the turbulent region.
The agreement also covers child protection and addressing gender-based violence (GBV).
Signed recently, the agreement will see AFLA, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, working with civil society organisations, particularly those that are women-led, and those representing vulnerable groups such as victims and survivors of human rights and atrocity crimes and GBV in the 10 countries that constitute the Sahelo-Saharan region.
The AU says that the cooperation will build on its commitment to “promote and protect human rights in Africa”.
This is coming on the back of the Ministerial Meeting of the 8th AU Technical Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in November 2023 that addressed GBV.
It will further build on the leading role that AFLA has been playing in the African human rights and international justice landscape since 1995, as well as its long-standing work on a victim-centred and gender-sensitive approach to justice.
Signing on behalf of AFLA was Judge Fatoumata Dembele Diarra, a member of its Governing Council and former First Vice President of the International Criminal Court.
She told the GNA: “The signing of the cooperation agreement between MISAHEL and Africa Legal Aid gives AFLA a legal framework and diplomatic support to carry out its programme to combat gender-based violence and promote access to justice for all victims of violence in the Sahel states.”
Evelyn Ankumah, AFLA’s Executive Director for the last 27 years, told the GNA: “AFLA’s cooperation agreement with the AU Mission for Mali and the Sahel covers some of the most fragile and at-risk countries in Africa.
“It places the organisation in a strategic position to espouse a victim-centred and gender-sensitive approach to justice by working with victims and vulnerable groups in some of the most affected countries.”
After the African-led International Support mission in Mali (AFISMA) transferred its authority to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Support Mission for Mali (MINUSMA), the African Union Chairperson decided in August 2013 to establish MISAHEL, based in Bamako.
It is mandated to ensure the AU’s presence and contribution to the efforts aimed at overcoming various governance, security, humanitarian and human rights and developmental challenges facing Mali and other countries of the Sahel region.
For the purposes of the AU’s engagement in the region, the Sahel is defined as the geographical area of the Sahelo-Saharan zone, comprising all the countries located on the Sahelian strip separating North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
They are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Chad.
MISAHEL coordinates its actions in the region through sub-offices and in collaboration with other AU structures, countries of the region and relevant regional economic communities and mechanisms.
GNA