COMMUNIQUÉ

Adopted by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) at its 1362^nd meeting held on 21 August 2026 on Consultation with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR).

The Peace and Security Council,

Recalling all previous decisions of Council pertaining to the consultations and cooperation with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), particularly, Communiqués [PSC/PR/COMM.1284.2 (2025)] adopted by Council at its 1284^th meeting held on 19 June 2025; and [PSC/PR/COMM. 1019 (2021)] adopted by Council at its 1019^th meeting held on 10 August 2021;

Mindful of the relevant provisions of the AU Constitutive Act and Article 19 of the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, which provides for the working relationship between the Council and the ACHPR, alongside Article 45 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which provides for enhanced cooperation between the ACHPR and other institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights;

Reaffirming the interdependence among human rights, peace, security, governance, and sustainable development, and stressing that the effective protection and promotion of human rights are essential prerequisites for effective conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and lasting stability across the African Continent;

Taking note of the opening remarks by H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohamed Khaled, Permanent Representative of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC of the AU for the month of August 2026; and the introductory remarks by H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, read on his behalf by Ms. Patience Zanelle Chiradza, Director of the Governance and Conflict Prevention Directorate (GCPD) within the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) Department; as well as the presentation by Honourable Idrissa Sow, Chairperson of the ACHPR; and

Acting Under Article 7 of its Protocol, the Peace and Security Council:

1. On the Implementation Process

1. Welcomes the successful election of the new ACHPR Bureau during the 85th Ordinary Session of the Commission held on 21 October 2025, and congratulates the newly elected leadership on assuming their mandates; reaffirms the commitment of the PSC to further strengthen institutional collaboration, synergy, and joint initiatives with the ACHPR to enhance human rights protection and peacebuilding across Africa;

2. Takes note with appreciation of the strategic vision and priorities presented by the new Bureau of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), aimed at advancing peace and security through the effective promotion and protection of human rights across the African Continent;

3. Expresses full support for the implementation of the Bureau’s strategic initiatives, particularly those focused on mitigating human rights abuses during armed conflicts and political transitions;

4. Commends the ACHPR for the field mission undertaken in January 2026, in the Sudanese refugees’ camps in Chad and the virtual fact-finding mission on the human rights situation in the Sudan;

5. Underscores the need to strengthen collaboration between the PSC and the ACHPR towards ensuring effective complementarity of the efforts of the two sisterly Organs in the promotion of peace, security, stability, and development on the Continent, consistent with the provisions of Article 19 of the PSC Protocol;

6. Underlines the centrality of promoting and defending human rights and fundamental freedoms as a vital contribution towards conflict prevention and the promotion of peace, security, and stability in Member States;

7. Commends the ACHPR for its critical role in complementing the efforts of the PSC in promoting peace, security, and stability in Africa, as well as the general wellbeing of the African people by spearheading the AU human rights agenda;

8. Appeals to Member States to comprehensively address the structural root causes of violent conflicts to avoid creating conditions that give rise to and sustain human rights violations;

9. Encourages Member States to continue strengthening national institutions through periodic capacity-building interventions to ensure the effective promotion and protection of human rights, and to facilitate and support the work of the ACHPR, including by providing access to various institutions and stakeholders;

10. Underlines the importance of ensuring national, regional, and continental ownership of the AU human rights agenda and peacebuilding initiatives, while ensuring that collected human rights information is accurate and verifiable in order to avoid the politicization of human rights, mindful of the need to respect the independence and sovereignty of Member States;

11. Acknowledges the significant contribution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), within the framework of the Livingstone Formula, in promoting civic education, advocacy and awareness-raising programs, early warning monitoring, victim protection, and peace education;

2. On the actions to be undertaken

12. Expresses grave concern over the growing populations of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees across conflict-affected regions in Africa and in this respect, calls upon Member States that have not yet done so to sign, ratify and fully implement the Kampala Convention (AU Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa), and requests the ACHPR to provide regular updates on the human rights situation in Africa through credible and verified sources, in order to guide targeted humanitarian assistance;

13. Encourages effective synergies among all AU Organs, in particular, cooperation through the institutionalized and regularized annual consultative meetings, as well as undertaking joint assessment missions to conflict-affected countries and regions, whenever the need arises;

14. Stresses the need for the integration of human rights considerations into negotiations, mediation, peace support operations (PSOs), and humanitarian assistance, as well as the importance of prioritizing the conditions of vulnerable sections of society, particularly women and girls, the elderly, children, and persons living with disabilities; and directs that human rights compliance frameworks, including pre-deployment training, on-ground human rights monitoring units, and clear accountability mechanisms for civilian protection, be mandatorily embedded into the mandate, design, and execution of all current and future AU-mandated or authorized PSOs;

15. Requests the ACHPR to implement and ensure effective follow-up on the implementation of human rights decisions adopted by relevant AU Organs and provide regular updates to the PSC and the AU Executive Council;

16. Requests the ACHPR to enhance its collaboration with National Human Rights Institutions of Member States through capacity-building initiatives and knowledge exchange, and support national owned peacebuilding initiatives.

17. Highlights the importance of the ACHPR ensuring an appropriate mechanism for monitoring compliance of the NGOs with the obligations deriving from their observer status, in accordance with the relevant instruments and resolutions of the ACHPR, in particular Resolution 572.

18. Requests the ACHPR to undertake a periodic review and updating of the roster of NGOs holding observer status, noting that nearly 600 NGOs currently hold this status, while a number of them have ceased to exist and others violate the provision of Resolution of the ACHPR on the Criteria for Granting and Maintaining Observer Status to Non-Governmental Organizations working on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Africa - ACHPR/Res.572 (LXXVII);

19. Urges that the contribution of NGOs to the implementation of the ACHPR's mandate be carried out in strict compliance with the principles of the African Union and applicable national legal frameworks;

20. Further Requests the ACHPR to withdraw observer status to any NGO that violates one of the principles of the AU or the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the provisions of the resolution 572.

21. Acknowledges that systematic human rights violations are integral components of early warning indicators of potential conflict and crisis situations and, in this respect, requests the AU Commission to integrate human rights indicators into the Continental Early Warning System (CEWS);

22. Emphasizes the need to scale up resource mobilization efforts to ensure the availability of predictable, adequate, and sustainable resources, with a view to enabling the ACHPR to more effectively discharge its mandate and, in this respect requests the AU Commission and ACHPR Secretariat to explore innovative funding streams to finance joint human rights monitoring and rapid-deployment activities in conflict-affected Member States or regions;

23. Also requests the AU Commission to continue providing technical assistance to enable Member States to take full advantage of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, while ensuring that such technologies are not abused or misused to perpetrate human rights violations;

24. Directs the AU Commission, in consultation with the Secretariat of the ACHPR, to develop clear timelines, responsibility matrices, and annual reporting mechanisms to evaluate progress on joint AU human rights and security mandates, while ensuring that the Implementation Matrix remains a living document;

25. Mandates the AU Commission, working in collaboration with the ACHPR, to establish structured communication channels between the PSC and the ACHPR through the immediate designation of dedicated Focal Points, who will facilitate routine information sharing, coordinate joint thematic briefings, and monitor the implementation of agreed outcomes from annual consultations of these two AU Organs;

26. Requests the AU Commission and the ACHPR to develop practical modalities for structured engagement with national human rights institutions in early warning, mediation, peace-building, reconciliation and promotion of social cohesion;

27. Decides, within the framework of the “One AU approach”, to institutionalize and regularize a biennial meeting on human rights, bringing together the PSC, the ACHPR, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (AfCHPR), the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL), the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) to be convened alternatively in Addis Ababa, Arusha, Banjul, and Maseru, on the margins of the annual session of each of these AU Organs, with a view to harmonizing and ensuring complementarity of common actions;

28. Looks forward to the organization of the next annual consultative meeting between the two sisterly Organs, to be held on a date and venue to be agreed upon; and

29. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

COMMENTS