Political co-operation between Europe and Africa

Recommendation 1062 (1987)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 3 October 1987 (11th Sitting) (see Doc. 5780, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 3 October 1987 (11th Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Aware of the historical, political, cultural and economic links between Europe and Africa ;

2. Convinced that intensifying the Euro-African dialogue in order to establish genuine political co-operation is an ambitious but necessary goal, if Europe is to contribute effectively to social and economic progress, the preservation of peace and international security, and the affirmation of human rights throughout the world ;

3. Recalling in particular the Lisbon Declaration adopted at the Conference ‘‘North-South : Europe's role'' (April 1984), as well as its Resolutions 838 (1985) on the famine in Africa, 856 (1986) on Africa's food crisis, 864 (1986) on the debt situation of the developing countries, and 878 (1987) on the organisation of the European Public Campaign on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity ;

4. Appalled at the disastrous economic and food-supply situation which condemns millions of Africans to malnutrition, famine and sometimes death, and concerned at the danger that present conditions may worsen ;

5. Congratulating the African states, as members of the OAU, on the considerable effort they have put into debate, self-criticism and proposals leading first to the Lagos Plan (1980) and later to ‘‘Africa's Priority Programme for Economic Recovery'', presented at the special session of the United Nations' General Assembly on Africa (May 1986) ;

6. Regretting that the programme of action adopted by the General Assembly is not more specific about the involvement of the industrialised countries and the debt rescheduling, and does not provide for co-ordination between donor countries and associate countries in working out methods of action ;

7. Convinced of the need for development policies to be centred on the individual, fully involving the benefits of technology in the development process, and drawing on the cultural values specific to each people and its particular identities at the planning and operational stages of the necessary projects ;

8. Noting with satisfaction that the European Community Lomé III Convention, signed on 8 December 1984, aims to foster self-sustained, self-reliant development by strengthening the ACP countries' own capacities and eliminating all forms of dependence ;

9. Wishing Europe to be more aware of how vulnerable Africa's cultural heritage is and that it is absolutely vital to preserve it ;

10. Wishing also to give encouragement to inter-African cultural co-operation ;

11. Reiterating the need for stronger co-ordination of both bilateral and multilateral aid policies in order to ensure effective use of resources ;

12. Concerned at the many domestic and international conflicts causing bloodshed on the African continent (especially in the Horn of Africa, Sudan, Uganda, Chad, Western Sahara, Southern Africa and Namibia), which are also sustained and aggravated by East-West tension, foreign interference and expansionism ;

13. Particularly concerned at the situation in Southern Africa, that is at the domestic situation in the Republic of South Africa, where government policy offers no other prospect than repression and civil war, at the South African refusal to grant the independence called for by the international community to Namibia, and at the state of economic dependence and insecurity of the ‘‘front line'' countries (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) ;

14. Reasserting that there should be no geographical limits to the defence of human rights ;

15. Alarmed by the deterioration of the human rights situation in several African countries, especially in war-torn areas where people are already suffering from the effects of the economic crisis and insecurity ;

16. Condemning yet again, unreservedly, South Africa's apartheid policy which ignores basic human rights and dignity, and recalling in this connection its Resolution 853 (1985) ;

17. Condemning the unjust and brutal dictatorial regime of Ethiopia, where even basic human rights are not respected, and its people - particularly the young - suffer from forced movement from the North to the South of the country on a massive scale ;

18. Welcoming the entry into force of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which introduces a regional system for the protection of human rights geared to the specific conditions of Africa ;

19. Recalling its Recommendation 962 (1983) on development co-operation and human rights, and the replies given by the Committee of Ministers in January and September 1985 (Doc. 5338 addendum and Doc. 5466 addendum),

20. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a invite the governments of member states to make a concerted effort, within the Council of Europe :

20.1.1 to define the broad outlines of a policy of Euro-African political co-operation in which the European states will undertake, inter alia, to encourage African states to settle conflicts in Africa in a manner consistent with the United Nations Charter, the right of peoples to self-determination and human rights, and to assert their autonomy of decision-making independently of the bloc system ;

20.1.2 to devise, as an essential supplement to economic aid, in close collaboration with the multilateral institutions and, where appropriate, by building on existing bilateral co-operation, specific projects to encourage African countries to preserve and develop their cultural heritage ;

20.1.3 to ensure that the cultural dimension is respected in political and economic co-operation ;

20.1.4 to stress the interdependence between the countries of the North and those of the South, and the need to set up a system of mutual information and cultural exchange ;

20.1.5 to work out together a positive, outgoing approach to the SADCC (Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference), which should be enabled to free its members from South Africa's economic hegemony, and the AFRICA plan of action (Action for Resisting Invasion of Colonialism and Apartheid) drawn up by the Non-Aligned Movement to help the countries of Southern Africa cope with the economic reprisals by South Africa and with the consequences for their own economies of the sanctions imposed by the international community on the apartheid regime ;

20.1.6 to take a common stand within the main multilateral institutions on the basis of the principles set out in this recommendation

b invite the governments of member states :

20.2.1 to envisage further steps to reduce the debt burden of the African countries by cancelling the debt of the poorest countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, and to ease the debt service burden of the other African countries by allowing longer repayments and grace periods, and by applying lower interest rates ;

20.2.2 to step up development aid, and to strengthen co-ordination of both bilateral and multilateral aid to African countries in co-operation with the European Community on the basis of the Guiding Principles for Aid Co-ordination adopted at the 1986 high-level meeting of OECD's Development Assistance Committee ;

c conclude with the OAU an agreement providing for regular exchanges of information in all areas of mutual interest, and for contacts at ministerial and parliamentary level, and between the European Commission of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.