African Unification Front
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
December 10, 2006
AUF Draft PAP Bill on Reparations for Enslavement, Colonial Occupation and Racist Repression
Draft PAP Bill on the Boycott, Censure, Restriction and Exclusion from Africa of persons or organizations, which directly or indirectly permit any person or firm to incite hatred, to benefit from the proceeds of racism or slavery or colonial occupation, or perpetrate racist actions against Africans.
PREAMBLE
Considering that Africa has been subjected by foreign states, persons and organizations, to horrific atrocities that have shocked the conscience of humanity;
Considering that the atrocities to which Africans have been subjected include enslavement, colonial occupation, genocide, invasion, plunder and exploitation, segregation, deportation, imprisonment, medical experiments, political repression, intimidation, indifference to our suffering, impoverishment, and the denial of our civil and human rights by foreign governments, organizations, firms and persons;
Recognizing that many foreign persons of influence and authority, as well as firms and governments outside Africa continue, from time to time, to make statements and to pursue policies that cause Africans to fear for their safety and rights;
Recognizing that foreign institutions and social systems, including educational and cultural institutions and the media, continue to train and condition persons to believe that Africans deserve to suffer, or that Africans are inferior to other people;
Recognizing that racist, colonial and genocidal policies have led persons in Africa and elsewhere to a pervasive sense of defeat, despair, demoralization, and the immoral acceptance of the suffering of Africans as normal, and have also compelled persons and institutions to participate in the repression of Africans;
Recognizing that there are precedents for maintaining lists of prohibited or restricted organizations kept by governments, and it is common and accepted practice for governments to maintain lists of undesirable and dangerous firms, such as terrorists and drug cartels, in order to publicize their censure, to protect the public, and to allow for authorities to pursue legal actions against such firms;
The PAP hereby undertakes to prevent such abuses in the future, by creating a centralized protocol and procedure to enable the monitoring of violations, and the prosecution violators, as well as the timely administration of penalties, on behalf of the African victims and on behalf of all people of good conscience.
Section I
Hereafter it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or other organization to directly or indirectly create, cause, suffer or permit acts or statements that incite hatred, or which use science, art or religion in the service of racism, colonialism or genocide against Africans.
This Act shall make it unlawful for any person, firm or other organization, in Africa or outside Africa, to directly or indirectly benefit from the disparagement, intimidation, capture, sale, commoditization, confinement, torture or killing of Africans.
Foreign countries, firms and persons that have benefited from slave trade, colonial occupation and neocolonial exploitation of Africa, shall be required to make appropriate public formal apologies, pay reparations, and take all other appropriate measures to reform themselves, and to rehabilitate the victims of their actions.
Reforms by concerned foreign persons, organizations and governments, may include the removal of symbolic monuments, murals or logos which are offensive to Africans; the return of African remains, artifacts and property; financial compensation for victims and their descendants; or such other actions that are respectful of the concerns of African victims and of the PAP.
Section II
The Pan African Parliament shall appoint a committee, or shall assign existing PAP committees to oversee, monitor, advise on, and ensure fair and appropriate usage of science, language, research, art, and commercial content such as advertising, by persons and firms in order to prevent prejudicial and racist attacks against Africans.
The PAP shall establish the Reparations and Anti-Racism Council to assist the PAP, and to advise the public and stakeholders, on the usage of science, language, research, art, religious and commercial content, that may be prejudicial against Africans.
The Council shall be authorized to maintain a list of persons, governments and firms engaged in racist activities, and shall take appropriate steps to restrict their activities, rights and privileges in Africa and in Diaspora. The list shall be a public document, accessible to any member of the public, and to governments and institutions that are required to investigate or regulate the charges and names on the list.
The list shall be known as the “Racist Persons and Organizations List”. Members of the public may submit names to the Council and to the PAP, of persons and firms to add to the list. The names on the list shall be limited to foreign organizations, and persons. Africans involved in similar activities shall be governed by the criminal codes, laws and courts in operation in Africa.
The PAP committees and the Reparations and Anti-Racism Council shall make recommendations and adopt resolutions, as appropriate, relating directly to statements made and answers provided by persons or firms under consideration, in order to ensure that firms and persons with authority or public influence do not incite or support hatred against Africans, rationalize or support colonial occupation, or promote genocide.
The PAP and the Council shall compile and maintain a publicly accessible list of foreign persons and organizations that have incited hatred against Africans, or which have benefited from slavery or other kinds of abuse of Africans, for the purpose of denying such persons and firms the services of Africans, and denying such persons, firms or persons affiliated with such firms, certain privileges in Africa.
The Council’s work shall be to investigate and consider the appropriateness of including, maintaining or removing names on the list, after inquiring into the circumstances of the incidents or the history of the firm or individuals involved.
The procedures for inclusion or addition of names to the list shall be limited to egregious or serious cases, symbolic or strategic cases that have a wide impact on the conduct of society, and to cases where a public petition includes signatures or endorsement of members of the public, or references of an authority, or the statement or affidavit of a victim of racial discrimination.
Names of persons and organizations may be added on the list on the basis of affidavits, public petitions, reports and complaints by human rights organizations, media reports, and requests by government authorities, or by PAP committees.
The Council shall automatically conduct inquiries and research or investigation into the persons, firms and organizations on the lists. If the Council determines that there is cause for prosecution or for a more detailed investigation, the Council shall pursue prosecution, or shall recommend an investigation or prosecution by concerned foreign governments, or by other appropriate authorities appointed by the PAP, such as the police, port authorities, commissions of inquiry, or the courts.
The Council, at its own discretion, will pursue and impose restrictions or sanctions on foreign persons and organizations. The sanctions may include censure, warnings, travel and banking restrictions, public advisories and subpoenas, arrest warrants, and court orders.
The provisions of this Act shall be amended from time to time, in order to include a graduated series of responses and consequences for persons and firms on the list. The list of censured persons or firms shall be updated from time to time, in order to add or to remove a person or an organization, and shall include statements on the measures taken against such persons and firms, and the outcomes of such measures.
The PAP and/or the Council will issue restrictions designed or calibrated to affect firms and persons facing investigation or prosecution, in order to induce them to cease abuses, to reform, or to provide restitution and relief to victims. More serious and long term restrictions and legal or diplomatic actions, may be applied against firms and persons which are determined - on the basis of reasonable research and inquiry by a person of sound mind, or by a competent authority such as a courts of law or human rights organization - to have engaged in serious or systematic violations of the rights of persons in Africa and the African Diaspora.
Measures to be applied against persons or organizations on the List may include: orders to issue a public apology; demand for reparations; economic sanctions; call for boycott; formal censure by the PAP; travel restrictions; funding restrictions; denial of public or private services; expulsion from Africa; diplomatic restrictions; warrants for arrest; legal prosecution and imprisonment.
Section III
Where the Chair of the Reparations and Anti-Racism Council is to be appointed by the President of the PAP, the nominee may be invited to appear before interested committees of the Pan African Parliament to make statements and answer questions. The committees may adopt resolutions or make recommendations, as appropriate, relating directly to the statements made and answers provided.
The Chair of the Reparations and Anti-Racism Council shall keep Parliament fully and regularly informed as to the practical implementation of his/her mandate, and shall be invited on occasion, or at his/her initiative, to attend meetings of the PAP committees responsible in order to make a statement and answer questions.
The PAP committees concerned shall seek to ensure that the Reparartions and Anti-Racism Council provide them with regular and timely information on the development and implementation of the applicable ethical standards policy, on outcomes envisaged under that policy, on any other considerations relating to the implementation of actions under that policy, and on the condition of Africans abroad.
The PAP shall hold an annual debate on the main aspects, basic choices and implications of the policies and ethical standards on reparations and anti-racism.
The PAP committees responsible for oversight of the ethical standards and listing of person and firms of concern may draw up recommendations to the AU Commission, the AU States authorities and other institutions, in their areas of responsibility after obtaining authorization from the PAP.
Section IV
When a municipal authority, a state authority, an intergovernmental authority, an organ or agency of the AU, or a Parliamentary committee intends to include an organization or a person on the List of Racist Persons and Organizations, the PAP committee responsible shall ensure that Parliament is fully informed about its recommendations on the matter.
Parliament may request any State government to restrict the activities of a foreign person or firm, until Parliament has stated its position on the basis of a report from the committee responsible.
Throughout the period during which a person or an organization remains on the List of Racist Persons and Organizations, the State governments, and negotiating authorities involved, shall inform the PAP committee responsible regularly and thoroughly of the progress in the negotiations and deliberations pertaining to the matter.
At any stage of the negotiations or deliberations, Parliament may, on the basis of a report from the PAP committee responsible, or from the Reparations and Anti-Racism Council, and after considering any relevant proposal or petition, adopt recommendations and require that these be taken into account before the conclusion of the reform or reparations matters under consideration.
When the negotiations or deliberations are completed, but before any agreement is signed, the draft agreement shall be submitted to Parliament for opinion or for assent.
Parliament shall give its opinion on, or its assent to, the conclusion, renewal or amendment of a protocol concluded by a single vote by a majority of the votes cast without amendments to the text of the agreement or protocol being admissible.
If the opinion adopted by Parliament is negative, the President of the PAP shall request the relevant authorities or government not to conclude the agreement in question. The president may also require the expulsion, boycott or prosecution of a person or organization under consideration.
If Parliament withholds its assent to an agreement, the President shall notify the concerned State authorities that the agreement in question cannot be concluded, and shall advise what actions should be taken.
END
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
printable version
