By: Tsion Hagos, Senior Liaison Officer
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, under the Regional Africa Programme, convened a two-day technical workshop in collaboration with the African Union (AU) Commission (AUC) to explore how AU’s policy organs can more effectively support the implementation of decisions issued by AU’s human rights mechanisms. The workshop took place on 20-21 November 2025 at the AUC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Why It Matters
The African Union has a rich institutional and normative set-up for the realisation of fundamental human rights and freedoms in the African continent. Nonetheless, the existing norms are poorly implemented and the various mechanisms established for their realisation are rarely utilised effectively. A big part of this challenge stems from the absence of sufficient coordination and synergy between the relevant human rights bodies of the AU which are in charge of making human rights decisions, and the AU policy organs which are in charge of translating human rights decisions and commitments into political actions.
The workshop, organised within the framework of the RWI’s Regional Africa Programme’s focus on strengthening implementation of decisions of African human rights mechanisms, brought together AU’s policymakers based in Addis. Participants included members of the AU Permanent Representatives Committee’s (PRC) Sub-Committee on Human Rights, Democracy and Governance, representatives of AU’s human rights bodies, and civil society actors.
A central objective of the meeting was to develop an action plan outlining practical steps and tools to bolster the role of policy organs in monitoring and supporting domestic implementation of decisions issued by AU’s regional human rights bodies.
As highlighted during the discussions, “Implementation is not optional — it is a treaty obligation.”
The workshop marked a significant step toward enhancing coordination, accountability, and the overall impact of AU’s human rights system.
What’s ahead
Based on the outcomes of the technical workshop, RWI will host a follow-on high-level event in 2026 involving the political leadership of the relevant PRC members to validate the outcomes adopted from the technical/expert level engagement.
This workshop was made possible with the generous support of Swedish Development Cooperation (Sida). RWI acknowledges their commitment to strengthening human rights capacity in the region.
Read more:
- About our Regional Africa Programme
- About our RWI experts Tsion Hagos and Rakel Larsson
- About the African Union