The 11th Annual Forum of African Union Commission on International Law Kicks-Off, May 23, 2025
According to the African Union website,
The African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL) was established on the basis of Article 5(2) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union as an advisory organ of the Union. At its Twelfth Session in February 2009, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Assembly of the Heads of States and Government (Assembly) adopted the Statute of the African Union Commission on International Law, by its Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.209 (XII).
As an independent advisory organ to the AU, the AUCIL’s main tasks are to: Advise the Union on matters of international law, undertake activities relating to codification and progressive development of international law in Africa with particular attention to the laws of the AU; Propose draft framework agreements and model regulations; Assist in the revision of existing treaties and identify areas in which new treaties are required; Conduct studies on legal matters of interest to the AU and its Member States; Encourage the teaching, study, publication and dissemination of literature on international law, in particular, AU law, with a view to promoting respect for the principles of international law, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and respect for the AU and recourse to its organs.
At the Conference of the African Union Thirty-eight Ordinary Session, held 15-16 February 2025 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia the Togolese Republic proposed the CONCEPT NOTE: QUALIFICATION OF SLAVERY, OF THE DEPORTATION AND COLONIZATION OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDE AGAINST THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA that states,
“12. REQUESTS the AU Commission For International Law (AUCIL), in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to undertake a study on the qualification of colonization as a crime against humanity as well as on the qualification of certain acts committed during slavery, deportation and colonization as acts of genocide against the peoples of Africa, and to submit a report to the Assembly in February 2026.”
This follows the Accra Proclamation on Reparations call for the formation of a Legal Reference Group to provide “legal advice on the question of reparations, including best practice on the law, practice and litigation of the reparation’s agenda.” It also calls for the amplification of marginalized voices in the reparatory justice movement and Increased role for the United Nations in the Exploration of legal and judicial options for reparations.
On the suggestion of US Congressman Ron Dellums (who had received 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: 𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟕 by the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika Imari Obadele) and Jamaican lawyer and diplomat Dudley S. Thompson, the wealthy Nigerian businessman, Chief Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola suggested establishing a Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) to pursue reparations for slavery and (perhaps) other wrongs perpetrated on Africa. On 28 June 1992, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) swore in a twelve-member GEP, with Chief Abiola as its Chairman, whose mandate was to pursue the goal of reparations to Africa. This is what led to the First Pan-African Conference on Reparations that was held in Abuja, Nigeria, April 27-29, 1993 The 1983 Abuja Proclamation
“Urges the Organization of African Unity to grant observer status to select organizations from the African Diaspora in order to facilitate consultations between Africa and its Diaspora on reparations and related issues.”
The New Afrikan Independent Movement was, indeed, recognized by the Organization of African Unity both in 1964 when observer status was granted to Omowale Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro American Unity (OAARU) and again in 1975 when Queen Mother Audley Moore addressed the OAU 12 Summit in Kampala. However, as explained in the video at the end of this article, the United States escalated its warfare against its domestic black colony and the New Afrikan nation. On August 25, 1967, the United States government launched a new CounterIntelligence Program against “Black Nationalists” calling them “Hate Groups” instead of freedom fighters seeking justice. According to the The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) memo revising the United States’ war strategy:
5. A final goal should be to prevent the long-range GROWTH of militant black organizations, especially among youth. Specific tactics to prevent these groups from converting young people must be developed.
The COINTELPRO succeeded in assassinating New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM) leaders, imprisoning others and millions of New Afrikans in a fabricated “War on Drugs”
A “psy-op” called “Gangsta Rap” was implemented which shifted the message of “black nationalism” to “gagsta glorification” that effectively reduced the NAIM from 27% of the U.S. young black population, according to a 1969 Newsweek poll, to a small number of committed revolutionaries on the margins of the U.S. black population. [See The History of Conscious Rap Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3]
I, Siphiwe Baleka, attended the 2023 Accra Reparations Conference as a sponsored-delegate in my capacity as the President of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA) and Coordinator of the New Afrikan Diplomatic and Civil Service Corps (NADCSC). On February 26, 2024, as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, I sent to the office of the AU Commission For International Law (AUCIL) a 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐅 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 regarding the New Afrikan Independence Movement's struggle for liberation and the Request for an ICJ Advisory Opinion and included the brilliant work, It’s a Matter of Law by the New Afrikan Military Science Institute MSI 2-2 Report of 21 November 2010 detailing the EXACT legal issues concerning the status of black people in the United States.. It was hand delivered and stamped. After receiving no response after 151 days, I sent a follow-up letter to the AUCIL that was hand-delivered and stamped at the AU on July 12, 2024. Follow-up messages designed to sensatize the AU Commission and the AUCIL of THE POLITICAL-LEGAL HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA AND THE WAR WAGED AGAINST IT BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA were also sent via WhatsApp to Dr. Namira Negm, Legal Council at the African Union, on September 12, 2024, September 18, 2024, April 9, 2025, April 16, 2025, April 22, 2025, and May 18, 2025.
After 466 days, no response has yet been received.
THIS BEGS THE QUESTION:
What Role for the Afro Descendants in the African Union's Commission for International Law (AUCIL) and the Proposed Legal Reference Group?
IF A MARGINALIZED VOICE LIKE THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRIKA (PGRNA), WITH ALL OF ITS HISTORY OUTLINED ABOVE, CAN’T EVEN GET A COURTESY RESPONSE FROM THE AFRICAN UNION AND IT’S COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL LAW . . . . IF THE PGRNA LEGAL SCHOLARS WHICH HAVE THOROUGHLY ANALYZED “THE QUALIFICATION OF CERTAIN ACTS COMMITTED DURING SLAVERY” AGAINST AFRO DESCENDANTS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE NOT GIVEN A ROLE IN THE PROPOSED AU LEGAL REFERENCE GROUP, THEN WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE SINCERITY OF ALL THE AU PROCLAMATIONS ABOUT GREATER COLLABORATION WITH THE AFRICAN DIASPORA AND ITS MARGINALIZED VOICES??? THE PGRNA DID A LION’S SHARE OF THE WORK BUILDING THE REPARATIONS MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES WHICH THEN SPREAD TO AFRICA. DOES THE AU EXIST TO SERVE THE PEOPLE AND ITS REPARATIONS MOVEMENTS, OR DOES THE AU BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE EXIST TO SERVE IT?
The AU ECOSOCC DIASPORA CONSULTATIONS CONTINUE TO DISAPPOINT AFRODESCENDANTS IN THE AU 6TH REGION. As I have stated in many forums,
IF THE AFRICAN UNION WANTS TO CONTINUE RECEIVING SUPPORT FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANTS IN THE AU 6TH REGION, THEN IT MUST, RESPOND TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS BELOW. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL ONLY HASTEN THE COMPLETE SUPPORT OF THE AFRO DESCENDANTS TO THE ALLIANCE OF SAHEL STATES AND ANY MOVEMENT TO ESTABLISH A UNITED AFRICAN STATES BEFORE THE END OF THE DECADE
Summary outline of 6th Region Recommendations
to
ACHPR PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE AFRICAN UNION THEME OF THE YEAR 2025: “JUSTICE FOR AFRICANS AND PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT THROUGH REPARATIONS”
and to
The AU ECOSOCC Diaspora Consultation
May 27, 2025
presented by
Siphiwe Baleka
1. DNA Testing
a) convene discussions with the Vatican along with the former holders of the Catholic Church's Asiento monopoly war contracts about their obligation to provide a remedy for the war damage of ethnocide
b) following State of Illinois House of Representatives 103rd General Assembly House Resolutions No. 292 and 0453
c) detaining powers under the Geneva Convention, provide free of charge to all Afro Descendants, both non-recombinant and autosomal DNA testing
2. Citizenship:
a) the Commission pass a resolution on the Afro Descendants Right to Return
b) the African Union develop a comprehensive 6th Region citizenship policy see: Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania reports and Recommendations submitted to the Panel; also: MOTION TO THE AFRICAN UNION EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 39th EXTRAORDINARY SESSIO
3. Plebiscites:
a) AU grant Observer Status like the OAU did to the self determination movements in the remaining 18 black colonies
b) AU to support plebiscite for self determination in the remaining 18 black colonies
4. International Court of Justice:
a) assist with the Request for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Status of Afro Descendants under the Geneva Convention and their Right to Conduct Plebiscites
b) ACHPR/AcHPR/ AUCIL-LEGAL REFERENCE GROUP own Opinion on the following questions:
(i) Is the Dum Diversas apostolic decree issued by Pope Nicholas V on June 18, 1452 a declaration of “total war” - warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combatant needs - and therefore a war crime and a crime against humanity? Is there a statute of limitation regarding reparations for the Dum Diversas war crimes and crimes against humanity?
(ii) Were the people captured as a result of the Dum Diversas apostolic decree “prisoners of war” and do their descendants retain that status until their final “release and repatriation” under the Geneva Convention?
(iii) Have the Afro Descendants - black folks - now within the United States ever been converted, in accordance with settled principles of universally established law, into United States citizens, and divested altogether of their original foreign African nationality?
(iv) What rights do the Afro Descendants throughout the Americas and Caribbean have to exercise self-determination and conduct plebiscites to discern who wants to repatriate to their ancestral homeland, who wants to establish independent nation states of their own, and who wants to integrate into the states they currently reside?
(v) What are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from the above?
AS A SIGNATORY TO THE PAN AFRICAN TREATY OF THE SIXTH REGION AFRICAN DIASPORA AND ON BEHALF OF ALL CURRENT AND FUTURE SIGNATORIES TO THE TREATY, I HEREBY REQUEST THAT THE AFRICAN UNION ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COUNCIL
1. PROVIDE A REPORT DETAILING HOW IT WILL ADVOCATE OUR RECOMMENDATIONS WITHIN THE AU SYSTEM AND
2. PROVIDE AN ANALYSIS ON HOW THE AFRICAN UNION CAN ACHIEVE THE RECOMMENDED OUTCOMES.
3. ACCEPT THE COALITION’S NOMINATION OF A 6TH REGION REPRESENTATIVE TO THE AU COMMITTEE OF REPARATIONS EXPERTS AND THE LEGAL REFERENCE GROUP
“The African Committee of Experts on Reparations can not be comprised solely of technocrats. It must consist of people who have advanced the most in internal reparations - the self repair and recovery from ethnocide. If someone in CARICOM for example gets development aid and yet can not identify who are their maternal and/or their paternal ancestors in Africa and have no desire to identify with being African and have not re-organized their life around Pan Africanism and Ubuntu, can they really be said to have been repaired? The African Committee of Experts on Reparations should be composed of people who can properly guide the technocrats. Mere educational and professional credentials does not make one an expert on reparations. proposed candidates should be asked, what is the evidence of your self repair and how have you used external resources for the benefit of africa and her peoples’ self repair?”
- Siphiwe Baleka, Coordinator of the Lineage Restoration Movement
Likewise, the Legal Reference Group must include qualified Afro Descendants from the 18 remaining black colonies still under foreign domination, including the Republic of New Afrika.