SECAM: AU, SECAM to Sign Renewed MOU on Collaboration and Protection of Human Rights
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The African Union (AU) and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) will renew their partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Friday, February 13, to foster collaboration and protect human rights.
In a statement shared by SECAM, the MOU establishes a framework for cooperation across multiple critical areas affecting the African continent, including the promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights; the advancement of good governance, democracy, and the rule of law; and enhanced peacebuilding, reconciliation, and social cohesion.
Additionally, the partnership will address humanitarian crises, protect displaced persons and vulnerable populations, respond to climate change through sustainable natural resource management, and promote integral human development aligned with Agenda 2063 on “The Africa We Want.”
According to the agreement signed a decade after the first MOU on August 19, 2015, the cooperation is grounded in the shared vision of Agenda 2063: “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens.”
On Saturday, February 7, SECAM organized a side event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ahead of the 39th AU summit to discuss the new Africa Water Vision 2063 and policy, with the voices and needs of citizens at the center of the agenda.
The signing of the MOU, therefore, will also take place a day before the 39th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, scheduled for February 14-15, 2026.
This sequence of events underscores the strengthening institutional partnership between the two organizations and highlights the Catholic Church’s continued commitment to Africa’s developmental priorities.
The signing ceremony will be witnessed by His Eminence Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu, the President of SECAM and Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and His Excellency Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union Commission.
