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Regional Perspectives | Africa
Activities for the African Union“Year of Arts, Culture and Heritage:Levers toBuild the Africa weWant”continue.Of great significance wasthe official launch of the entryinto force of theCharter for African Cultural Renaissance.The Charter wasadopted in Khartoum, Sudan in January 2006andentered into force in October 2020 upon receipt by the AU Commission of the 15thratification.Thisimportantcultural policy document on the continent intends to promoteAfrican identity and shared values; developAfrica’screative economy; and protect andsafeguard African heritage.
“One of the objectives of the Charter is to enhance the role of culture in the promotion of peace and good governance. The African Union is fully aware of the role that the arts, audiovisual and cinematographic expressions, along with other creative industries, play in the African integration process, as factors of peace, understanding and conflict prevention, as well as socio-economic growth.In spite of the cultural domination, which during the slave trade and colonial era, led to thedepersonalisationof a proportion of African peoples, falsified their history, systematically disparaged and combatted African values, and attempted to gradually and officially replace their languages with those of thecolonisers, African peoples were able to tap into African culture to find the necessary strength for resistance and the liberation of the Continent.The African Union believes that Africa’s unity is based first and foremost on its history. The history of Africa, which is part and parcel of our cultural identity, is key to the development of our Continent.”
Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the Commission of the African Union, on the occasion of the launch of the entry into force of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance
The fifteen AU Member States that have ratified this instrument are: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and South Africa. Thirty-four Member States have signed this instrument.
“One of the objectives of the Charter is to enhance the role of culture in the promotion of peace and good governance. The African Union is fully aware of the role that the arts, audiovisual and cinematographic expressions, along with other creative industries, play in the African integration process, as factors of peace, understanding and conflict prevention, as well as socio-economic growth.In spite of the cultural domination, which during the slave trade and colonial era, led to thedepersonalisationof a proportion of African peoples, falsified their history, systematically disparaged and combatted African values, and attempted to gradually and officially replace their languages with those of thecolonisers, African peoples were able to tap into African culture to find the necessary strength for resistance and the liberation of the Continent.The African Union believes that Africa’s unity is based first and foremost on its history. The history of Africa, which is part and parcel of our cultural identity, is key to the development of our Continent.”
Moussa Faki Mahamat, President of the Commission of the African Union, on the occasion of the launch of the entry into force of the Charter for African Cultural Renaissance
The fifteen AU Member States that have ratified this instrument are: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and South Africa. Thirty-four Member States have signed this instrument.
29 June 2021
Last update:20 April 2023
