Luanda - The draft legal instruments under analysis by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) seek to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth in southern Africa and guarantee poverty alleviation, as the organization's primary objective.
According to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Marcy Lopes, there is a list of draft legal instruments that require legal endorsement and recommendation to the community's Council of Ministers and subsequent forwarding to the Summit of Heads of State and Government for final adoption.
"This is the draft agreement that amends the Southern African Development Community treaty, to dedicate a duplicate discussion to the Double Troika as an integral part of the structure of this regional organization," the minister said, in his speech Friday at the opening of the Meeting of SADC Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General.
The chairperson of the SADC Committee of Attorneys General highlighted the "Draft Agreement" establishing the SADC tourism univisa and the Draft Declaration on the Protection of Persons with Albinism.
"We are pleased to note that the draft legal instruments that the Committee will be presenting are based on the SADC principles prescribed in Article 4 of the Human Rights Treaty (.....)," Lopes said.
The minister expressed confidence that the committee would take advantage of this moment to assess the draft legal instruments before issuing a favorable legal opinion, which is necessary to ensure that they are finally recommended to the SADC Heads of State and Government for further promulgation and signing in August 2024 in Zimbabwe.
Marcy Lopes said that during the session the committee will also review the results of the study carried out on the reasons for and implications of the slow process of signing, ratifying and acceding to protocols and other SADC legal instruments.
"I am confident that the work of this committee is, to a large extent, for the full implementation of the indicative strategic plan for regional development in Southern Africa 2020-2030," the Angolan minister said.
He praised the senior legal affairs officials and the staff of the organization's Secretariat for the amount of work done in preparation for the meeting and for creating the necessary conditions for the event to take place.
Angola will hand over the presidency of SADC to Zimbabwe in August in the next meetings of the committee to be hosted by this country. ECC/MDS/AMP
