The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, has urged African countries to ensure that cooperation agreements with development partners do not compel them to adopt legal and cultural paradigms that threaten their sovereignty.
He said Africa had increasingly witnessed a situation where cooperation and support from international development partners were made contingent on the adoption of legal and cultural frameworks that were not aligned with the continent’s social fabric.
“I want to emphasise that conditioning aid on the alteration of domestic laws to the disadvantage of beneficiary countries violates the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” Mr Bagbin said.
“We in Africa do not dictate the internal legal frameworks of other continents, and we expect in turn the same respect for our sovereignty. Our laws must look like the people they are written to protect,” he added.
Mr Bagbin made the remarks in a keynote address at the opening of the fourth Africa Inter-Parliamentary Conference at Parliament House in Accra yesterday.
The four-day conference, which ends on Saturday, is on the theme: “Consolidating Parliamentary Consensus: Advancing the African Charter on Family Values and Sovereignty.” It is being attended by parliamentarians, civil society organisations, religious bodies and academics from across Africa.
The Speaker also stressed the need for Africa to redefine and strengthen its family structures in the 21st century amid emerging threats.
According to him, factors such as the Western concept of the nuclear family and economic vulnerability were contributing to the disintegration of families, while unregulated digital systems exposed young people to individualistic values.
He therefore urged African leaders to recognise the family unit as a microeconomic stakeholder by creating tax incentives for households that care for the elderly and prioritising investments in affordable housing, child nutrition and maternal healthcare.
Mr Bagbin further called on delegates to conclude and adopt the draft African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which recognises the family as the natural unit and foundation of society, as captured in Article 18 of the Charter.
“The African Charter places the family at the centre of the rights framework. If there are no human beings, how can you have human rights?” he said.
“The formal adoption of an African Family Values Charter at this conference will advance this vision. Harmonising family protection codes establishes a continental standard that prevents forum shopping and resists external pressures, anchoring our societal structures in African realities.”
Speaking on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, the Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, said Africa remained open to dialogue with development partners, but such engagements should not come at the expense of its right to define its own social and cultural norms.
He added that the success of the proposed African Family Values Charter would depend on the effective implementation of its principles.
Present at the opening ceremony were the Second Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoakoh; Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams; and other dignitaries.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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