The African Union (AU), the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in cooperation with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), are jointly organizing two expert meetings on ‘’Improved interaction between the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) with increased consideration of the right to development’ and the development of a human rights strategy for Africa’’. The first meeting began today at the Kibo Palace Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania and will end tomorrow whereas the second meeting will take place on 25 November 2009.

The main objective of the first expert meeting is to create a forum whereby relevant stakeholders would discuss about the interaction between the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations (UPR) with a view to promoting human rights, with a particular emphasis on the right to development. The second meeting aims at drawing a road map on the development of a comprehensive Human Rights Strategy for Africa.

At the opening, Mr. Jean Luc Ndeziye, Representative of the UN Liaison Office with the African Union, Dr. Mamadou Dia, Representative of the African Union Commission, Mr. Said Adejumobi, Representative of the UNECA, Mr. Frej Fenniche, Regional Representative of the East Africa Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Registrar of the ICTR, Mr. Adama Dieng, all underscored the importance of these meetings within the broader framework of the African Union-United Nations’ ten year capacity building programme. The meetings are expected to adopt implementable recommendations that will guide future actions to improve interaction between the APRM and the UPR with a view to enhancing the realization and promotion of human and peoples’ rights including the right to development in Africa.

The participants are also expected to charter a road map on the development of a coherent and effective human rights strategy for Africa as envisaged in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 61/296 of 2007. The experts are drawn from the African Union Commission and its human rights machineries such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, Regional Economic Communities, ICTR, UN Agencies, National Human Rights Institutions, National and International Civil Society Organizations including other prominent African Human Rights experts.

For further information, please contract

: Mr. Frej Fenniche, Regional Representative, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (ffenniche@uneca.org), and
Dr. Mamadou Dia, Representative of the Director of the Department of Political Affairs, African Union Commission (diama56@yahoo.com)