The August Sittings of the Permanent Committees of the fifth Parliament of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) are scheduled to be held from 02 to 10 August 2019 at the seat of the continental Parliament in Midrand, South Africa.
The August Sittings will be guided by the African Union theme of 2019; ‘Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa; Towards durable Solutions to Forced Displacement.’
Among others, the PAP committees will work on various issues including Parliamentarians’ role in achieving African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Education opportunities for refugees and internally displaced persons in Africa; Legal Framework on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN); Model Law on Climate Change; Immigration and Human Trafficking.
“The August Sittings will also feature the Speaker’s Conference where the leadership of Africa’s national and regional legislatures will concert on the plight of refugees and internally displaced people in Africa as well as evaluate the state of the ratification of the PAP Protocol and ways to speed up this process,” says the Rt. Hon. Roger Nkodo Dang, President of the PAP.
This last gathering of the Permanent Committees for the year 2019 will review the implementation progress of the key resolutions adopted during the second ordinary Session of the fifth Parliament in May 2018, while fine-tuning the agenda for the third Ordinary Session in October.
Concurrently, a joint sitting of the PAP Permanent Committee on Gender and Committee on Health will be hosted in Cape Verde. Furthermore, the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflicts Resolutions will meet in Egypt.
“We are grateful to the Parliaments of Cape Verde and Egypt for agreeing to host this component of our annual Committee Sittings. This is in line with our outreach programs that seek to enhance the visibility of the Continental Parliament outside of its seat in Midrand,” says President Nkodo Dang.