Cooperation Between the United Nations and the African Union

A/RES/59/213No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 56aCooperation between the United Nations and the African Union, published in 2005.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 2003–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/329

2025A/RES/79/329Cooperation between the United Nations and the African UnionLatestCompare with previous version
2013A/RES/67/302Cooperation between the United Nations and the African UnionCompare with previous version
2011A/RES/65/274Cooperation between the United Nations and the African UnionCompare with previous version
2009A/RES/63/310Cooperation between the United Nations and the African UnionCompare with previous version
2007A/RES/61/296Cooperation between the United Nations and the African UnionCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

43 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General;1

Welcomes the cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations and, in this respect, the continuing participation in and constructive contribution of the African Union and its specialized agencies to the work of the United Nations, and calls upon the two organizations to enhance the involvement of the African Union in all United Nations activities concerning Africa;

Stresses the need for closer cooperation and coordination between the African Union and the United Nations, and urges the United Nations system to continue to support the African Union on an ongoing basis in accordance with the Cooperation Agreement between the two organizations as well as other memorandums of understanding;

Calls upon the Secretary-General to involve the African Union and its organs closely in the implementation of the commitments contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration,10 especially those that relate to addressing the special needs of Africa;

Invites the Secretary-General to request all relevant United Nations agencies to intensify their cooperation with the African Union in the establishment of its organs, including through the implementation of the protocols to the Constitutive Act of the African Union2 and the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community, and to assist in the effective harmonization of the programmes of the African Union with those of the regional economic communities;

Requests the agencies of the United Nations system working in Africa to include in their programmes at the national, subregional and regional levels, activities to support African countries in their efforts to enhance regional economic cooperation and integration;

Invites the Secretary-General to request the United Nations system to enhance its support to the African Union in the implementation of its Vision and Mission and the Strategic Plan of the Commission of the African Union, particularly in the following areas:

Setting up of support structures and management;

Adaptation of structure to strategy and strengthening of skills in institutional consolidation;

Modernization of information and communication technology and advancement of indigenous technology;

Building of internal capacity to mainstream gender;

Promotion of free and democratic elections;

Disaster management;

Integrated health system in Africa;

Elaboration of an African social policy model: children first;

Support for the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;

Global advocacy for the African Union vision, to consolidate integration and promote sustainable development in Africa;

Requests the United Nations system, while acknowledging its primary role in the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security, to intensify its assistance to the African Union, as appropriate, in strengthening the institutional and operational capacity of its Peace and Security Council, in particular in the following areas:

Development of its early warning system, including the Situation Room of the Peace and Security Directorate;

Training of civilian and military personnel, including a staff exchange programme;

Regular and continued exchange and coordination of information, including between the early warning systems of the two organizations;

Peace support missions of the African Union in its various member States, in particular in the area of communication and other related logistical support;

Capacity-building for peacebuilding before and after the termination of hostilities on the continent;

Support for the Peace and Security Council in taking humanitarian action on the continent in accordance with the Protocol relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council;

Establishment of the African standby force and the military staff committee;

Invites the Secretary-General to explore, in close consultation with the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, new means of cooperation between the United Nations and the African Union, especially taking into consideration the expanded mandate and the new organs of the African Union;

Urges the United Nations to encourage donor countries, in consultation with the African Union, to contribute to adequate funding, training and logistical support for African countries in their efforts to enhance their peacekeeping capabilities, with a view to enabling those countries to participate actively in peacekeeping operations within the framework of the Protocol relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council and the framework of the United Nations;

Stresses the urgent need for the United Nations and the African Union to develop close cooperation and concrete programmes aimed at addressing the problems posed by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and anti-personnel mines, within the framework of the relevant declarations and resolutions adopted by the two organizations;

Calls upon the United Nations system and the international community to continue to support the New Partnership for Africa’s Development7 and its Peer Review Mechanism as African-owned and led initiatives and programmes of the African Union;

Calls upon the United Nations system, the African Union and the international community to intensify their cooperation in the global fight against terrorism through the implementation of the relevant international and regional treaties and protocols and, in particular, the African Plan of Action adopted in Algiers on 14 September 2002, as well as their support for the operation of the African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism, inaugurated in Algiers in October 2004;

Calls upon the United Nations system to intensify its efforts, in collaboration with the African Union, in combating illegal exploitation of natural resources, particularly in conflict areas, in accordance with relevant resolutions and decisions of the United Nations and the African Union;

Encourages the United Nations system to effectively support the efforts of the African Union in urging the international community to duly implement the Doha Development Agenda,11 including negotiations aimed at substantial improvements in market access to promote sustainable growth in Africa;

Invites the United Nations system to enhance its support to African countries in their efforts to implement the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;13

Encourages the United Nations to take special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication through debt cancellation, enhanced official development assistance, increases in flows of foreign direct investments, as well as transfers of technology;

Calls upon the United Nations system to accelerate the implementation of the Plan of Action contained in the document entitled “A world fit for children”, adopted at the special session of the General Assembly on children,8 and to provide assistance, as appropriate, to the African Union and its member States in this regard;

Calls upon the United Nations system and the African Union to develop a coherent and effective strategy, including through joint programmes and activities, for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa, within the framework of the implementation of regional and international treaties, resolutions and plans of action adopted by the two organizations;

Urges the United Nations system to increase its support for Africa in the implementation of the declaration of the extraordinary summit meeting of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases,14 and the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, so as to arrest the spread of these diseases, inter alia, through sound capacity-building in human resources;

Invites the United Nations system and the international community to provide adequate support to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, aimed at finalizing the process leading to the establishment of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights;

Urges the United Nations system speedily to implement resolution 58/149 of 22 December 2003 on assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa, and effectively to support African countries in their effort to incorporate the problems of refugees into national and regional development plans;

Urges the Secretary-General to encourage the United Nations system to work towards ensuring the effective and equitable representation of African men and women at senior and policy levels at the respective headquarters of its organizations and in their regional fields of operation;

Requests the United Nations system to cooperate with the African Union and its member States in the implementation of appropriate policies for the promotion of the culture of democracy, good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and the strengthening of democratic institutions which will enhance the popular participation of the peoples of the continent in these issues, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development;

Calls upon the United Nations system and invites the Bretton Woods institutions to support, within their respective mandates, and where necessary and possible, the establishment of the institutional structures of the African Union, including the Pan-African Parliament, the Court of Justice, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council and the Financial Institutions;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session on the implementation of the present resolution.

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Cooperation Between the United Nations and the African Union

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