KIGALI, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Africa has marked an improvement in human and people's rights in the last five years, a senior African Union (AU) official has said.
Ambassador Sallah Mohamad, AU Senior Human Rights Expert at the Department of Political Affairs, attributed the improvement on Friday to a strategy that was developed by the AU to help strengthen human rights in the continent.
"To date 43 countries have formed National Human Rights Commissions up from 11 in 2011, and the reporting has showed remarkable reduction of negative human rights records," Mohamad said at the ongoing 27th AU Summit in Rwanda's capital Kigali.
He revealed that out of the 43 National Human Rights Commissions, 37 countries have been approved by the United Nations after meeting the required global standards.
Mohamad observed that the AU has adopted an inclusive and holistic approach to human rights, and effectively advanced social, economic and cultural rights as well as the right to development in its promotion of an African human rights protection system.
He said as a result African countries have included the strategy and implementing it effectively to have real impact on socioeconomic development and the lives of the people, and to put in place proper monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
"This is succeeding well because the governments, through the commissions have involved other stakeholders in ensuring that human rights and laws are respected and upheld," he added.
He said that the AU is currently focusing on the protection of the rights of vulnerable groups by advocating for the implementation of various commitments made by governments through the adoption of national laws and policies, and by increasing the allocation of resources to the social sector to enhance access and build capacity in institutions.
"We are compelled to ensure that human rights are secured for every human being and for all peoples in Africa and elsewhere," said Aisha Abdullahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs.
She noted that the rights must be protected without any distinction or discrimination based on nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion and language.
She called on African governments to renew their commitment to the domestication and promotion of the Maputo Declaration by ending violence against women.
She said that the AU has developed a strategy of ending violence meted against citizens in Burundi, Somali, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
"We also have a policy framework for countries that are emerging from conflicts as part of AU efforts of silencing the gun by 2020," Abdullahi said.
She called for the eradication of the culture of patriarchy by ensuring that all institutions become sensitive to gender equality.
"In some countries women gender are still disadvantaged in education, security and economic development," she noted.
In 2004, AU advanced human rights by establishing the African Court on Human and People's Rights.
The court adds an enforcement arm to existing human rights institutions on a continent known more for the impunity of those who govern than the strict defense of the rights and liberties of citizens.
