Abidjan, Brussels, Paris – 27/12/2017 – European Union and African Union have been engaged for a decade in a dialogue to define strategies and a collaborative framework to reinforce synergies. Among the five key areas established in the Joint EU Africa strategy, FIACAT is particularly interested by the question of Democracy, Governance and Human Rights in order to keep the fight against torture and the abolition of the death penalty as a priority in the policy and actions taken by the EU and the AU.
FIACAT has been engaged for a long time in the UE-Africa strategy, by being part of discussions and consultations and participating to the implementation of the strategy through two field projects with its affiliated members in Africa with the support of the European Union.
The first one currently implemented is a joint project on the abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa with FIDH, the World Coalition against the Death Penalty and DITSHWANELO, which aims at advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in Africa and supporting the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on this issue.
The second one aims at reducing prison overcrowding in 14 prisons in 4 African countries (Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar), by training CSOs and national authorities to identify and follow-up cases of Unlawful Pre-trial Detention (UPD).
On Wednesday, the European Union and the African Union’s heads of states and governments will meet in Abidjan for the 5th EU-AU summit. The key question now is how to develop a new 21st century Africa-EU strategy, facing up new challenges and opportunities while keeping human rights at the heart of the cooperation.
FIACAT and its members working for the abolition of the death penalty and the fight against torture agreed that the problem is not the absence of Human Rights standards but rather the lack of implementation.
To this end, FIACAT and its members particularly encourage the EU and the AU to:
- Support the abolition of the death penalty in Africa;
- Reinforce the absolute ban on torture;
- Support civil society organisations in their activities towards a better implementation of human rights standards.
Press Contact:
FIACAT: Lionel Grassy – l.grassy@fiacat.org - +32 470 92 85 10
 Press release |