The European Parliament,

–  having regard to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

–  having regard to the UN Summit on Sustainable Development of 25, 26 and 27 September 2015 and the outcome document adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015 entitled ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, as well as to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

–  having regard to the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development,

–  having regard to the new European Consensus on Development entitled ‘Our World, Our Dignity, Our Future’, signed on 7 June 2017,

–  having regard to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change (the ‘Paris Agreement’),

–  having regard to Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU) adopted on 31 January 2015 at the 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union held in Addis Ababa,

–  having regard to the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted in Lisbon on 9 December 2007,

–  having regard to the Abidjan Declaration, the outcome of the fourth Africa-Europe Youth Summit, adopted on 11 October 2017,

–  having regard to the conclusions of the fifth African Union-European Union Summit held in Abidjan on 29 and 30 November 2017,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 12 September 2018 entitled ‘A new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs: Taking our partnership for investment and jobs to the next level’ (COM(2018)0643),

–  having regard to the conclusions of the four task forces on the digital economy, energy, transport and agriculture established under the new alliance,

–  having regard to the joint communiqué issued following the 10th meeting of the Colleges of Commissioners of the European Commission and the African Union Commission of 27 February 2020,

–  having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 9 March 2020 entitled ‘Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa’ (JOIN(2020)0004) and the Council conclusions of 30 June 2020 on the subject,

–  having regard to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Maputo Protocol,

–  having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989,

–  having regard the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024,

–  having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 13 December 2006,

–  having regard to the European Disability Strategy for 2010-2020 and the strengthened European Disability Rights Agenda for 2020-2030,

–  having regard to the African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for 2018-2028, adopted in July 2016,

–  having regard to the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP II – ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020’),

–  having regard to the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),

–  having regard to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reports of 2019 entitled ‘The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture’ and of 2016 entitled ‘The State of the World’s Forests’,

–  having regard to the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) of May 2019,

–  having regard to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction for 2015-2030, adopted by the UN on 18 March 2015,

–  having regard to the Special Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Global Warming of 1,5°C, on Climate Change and Land, and on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 entitled ‘The European Green Deal’ (COM(2019)0640),

–  having regard to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 published on 20 May 2020,

–  having regard to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas,

–  having regard to the decision of the UN General Assembly to proclaim the period from 2019 to 2028 the Decade of Family Farming,

–  having regard to the Commission Staff Working Document of 2 May 2017 entitled ‘Digital4Development: mainstreaming digital technologies and services into EU Development Policy’ (SWD(2017)0157),

–  having regard to the UN Global Compact on Refugees adopted on 17 December 2018,

–  having regard to the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration adopted on 19 December 2018,

–  having regard to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention),

–  having regard to the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) proclaimed by the UN, and in particular to the pillar entitled ‘Recognition’,

–  having regard to the Commission communication of 15 May 2013 on empowering local authorities in partner countries for enhanced governance and more effective development outcomes (COM(2013)0280),

–  having regard to the Annual Report 2019 of the Council of the European Union to the European Council on EU development aid targets,

–  having regard to its resolution of 16 November 2017 entitled ‘The EU-Africa Strategy: a boost for development’(1),

–  having regard to its resolution of 6 October 2015 on the role of local authorities in developing countries in development cooperation(2),

–  having regard to its resolution of 13 November 2018 entitled ‘Digitalisation for development: reducing poverty through technology’(3),

–  having regard to its resolution of 19 June 2020 on the anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd(4),

–  having regard to its legislative resolution of 27 March 2019 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)(5),

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP countries), in particular those of 4 October 2016(6), 14 June 2018(7) and 28 November 2019(8),

–  having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on International Trade, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Committee on Culture and Education,

–  having regard to the report of the Committee on Development (A9-0017/2021),

A.  whereas the forthcoming EU-AU Summit should give a new impetus to the partnership and result in a common strategy accompanied by specific action on our shared challenges and opportunities in line with the international commitments made under the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement;

B.  whereas it is critical for countries to invest more in systematically collecting accurate and comparable disaggregated data, in order to find out where and what intersectionalities exist, to determine how to address them, and to analyse whether the results of actions taken under this strategy are having a positive impact on everyone, including those furthest behind; whereas in line with SDG target 17.18, data should be disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location;

C.  whereas Africa’s interests and priorities, as expressed in particular in the context of Agenda 2063, must play a central role in reshaping our relationship;

D.  whereas Africa is home to the youngest population in the world and some of the world’s most fragile states; whereas every month about one million Africans enter the job market;

E.  whereas the added value brought by the EU to its partnership with Africa will depend on the EU’s ability to combine intercontinental dialogue with a context-sensitive approach that takes into account the variety of local and regional specificities, the sensibilities of partner countries and existing social structures, as well as its desire to build with Africa a long-term vision based on shared values, mutual interests and a fresh commitment to multilateralism;

F.  whereas access to decent work and living conditions at local level are essential in mitigating the trend towards migration;

G.  whereas in 2018, raw materials accounted for 49 % of total EU imports from Africa; whereas the extractive sector is the most important driver of foreign direct investment in Africa;

H.  whereas security, the rule of law and good governance are prerequisites for economic growth and investment; whereas economic growth and investment must be sustainable and must go hand in hand with measures to combat inequality through redistributive policies, the strengthening of human capital, equity, political participation, social safety systems and measures to implement the SDGs;

I.  whereas peace and security are essential preconditions for achieving long-term sustainable development and fostering stabilisation and strong institutions at local, regional and national level, and are necessary for the improvement of living conditions and the delivery of the SDGs;

J.  whereas state building is a priority in politically fragile and administratively weak African states, which implies building up their fiscal capacity;

K.  whereas 94 million children under the age of five have never been registered in Sub-Saharan Africa, 51 million in East and Southern Africa and 43 million in West and Central Africa; whereas the right to be recognised as a person before the law is a critical step in ensuring lifelong protection and is a prerequisite for exercising all other rights; whereas a birth certificate is proof of the legal identity of a person, preventing the risk of statelessness and enabling the bearer to seek protection from violence and exploitation;

L.  whereas gender equality must be a priority for the future EU-Africa partnership and must therefore be mainstreamed throughout the EU-Africa strategy; whereas women and young people often face barriers to realising their full potential, as reflected in the increased burden of sexual and gender-based violence, HIV infection, unintended pregnancy, school drop-outs, and limited access to finance and entrepreneurship;

M.  whereas in Africa 390 million people are currently living below the poverty line against a background of a lack of inclusiveness that stimulates inequalities; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated Africa’s vulnerability in relation to poor economic diversification, low levels of domestic resource mobilisation, illicit financial flows, high dependency on the export of raw materials and volatile commodity prices; whereas the new economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to increase inequality and poverty, with its indirect consequences already taking a heavy toll, notably in terms of food insecurity, loss of income, loss of remittances and livelihood, and a looming debt crisis;

N.  whereas COVID-19 has shed light on gaps in health and food systems and on the urgent need to build people-centred, universal and resilient health and food systems grounded in human rights; whereas such crises might multiply in the decades to come as a result of climate change and biodiversity loss; whereas the pandemic threatens to stall or even reverse progress on three existing major epidemics, namely HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, which necessitate the adoption of innovative integrated approaches, while engaging affected communities and empowering civil society, to reach those in need of life-saving services;

O.  whereas contacts between the two continents should be encouraged at all levels and between all sectors of society;

P.  whereas the AU’s Peace and Security Council labelled climate change a major security threat in 2019;

Q.  whereas the African continent is particularly affected by the negative impacts of climate change and the various sources of atmospheric, soil and water pollution; whereas Africa needs investments in climate crisis adaptation, while the joint communication of 9 March 2020 focuses on climate change mitigation; whereas a successful Africa-Europe Climate Alliance could become a new driving force in global climate diplomacy;

R.  whereas on 20 December 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution through which it declared 2019-2028 the Decade of Family Farming;

S.  whereas Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest energy access rates in the world; whereas electricity reaches only about half of its people, while only a third have access to clean cooking; whereas roughly 600 million people lack electricity and 890 million cook with traditional fuels;

T.  whereas private financing is also crucial in delivering decentralised renewable options; whereas private investment, decentralised renewables and tailored consumer finance business models (e.g. via pay-as-you-go and mobile money) have the potential to bring energy access to vast parts of Africa, and in particular to Sub-Saharan Africa, where energy access rates are the lowest in the world;

U.  whereas the safeguarding, preservation and appreciation of cultural heritage and the cultural and creative sectors can stimulate jobs, empower young people and women, and contribute to a resilient and tolerant society that respects cultural differences and reduces inequalities by building bridges between different communities;

Towards a reshaped strategy with Africa

1.  Welcomes the joint communication of 9 March 2020 and sees it as a step towards a truly geopolitical partnership; underlines that Europe and Africa are in close geographical proximity and have strong, historical, cultural and socio-economic ties, which are being strengthened by the increase in their shared challenges and strategic interests; stresses that the EU and its Member States constitute Africa’s biggest partner on all counts in terms of trade, investment, official development assistance (ODA), humanitarian assistance and security;

2.  Recalls that Africa is home to over one billion people and that more than half of the world’s population growth by 2050 is expected to take place in Africa, while six out of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are African; emphasises that the EU’s relations with Africa are of the utmost importance for the future of both our continents and that the prosperity of the two continents are intimately linked; underlines that human development, the achievement of the SDGs and the eradication of poverty must remain the core of EU-Africa relations;

3.  Reiterates its calls for a true ‘continent-to-continent’ partnership between the European Union and the African Union; stresses that the upcoming EU-AU Summit due to take place in 2021 should lay the foundation for a strategic, win-win and result-oriented partnership that reflects the interests of both sides and strengthens the ties between the two continents;

4.  Calls for the development of a genuine partnership between equals based on international law and international conventions, agreements and standards, and urges both sides to move beyond the donor-recipient relationship; emphasises the importance of liaising with our African partners, including African civil society and the African diaspora, and of clearly defining the roadmap for the partnership and the responsibilities of each side based on a clear evaluation of the implementation of previous joint agreements;

5.  Notes that Africa’s potential attracts increased interest from many players on the world scene and expresses concern that, in many areas, Africa has become a new arena of great power competition; stresses that the EU is among the first to help the African continent, while destructive policies employed by other actors lead to the detriment of African nations, which also have negative impacts on the EU; underlines that the EU at its core, in its political and economic relations with third countries, is motivated by advancing fundamental rights, providing support to democratic institutions and upholding democratic accountability; believes that third countries, such as China, are pursuing other objectives that are, sometimes, of concern to us; stresses that our objective is to strengthen the resilience and independence of our African partners; expresses its regret, therefore, that the actions of other players, especially China and Russia, are advancing their geopolitical interests and are focused on a growing unilateralism, and stresses that their own benefits are at the expense of the sovereignty of African countries and European security; calls for the EU to coordinate with each country truly interested in a prosperous and positive long-term development of the African continent, on the basis of the full respect of human rights, media freedom and accountability, transparent and responsive governance and the fight against corruption, which are vital elements for ensuring a stable and inclusive political, social and economic environment in Africa; calls for the EU to develop a strategic and long-term response to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, which should be guided by our shared values as well as the priorities and needs articulated by our African neighbours; stresses that the EU and its Member States need to become a source of stability and reliability in the region; believes that the European Union needs to play a bigger geopolitical role in Africa and establish relations that account for the good of all;

6.  Takes the view that the role of North African countries should be enhanced within the partnership and trilateral cooperation promoted in order to give a new boost to North-South and South-South cooperation and improve the coherence of the continental approach;

7.  Calls for this partnership to reflect the new priorities of African countries resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak; supports the EU response to the crisis through the ‘Team Europe’ approach and sees it as a primary and true sign of global solidarity and European values;

8.  Stresses that the detrimental impacts of the coronavirus crisis must prompt both continents to commit to a partnership that takes full account of its consequences and paves the way for a sustainable and inclusive recovery focused on human development, in particular on education and on stronger health systems to prevent, detect and respond to newly emerging pandemics and accelerate the response to existing ones, as well as on gender equality, on sustainable growth, on faster transitions, including green and digital transitions, and on good governance;

9.  Highlights the commitment of the international community to achieving the 17 SDGs while respecting the principles of the 2030 Agenda; considers that the Africa-EU partnership will determine to a decisive degree whether that commitment is met and should be based on a strategic and cross-cutting approach that incorporates all the SDGs and acknowledges their interconnections;

10.  Recalls that together the AU and the EU represent a political weight of 81 countries and emphasises the importance of the partnership within the multilateral system; calls on both parties to enhance their cooperation in multilateral forums and calls for close, inclusive and systematic coordination prior to any major event related to global governance;

11.  Recalls the important role played by the African Union and African states in multilateral organisations, in particular the United Nations, where African states account for 28 % of the membership; underlines that the EU’s objective of strengthening the international rules-based order and the multilateral system entails advocating greater fairness and equal representation for Africa in global governance bodies; calls, in particular, for the EU to support Africa’s request to expand the UN Security Council in order to include permanent representation for the continent;

12.  Stresses that the EU’s influence stems from its outermost regions in both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, and that its outermost regions are historically, economically and culturally linked to several African countries; calls for better integration of the outermost regions within their regional environment, together with increased cooperation with African countries on shared issues, particularly in relation to the environment and migration;

13.  Stresses the need to build on the lessons learnt from the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and to ensure that the new joint strategy is fully consistent with and complementary to the ‘African pillar’ of the future post-Cotonou Agreement and other EU existing policies so as to achieve more coherence in EU development policy; recalls the need to ensure that the continent-to-continent partnership is implemented in coherence with local, national and regional contexts and specific needs;

14.  Is of the opinion that a continent-to-continent holistic partnership should also enable further regionalisation; reiterates the EU’s continued support for regional integration (in a context in which the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of the global supply chain) and regional organisations in Africa; supports the view that the EU must maintain flexible country-to-country and sub-regional approaches that tailor its engagement and support to the specific needs and circumstances of each country in the five regions of Africa; calls for an update of the various EU regional policies towards African sub-regions; regrets the fact that 25 years on from the start of the Barcelona Process, the creation of an area of shared prosperity, stability and freedom with the southern neighbourhood countries is still far from being completed;

15.  Stresses the importance of the AU in terms of the integration of the African continent, notably as regards the need to boost intra-African trade; underlines that this integration should be clearly defined and based on African societies’ needs; recalls that a strong partnership not only requires a strong EU but also a strong African Union; calls for the EU to support integration efforts at regional and continental level, as well as the institutionalisation and strengthening of the African Union by reducing its dependency on external funding and improving its governance structure, and through the sharing of best practices and technical and financial assistance; welcomes the proposal for a Pan-African Programme in the context of the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) aimed at addressing the challenges of the African continent as a whole;

16.  Strongly welcomes the indication given by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that she would make relations with Africa a centrepiece of her mandate; welcomes the recent visits by the leaders of the EU institutions to Addis Ababa; calls for these contacts to be stepped up and made more regular at the highest political level; takes the view that regular joint addresses by the leaders of the African Union and the European Union would improve the visibility and public awareness of our partnership in our respective national media and demonstrate the importance given to it in the political agendas of both continents; considers that these addresses should enable feedback on partnership implementation, stakeholder inclusion in the process, progress towards the SDGs and a discussion of the major issues common to both continents;

17.  Stresses the need to involve African and European civil society, including NGOs, local authorities, the private sector, the diaspora, parliamentarians of both regions, young people, minorities and religious communities, in the definition and evaluation of new and existing strategies in order to create a people-centred partnership inclusive of and accessible to all;

18.  Underlines that the EU’s efforts to engage civil society must be made in a transparent manner, offering opportunities, financial resources and framework required to enable the participation of civil society representatives at all levels, including local and grassroots actors; emphasises that to create a people-centred partnership, it is not only such civil society engagement that is crucial, but also the EU’s commitment to fighting all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, within and beyond its borders;

19.  Calls for the systematic, transparent and evidenced-based monitoring by all stakeholders, including European and African civil society and communities, local authorities and national parliaments, of the implementation of the strategy and for compliance with the principles of policy coherence for development and of policy coherence for sustainable development;

20.  Points to the importance of parliamentary diplomacy and considers that parliamentary assemblies such as the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Pan African Parliament play a fundamental role in strengthening the political dialogue between the EU and Africa; emphasises the role of the European Parliament in monitoring and overseeing the effective implementation of the partnership; recalls the many parliamentary meetings and missions conducted by Parliament, and calls for the strengthening of the parliamentary dimension of EU-AU relations through regular missions to enable key Parliament committees to meet and exchange with their African counterparts;

21.  Believes that the role of diasporas is fundamental in building bridges and promoting mutual understanding between the two continents through knowledge transfer, investment and remittances and that the EU should enable diaspora engagement in policy-making by fostering structures to ensure the involvement of diaspora groups in social and political affairs; calls on the Commission to consider how best to work with the diaspora as part of the comprehensive strategy with Africa, including by taking advantage of synergies between internal and external funding instruments when tackling common challenges;

22.  Recalls that the remittances of the diaspora are essential for local economies; warns that, according to the World Bank, remittance flows to Africa are expected to decline by about 20 % in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, notably in least-developed countries where they are a vital source of income for poor households; calls, therefore, for the EU and African countries to work towards reducing remittance costs to less than 3 % by 2030 in line with SDG target 10.c;

23.  Points out that the success of the partnership will depend on the funding earmarked for it; calls for a massive support effort for Africa under the future NDICI, while pointing out that the EU continues to be the largest donor to Africa; deplores the fact that many Member States have failed to reach the target of devoting 0,7 % of their gross national income to ODA and that some have even decreased their contributions to development aid;

24.  Stresses that for EU-Africa relations to move away from a donor-recipient dynamic and for African countries’ to be empowered to deliver on sustainable development, the renewed partnership framework must envisage concrete actions to support increased domestic resource mobilisation in African countries, such as supporting the fight against corruption and the development of fair and effective tax systems, and tackling tax avoidance and evasion;

25.  Calls for more resources to be made available for development cooperation in the EU budget, financed by new own resources, including a financial transaction tax;

26.  Recalls that according to the principle of country ownership, development policies and programmes can only succeed if they are led by developing countries, and if they are tailored to country-specific situations and needs; highlights the need to work together with civil society and local communities in this regard to ensure that people’s needs and vulnerabilities are addressed;

27.  Calls for the development of a monitoring mechanism, as well as for full transparency and accountability of EU funding;

28.  Urges the fact that EU aid should not prolong conflicts or facilitate the predatory behaviour of autocratic regimes, which lie at the root of many of Africa’s socio-economic problems and political conflicts; stresses that the pursuit of common interests and cooperation must be consistent with international law, the EU’s fundamental values and the objectives of supporting democracy, good governance and human rights;

29.  Calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to be a more coherent and unified actor in their relations with the African continent and obligatorily to coordinate their policies, focusing their efforts on creating frameworks for economic opportunities and jobs;

30.  Takes the view that the partnership should involve all 27 countries of the EU and all 55 countries of the AU; calls for the full involvement of all the EU Member States in order to increase the visibility and promote the value of the partnership among Europeans and partner countries, thereby enabling better communication of joint actions and ambitions;

Partners for human and economic development

31.  Calls for human development to be placed at the heart of the strategy to ensure that no one is left behind, with priority given to addressing poverty, inequalities and discrimination, and ensuring democracy, the rule of law, good governance and human rights for all, paying particular attention to the most marginalised and vulnerable populations; underlines that priority should also be given to access to basic social services such as food, water and sanitation, to quality health systems, to quality education, to social protection and to environmental preservation;

32.  Considers it fundamental to guarantee decent working conditions, strengthen social rights, improve social and labour dialogues, eradicate child labour and forced labour, and improve health and safety conditions in the workplace;

33.  Strongly underlines the important role of functioning state institutions, authorities and infrastructure, and believes that their absence can be a significant obstacle to development, progress and peace; underlines that security, stability, and ultimately prosperity and sustainable development will only be achieved in the regions concerned if an all-encompassing strategy is pursued; underlines the importance of democratic reforms, good governance and state-building for sustainable development; highlights that promoting the rule of law, fighting corruption and supporting access to justice would significantly contribute to realising citizens’ fundamental rights in both continents;

34.  Highlights that, while a number of countries continue to struggle with corruption and a lack of good governance and social and political freedoms, many countries have started the transition towards reform and democracy; recalls that transition countries are particularly vulnerable and should be able to count on the EU when they ask for support; calls, therefore, for well-coordinated support and assistance to be provided to those countries in building more resilient states and societies in order to maintain and support the aspirations for positive change expressed by their peoples; suggests that the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy (VP/HR) establish special ad hoc contact groups to streamline and facilitate EU-wide support to individual transition countries; is of the opinion that more efforts should be made to promote inclusive multi-party political systems and accountable, democratic governance in Africa, especially in fragile states, by facilitating citizen-government working groups and parliamentary oversight – including through the use of technology platforms – to collect citizen input on policy issues and to promote best practices through peer-to-peer exchanges, so as to enhance government accountability and responsiveness, which is fundamental to delivering sustainable development, tackling global challenges and reducing the risk of increasing instability;

35.  Underlines the importance of supporting free, fair and competitive elections and credible electoral processes; supports coordination between the EU and the AU on election observation missions and assistance in improving the AU’s capacity in conducting long-term election observation, making them in line with international standards, and bilateral cooperation with respective countries and their civil societies, in an effort to deliver inclusive, transparent and credible elections in Africa; points, therefore, to the numerous election observation missions (EOM) conducted by the EU, which are strongly supported by the European Parliament; encourages the EU, European NGOs, political parties and civil society to cooperate closely with African counterparts, including public officials, to generate substantive political dialogue through the development of issue-based policies, to promote strong practices of democratic governance, to enhance representation and the inclusion of marginalised populations, and to promote meaningful participation by civil society and citizens in public life at all levels;

36.  Appreciates the efforts made to strengthen African-owned mechanisms and regulations on human rights protection such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its protocols, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights; appreciates the fact that such mechanisms and regulations continue to assist African partners in adapting their own human rights instruments and mechanism to internationally recognised principles, laws, and standards;

37.  Recalls the importance of the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in tackling impunity and in upholding the values of peace, security, equality, fairness, justice and compensation; calls for the EU and African states to continue to support the Rome Statute and the ICC; calls on all African states who have not yet signed and ratified the Rome Statute to do so;

38.  Stresses the importance of making the best interests of the child a primary consideration and of promoting the right to peaceful childhood and to well-being for all children; calls for urgent attention to be given to the difficult and marginalised conditions of children, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and in a number of other areas of conflict or extreme poverty, who all too often are denied their fundamental rights, such as access to education, basic healthcare and, more generally, the right to a childhood; calls, therefore, for the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be fully implemented;

39.  Points out that the African population has doubled in the last 30 years and that this strong demographic growth is expected to continue in the coming decades; stresses the importance, therefore, of developing a joint AU-EU strategy which puts children and young people at the heart of the partnership and that takes into consideration the conclusions of the 2017 Youth Summit;

40.  Emphasises that the best way to empower young people is to develop and promote opportunities for them to advance, most notably through employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, as well as opportunities to participate in democratic processes and decision-making; takes the view that this strategy should strengthen opportunities for youth exchanges and volunteering in particular, giving priority to the 17 SDGs in the context of any contacts and projects proposed;

41.  Calls on the institutions of the European Union and the African Union to create internship opportunities for young Europeans in the countries of the African Union and for young Africans in the European Union in order to train them in the respective integration processes;

42.  Calls for the EU to promote universal access for all young people, in all their diversity, including adolescent girls and girls with disabilities, to youth-friendly health services, including sexual and reproductive health and HIV services, which are equitable, accessible, affordable and needs-based, including in conflict and humanitarian settings;

43.  Points out that some African countries do not have reliable civil registration agencies, and hence many of their citizens have no official existence in law and are, as a consequence, deprived of their civic rights and unable to take part in democratic processes and to vote; points out that this leads to a lack of reliable and pertinent demographic statistics;

44.  Emphasises the importance of investing in concrete EU initiatives aimed at strengthening African national civil registration systems, ensuring that those services are accessible and confidential, and supporting African governments in investing in safe and innovative technological solutions to facilitate birth registration in line with SDG target 16.9;

45.  Takes the view that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment must be prioritised and mainstreamed into the partnership; calls, therefore, on its counterparts to actively promote women’s role in, and contribution to, the economy and society, recognising their civil and legal rights, including the right to own property and the right to participate in different economic and political sectors; welcomes the increased female political representation in some African nations; observes, however, that women remain poorly represented in a number of countries on the African continent; stresses that respect for and the full realisation of the human rights of women are the foundations of a democratic society; considers, therefore, that these fundamental rights and objectives must be achieved in order to construct a truly democratic society;

46.  Calls for the recently launched GAP III to enhance efforts, in particular, to put an end to gender-based violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage; calls on the Commission to ensure synergies between the EU-Africa partnership and GAP III in order to achieve gender equality; calls for the EU-Africa partnership to place emphasis on women’s participation in decision-making; calls for a joint roadmap on the objectives to be achieved with regard to women’s rights;

47.  Stresses that comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in particular is crucial to improving gender equality, transforming harmful gender norms, and preventing sexual, gender-based and domestic violence, as well as unintended pregnancy and HIV infection;

48.  Stresses the fact that access to and respect for sexual and reproductive health and rights are a crucial component of the EU-Africa partnership; notes the urgent need to address the fact that the consequences of the coronavirus crisis have further restricted access to services and education on sexual and reproductive health, and have exacerbated the problem of discrimination and violence against women and girls; calls on the Commission to prioritise sexual and reproductive health and rights in the new EU-Africa partnership and to commit to the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the right of every individual to have full control over, and decide freely and responsibly on, matters related to their sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, free from discrimination, coercion and violence;

49.  Notes that persons with disabilities are still the victims of multiple forms of discrimination; calls for the mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa across the strategy and across all the financial instruments mobilised, and calls for their active participation in society and systematic involvement in the preparation and implementation of strategies aimed at promoting their inclusion, notably in terms of education, entrepreneurship and digital transformation; takes the view that this can only be achieved through the meaningful engagement of civil society organisations, including organisations of persons with disabilities;

50.  Is concerned about the persistent violence and discrimination against LGBTI people, notably concerning access to healthcare, and calls for the two continents to step up their efforts to protect their rights;

51.  Stresses the vital role of civil society, including local NGOs, and freedom of expression in ensuring that democracies function properly; recalls the need to recognise and promote the multiple roles and contributions of civil society organisations; calls on the two continents to guarantee a framework that will enable civil society organisations to participate in the formulation and evaluation of policy at the various decision-making levels;

52.  Emphasises the important role of a free and vibrant media and press sector and recalls that it is crucial in ensuring a well-informed public which can define its own priorities and in increasing resilience against fake news; encourages the continued African efforts in the field of media freedom and support for journalists and underlines the important role of a free press when it comes to the fight against corruption and the supervision and accountability of public authorities;

53.  Recalls that health is a necessary condition for human development and that the right to health is a fundamental right; underlines that the multidimensional nature of health should be fully addressed; emphasises the importance of a safe environment in safeguarding human health and that the One Health approach should be mainstreamed in the future partnership;

54.  Stresses the need to build a genuine partnership in the field of health aimed at strengthening health systems by enhancing the role of communities; underlines that building countries’ capacities must be the foundation for fostering universal access to adequate, accessible and affordable healthcare for all by strengthening the public delivery of health services;

55.  Stresses, furthermore, that this partnership should focus on global health research and development and on stepping up EU-Africa collaboration on health research and innovation, thereby jointly boosting local African and European production capacity for health products, equipment, and medicines; urges the EU, to this end, to support African countries, least-developed countries in particular, in the effective implementation of flexibilities for the protection of public health provided for in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), such as compulsory licensing and parallel imports; encourages networking between African and European scientific communities and exchanges of expertise and experience, and stresses the need to overcome the phenomenon of counterfeit medicines;

56.  Emphasises that access to water, sanitation and hygiene services is an essential prerequisite for any action aimed at improving public health and combating the transmission of disease and should be an essential element of EU-Africa cooperation; insists on the need to step up efforts in the field of water management and governance, infrastructure building, and hygiene promotion and education; calls for targeted improvements in access to these services, particularly for the most vulnerable populations and those suffering discrimination;

57.  Underlines the health benefits of sustaining routine childhood immunisation and calls for the further reinforcement of immunisation-related programmes; emphasises that the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the need to ensure access to vaccines and treatment, and calls on the two continents to cooperate closely to ensure that all benefit in this regard;

58.  Is concerned by the fact that more and more interconnected crises, be they health, food, environmental or security crises, are arising and are expected to worsen with climate change and biodiversity loss, and draws attention, therefore, to the importance of comprehensively strengthening people’s and ecosystems’ resilience, as well as cross-sectoral crisis prevention, preparedness, surveillance, and management and response capacities, in the future strategy and the combined strategy for future responses to global pandemics; calls for more detailed consideration to be given to social protection models, universal income and the formalisation of the informal economy, and highlights the importance of supporting decent work and social dialogue; encourages support for access to education, training and employment in situations of fragility, crisis and prolonged crises, as key factors in stability and ensuring livelihoods;

59.  Emphasises that inclusive, accessible and quality education is a fundamental right and a prerequisite for child protection and girls’ empowerment in particular, including in emergency situations;

60.  Recalls that Africa has one of the biggest young populations in the world, which represents a huge challenge in terms of education but, at the same time, an asset for the future development of the continent; recalls the importance of education in shaping citizens’ role in society and in stimulating sustainable economic growth and job creation; emphasises that illiteracy and a lack of quality education and trained professionals are a barrier to sustainable development; stresses that education for all is a horizontal and holistic issue that affects every dimension of the SDGs; stresses the importance of SDG 4.1, whose aim is a full, quality 12-year primary and secondary education cycle, provided free of charge for all;

61.  Believes that education should be a priority of development aid, particularly in least-developed countries, and a key pillar of the Africa-EU partnership; calls for the new partnership to prioritise teacher training and the strengthening of educational structures, notably in fragile and conflict-affected countries; calls for action to combat early school leaving, especially in rural areas, in particular by providing adequate school canteens and hygiene services; calls for the promotion of vocational training; calls on states to invest heavily in infrastructure and digitalisation in order to allow the greatest number of children from both rural and urban areas to be able to integrate into the school system;

62.  Stresses the need to address barriers that girls face in their access to quality, safe and inclusive education and training at all levels and in all contexts, including in conflict and humanitarian settings; highlights that ‘inclusive’ education means that the right of all children to equal access to education is fully respected regardless of gender, socio-economic status, cultural background and religion, with a particular focus on marginalised communities and children with disabilities;

63.  Emphasises the need for stronger links between education, skills development and employment to allow for the full participation of young people in the labour market, notably by mainstreaming digital and green skills into school curriculums; underlines that quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) plays a key role for youth employment and should be encouraged; invites support for private sector dialogue to encourage the alignment of training with labour market needs;

64.  Calls for networking among African and European universities and for the acceleration of knowledge exchange; calls for greater North-South and South-North mobility in the areas of vocational training, scholarships and academic exchange programmes between young people in Africa and the EU via, for example, Erasmus and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, aimed at helping new entrepreneurs to acquire the relevant skills for managing a business;

65.  Expresses regret that the Commission’s communication neglects the dimension of foreign cultural policy and the promising potential offered by deepened European-African cultural collaboration; recalls the importance of cultural dialogue between Europe and Africa and considers that cultural relations and intercultural dialogue can contribute to building trust and fostering a shared sense of belonging in a partnership; calls for coordination among Member States’ diplomatic and consular representations, EU delegations, and European and local stakeholders, and with the EU National Institutes for Culture network, in implementing common projects and joint actions in third countries based on the principles of cultural relations, which focus on building mutual trust and understanding through people-to-people dialogue between Europe and Africa;

66.  Recalls that cultural cooperation within the EU and with its partner countries promotes a global order based on peacekeeping and on fighting extremism and radicalisation through intercultural and interreligious dialogue on democracy, the rule of law, freedom of expression, human rights and fundamental values;

67.  Emphasises the importance of promoting African heritage, cultural identity, history and art; calls for cultural goods to be returned to African countries and the establishment of the conditions for the permanent restitution of African patrimony to Africa; calls for the EU and Africa to establish a ‘memorial culture’ which allows both continents to identify remnants of the colonial rule in current relations and negotiate appropriate measures to counteract them;

68.  Recalls the rich language diversity on the African continent; calls for the EU and the Member States to preserve it in their future relations; reiterates the need to work in close cooperation with UNESCO to ensure the preservation of cultural and language diversity and to find common grounds for cooperation;

Partners for sustainable and inclusive growth

69.  Highlights that the European Union has important economic ties with African states and that these ties should be further enhanced in the future to ensure a productive transformation of the region and the building of resilience; notes that China has intensified its presence in Africa while the EU Member States have shown only a very selective interest in trade with and investment in the African states, which is why the trade volume between the EU and most African states remains relatively small; underlines that the EU needs an entirely new foundation for its economic partnership with Africa, meaning that it needs to arrive at a new reality in which the EU and Africa develop a mutually beneficial sustainable partnership, reshaping economic, commercial and trade relations towards solidarity and cooperation, as well as ensuring fair and ethical trade; underlines that the prerequisite of this partnership is substantial further sustainable development in all African states; in this context, stresses the need to provide investment and targeted support and to respect policy coherence for development;

70.  Underlines its belief that Africa, as a resource rich continent with dynamic and developing economies that show high levels of growth, a growing middle class and a young and creative population, is a continent of opportunities which has demonstrated on numerous occasion that economic progress and development are possible;

71.  Stresses the importance of taking into account all structural causes of and external factors in insecurity and poverty in Africa by addressing the root causes of conflicts, hunger, climate change, inequalities, lack of basic services and inappropriate agriculture models, and by promoting political and inclusive solutions to conflicts and implementing a comprehensive approach focusing on alleviating the suffering of the most vulnerable sections of the population;

72.  Points to the importance of advancing domestic production and manufacturing capacities, which would help to reduce the dependency on foreign imports; underlines that Africa needs an industrial and infrastructure transformation that will only be possible through large sustainable investments in which public-private modes of operating represent a viable option to foster development; notes that the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD) should finance investment that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic and social development, on the basis of accessibility and universal design for all, while recognising its shortcomings in Least Developed Countries (LDCs);

73.  Emphasises that private sector investments should serve the local market and population and target those with little access to financing, guaranteeing finance inclusiveness for marginalised groups, for example, via direct investments in local micro, small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and social economy business models, notably family enterprises;

74.  Calls for strong monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to ensure compliance with these objectives; underlines that empowering civil society, and thereby including a social counterpart to investment structures, is a vital aspect of EU policies existing towards and with the African states;

75.  Reiterates the findings of the recent assessment report on the EFSD, which illustrated a lack of evidence of the development potential, additionality and country ownership of blending mechanisms;

76.  Welcomes the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) initiative, launched in 2017 in order to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure, and sees it as a good platform for the advancement of comprehensive, coordinated, and country-specific reform agendas; welcomes the fact that, so far, 12 African countries have joined the initiative;

77.  Underlines that EU-Africa trade and economic cooperation should give priority to regional integration on the African continent; calls for the Union to step up its support for African integration strategies and ensure that it is consistent between the continental, regional and national levels at which it is implemented;

78.  Calls on the Commission to support Africa in its ambitions for a continental free trade area; welcomes the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and underlines its enormous potential as an instrument to foster intra-African trade and regional integration, and improve Africa’s access to global markets; emphasises that the AfCFTA should make for integration that benefits all African populations, including the most marginalised; recalls that there are developmental differences between African countries which must be taken into account in order not to increase inequalities; takes the view that EU support to the AfCFTA should focus on the development of regulatory frameworks to prevent a ‘race to bottom’ of social and environmental norms; believes that the AfCFTA and the ongoing regional integration efforts provide a good opportunity to rebalance the international investment regime so that it becomes responsible, equitable and conductive to sustainable development;

79.  Stresses that there is a need in Africa to establish and diversify intra-continental value chains in order for more added value to be generated within the African states themselves; underlines the necessity of implementing technical assistance on border cooperation and other technical issues for the sake of regional value chain development; notes the continued existence of significant barriers to such trade due to prevalence of tariffs and other barriers, as well as poor infrastructure and high transaction costs; points to the need, therefore, to invest significantly in transport infrastructure to facilitate intra-African trade;

80.  Stresses that the EU and the African Union share a common interest in a stable and rules-based multilateral trading system that is centred on the World Trade Organization (WTO);

81.  Recalls that one of the main challenges for developing countries is to climb up the global value chain through economic diversification; calls for the EU to refrain from adopting a trade policy that as a general rule prohibits African countries from levying export taxes on raw materials, insofar as it is WTO-compatible;

82.  Recalls that free and fair trade with the African continent is key in supporting sustainable development and poverty alleviation; asks the Commission to involve civil society at all levels of the political dialogue, especially when trade agreements are prepared, monitored and evaluated; emphasises that Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) are important instruments of the EU-African trade relationship; urges the Commission, however, to acknowledge diverging views on EPAs and to find concrete solutions to respond to African countries’ concerns, notably regarding their priority of building regional value chains and boosting intra-African trade; reiterates its request for an in-depth analysis of the impact of EPAs;

83.  Calls for the systematic inclusion of binding and enforceable mechanisms for the implementation of Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters on human rights, labour and environmental standards in all currently negotiated and future EPAs, while stressing that the agreements need to be coherent with development policies and with the SDGs, especially with regard to their impact on deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss;

84.  Notes that African countries, while accounting for more than 50 % of the beneficiaries of the GSP, represent less than 5 % of the EU’s GSP imports; invites the Commission to assist the economic players in beneficiary countries on adherence to rules of origin and overcoming technical barriers, among others; regrets that the GSP has not so far contributed to the economic diversification of African beneficiary countries; reiterates its call on the Commission to consider expanding the list of products covered by the GSP Regulation(9);

85.  Calls on the Commission, in view of the documented growing risk of dissemination of zoonotic pathogens in Africa, to promote more stringent standards in African countries in terms of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and animal welfare, through regulatory cooperation and dialogue;

86.  Points out that private investment and public-private partnerships are essential for achieving the SDGs and for the development of the local private sector and must be compatible with human rights, decent work standards and environmental standards, as well as international climate objectives and the green transition, and that it should, as a priority, meet the funding needs of very small enterprises and SMEs; welcomes, in this light, the efforts made by the Commission to make the ‘Africa-Europe Alliance’ a central pillar of economic relations between the two continents;

87.  Notes that SMEs and family businesses play an important role in the development of local economies; points out that SMEs are a key engine of job creation and represent 95 % of businesses in Africa; believes that the strategy should prioritise entrepreneurship and access to finance while creating a reliable business environment; considers, furthermore, that support for the local private sector will be decisive in the post-COVID-19 recovery; points to the opportunities that the EU’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) has to promote business-to-business cooperation and joint ventures with African companies, which would furthermore not only increase the visibility of business opportunities but also foster much-needed access to finance and access to technology through a transfer of know-how;

88.  Stresses that an Africa-EU partnership on the private sector should include strong provisions on responsible finance; recalls that considerable progress still needs to be made to avoid corporate abuse and, therefore, stresses that ensuring respect for the principles of corporate social responsibility, human rights and environmental due diligence should be clearly established as a high priority in the EU-Africa partnership;

89.  Underlines that European companies have a responsibility for their supply chains; calls on the Commission to proceed with an ambitious legislative proposal on mandatory human rights, social rights and environmental due diligence obligations for EU companies; urges the Commission, in developing any such proposals, to ensure that they apply to the whole supply chain and meet OECD guidelines on social responsibility and human rights in trade and are WTO-compatible, and that after careful assessment the proposals are found to be functional and applicable to all actors on the market, including SMEs, and include provisions to facilitate injured parties’ access to justice;

90.  Stresses that leveraged private investment should be in addition to, rather than instead of, developed countries’ commitment to allocating 0,7 % of gross national income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance, with 0,15-0,2 % of GNI reserved for LDCs;

91.  Is of the view that the EU-Africa strategy should also include measures to assist African countries in converting their mineral resource wealth into real development results and calls for a review of the effectiveness of existing measures, also with regard to the questionable exploitation of Africa by China and Russia; calls on the Commission and the EU’s African partners to implement the measures required under the Conflict Minerals Regulation(10) smoothly, and publish without delay the list of companies outside the EU that do not fulfil requirements set out by that regulation; emphasises Europe’s strengths (i.e. transparency, high-quality goods and services, and democratic governance) and trusts that the appeal of those fundamental values is a compelling alternative to authoritarian models;

92.  Notes the importance of implementing the Africa Mining Vision adopted in 2009 by African Heads of State and Government to ensure transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources;

93.  Recalls that the extractive sector plays an important role in the economies of numerous African countries and is linked to an unequal resource interdependence with Europe, which should be rectified by addressing the issue by of illicit outflows of tax revenue and royalties in the extractive sector through the Transparency Directive(11) and Accounting Directive(12);

94.  Expresses its concern at the growing number of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases taken out against African states, especially by European companies; calls on governments and companies in the EU to refrain from using ISDS, and to put an end to the numerous ISDS cases taken out against African countries;

95.  Considers that this partnership should support female and youth entrepreneurship in rural and urban areas, and that to do so it is essential to support equal access to economic and productive resources such as financial services and land rights; calls for the development of exchanges between African and European female entrepreneurs by means of platforms that enable networking, experience-sharing and the production of common projects;

96.  Recalls that the position of women can be strengthened with strong provisions in trade agreements on gender and trade; calls in this regard on the Commission to assist the African Union with the implementation of its Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and to implement measures that contribute to the achievement of gender equality in its trade agreements with African countries;

97.  Highlights Africa’s huge fiscal constraints in coping with the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic; recalls that some African countries are spending more money on debt repayments than on health services; believes that detailed consideration should be given to alleviating unsustainable debt burdens that result in major losses of public services and welfare measures; take note of the announcement by the G20 of a temporary moratorium on debt repayments for the weakest developing countries as a first step in the right direction; reiterates its call on private creditors to participate in the initiative on comparable terms, and encourages the G20, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as well as the multilateral development banks, to go further on debt relief and to further explore options for the suspension of debt service payments; calls, more broadly, for the creation of a multilateral debt workout mechanism to address both the impact of the crisis and the financing requirements of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; stresses the need to link debt relief measures with additional mobilisation of ODA and to prioritise grant-based financing as the default option, especially for LDCs;

98.  Highlights the importance of supporting African countries in increasing their capacity to mobilise domestic resources in order to increase investment in basic public services; recalls that illicit financial flows (IFFs) represent twice the amount of ODA received by African countries, a total of approximately USD 50 billion annually, and have a dramatic impact on the continent’s development and governance; calls on the EU to further support African partners in improving governance, fighting corruption, increasing the transparency of their financial and tax systems and setting up adequate regulatory and monitoring mechanisms;

99.  Recommends that the EU and AU better implement and enforce existing national and international anti-corruption instruments and make use of new technologies and digital services; calls on the EU to adopt a stringent regulatory framework on corruption;

Partners for an AU-EU green pact

100.  Recalls that African countries and their populations are particularly affected by the negative impacts of climate change; recalls that, in 2019, nearly 16,6 million Africans were affected by extreme weather events, 195 % more than in 2018, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED); stresses the need to put climate and environmental protection at the heart of the partnership in line with the EU’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity; notes that it has asked for 45 % of the budget for the future NDICI to be devoted to these objectives;

101.  Expresses concern at how climate change could reverse human development and undermine low-income and fragile African countries’ development prospects and stresses that it is a risk factor for destabilisation, violence and conflict; highlights that the EU should offer concrete, predictable, accountable and long-term financial and technical support to African countries to equally reinforce their climate adaptation (i.e. through projects focusing on sustainable agriculture, ecosystem-based adaptation and sustainable cities) and mitigation strategies, with a special focus on disaster risk prevention and on disadvantaged communities;

102.  Underlines the crucial role of water diplomacy, since, as a result of climate change, water risks becoming an ever more scarce resource; underlines the need for a more effective climate diplomacy in order to promote the links between domestic, foreign and international climate policy;

103.  Calls for EU support to help African countries to implement and increase the ambition of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) in the context of the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework, ensuring they have adequate funding for adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage as well as their national biodiversity strategies and action plans; stresses that for such support to be effective, the future EU-Africa partnership for a transition must be based on the principles of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) and policy coherence for sustainable development, while ensuring a green transition that is just and inclusive;

104.  Emphasises that adaptation strategies should encourage a change of model in African countries, founded on nature-based solutions; calls for the promotion of inclusive stakeholder participation in the development and implementation of NDCs, national adaptation plans and national agricultural investment plans, among others;

105.  Emphasises the unique perspective and needs of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as regards climate adaptation and mitigation;

106.  Emphasises, furthermore, the need to include a gender dimension in climate action, given the particular consequences of climate change and environmental degradation for women and girls; calls on the African and European partners to better highlight in the future EU-Africa partnership the role that women can play in leading their communities towards more sustainable practices and participating in decision-making on climate change adaptation and mitigation;

107.  Calls for the swift implementation of ‘green deal diplomacy’ through the setting-up of a task force focusing on the external dimension of the European Green Deal, which should make recommendations for an AU-EU green deal involving local authorities and civil society organisations, with a multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach; considers that this deal should particularly support the adoption of regulatory frameworks that allow for the transition to a green economy, the development of a circular economy and the creation of jobs in sustainable sectors;

108.  Emphasises the importance of regional cooperation and cooperation through technical assistance, exchange of information and good practices; insists on the importance of better communicating future climate and disaster risks and of fostering the legal transfer of climate-friendly technologies; calls for the EU, to this end, to promote the adoption of a declaration on intellectual property rights and climate change, comparable to the Doha Declaration of 2001 on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health;

109.  Underlines the need for sustainable innovation policies and projects that enable African states to ‘leapfrog’ older and more polluting technologies with the specific goal of ecological and social sustainability, and calls in this regard for an investigation of how leapfrogging can contribute to these aims in African states;

110.  Recalls that Africa is home to exceptional biodiversity; expresses its deep concern about overexploitation of natural resources and the impact of reduced biodiversity on resilience levels; is particularly concerned at the fact that the pace of deforestation is increasing in Africa; points out that the destruction of the African rainforests leads to an irreversible loss of biodiversity and of carbon sinks, as well as of the homes and ways of life of indigenous communities living in the forests; recalls that forests contribute significantly to reaching climate targets, protecting biodiversity and preventing desertification and extreme soil erosion;

111.  Calls for the link between public health and biodiversity in line with the ‘one health’ approach to be taken into account; welcomes the announcement of the NaturAfrica initiative, which aims to protect wildlife and ecosystems, and the review of the action plan against wildlife trafficking; stresses that the NaturAfrica initiative should be developed in consultation with all stakeholders, with particular attention to the rights of local communities, indigenous peoples, and women; underlines that it should support African governments and local populations in tackling major drivers of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation in a holistic and systematic way, including by offering support for well managed protected area networks; urges the EU and Africa to recognise and protect indigenous people’s rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and International Labour Organization Convention 169, and to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent;

112.  Calls for the allocation of adequate resources to implement the recommendations of the Commission studies of 2015 entitled ‘Larger than elephants: Inputs for an EU strategic approach to wildlife conservation in Africa’ and of 2019 entitled ‘Study on the interaction between security and wildlife conservation in sub-Saharan Africa’;

113.  Considers that conservation efforts centred on, for example, forests, wildlife and marine and coastal ecosystems need to be stepped up by making use of regulatory frameworks, sufficient resources and scientific data and accompanied by ecosystem restoration and management actions; calls on the EU and Africa to play a leading role in the conclusion of an ambitious global agreement at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity;

114.  Recalls that the oceans are the largest global source of proteins; recalls the importance of working towards better ocean governance, including as regards the development of fisheries and sustainable aquaculture and a blue economy, which are vectors of development; emphasises that action against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing must be a priority in order to limit environmental impacts and preserve the sustainability of fish stocks and fisheries incomes;

115.  Calls on the Commission expressly to monitor activities related to industrial fishing as they may pose a threat to the stocks available to local populations using traditional fishing resources, while also risking creating an imbalance in the good ecological status of fishery stocks;

116.  Recalls that Africa is the least electrified region in the world and emphasises the fact that access to energy is not uniform on the African continent; notes that access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy is an essential tool for economic and social development, including in rural areas; calls for the development of Africa’s potential for renewable energy production;

117.  Encourages, the EU and the Member States, therefore, to promote and strengthen cooperation with their African partners in the energy and climate sectors in accordance with the objectives of the Green Deal; encourages the Commission to come up with an ambitious plan for implementing a sustainable energy partnership, notes to this end that renewable energy and energy efficiency are crucial elements in bridging the gap in access to energy on the African continent, while ensuring the necessary reduction in carbon dioxide emissions; calls on the EU and the respective African countries to exploit possibilities for mutually beneficial energy partnerships for the production of hydrogen using renewable energy sources;

118.  Stresses the importance of channelling investment towards a carbon-free economy by developing renewable energy sources and facilitating technology transfer, including decentralised energy production, small-scale renewable energy and solar power technologies that meet local demand for energy, including with regard to infrastructure and connectivity;

119.  Stresses that the urbanisation of the African continent constitutes an opportunity to rethink urban planning and introduce sustainable city solutions, and that it should be the subject of more intensive dialogue with local and regional authorities and cooperation and exchange of best practices between the two continents, in particular with regard to green infrastructure, eco-system based approaches, waste management and sanitation systems, and with particular efforts to involve young people and marginalised groups; calls for support for the development of sustainable urban transport aimed at greater community inclusion and accessibility, including transport to schools and medical centres;

Partners for sustainable and resilient agriculture

120.  Points out the central importance of the agricultural and food sectors in the economy and in providing decent and sustainable job opportunities in rural areas; underlines that this in most cases concerns smallholdings and family farms; notes the importance of promoting and enhancing measures and tools to support increasing product quality, diversification of products, sustainable modernisation of agricultural practices, safe working conditions and measures to strengthen the resilience of farmers; considers that the development of a sustainable agricultural sector and of rural areas should be at the centre of EU-Africa relations;

121.  Welcomes the fact that the new EU-Africa partnership advocates for the development of environmentally friendly agricultural practices; recalls the fact that agroecology’s capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been recognised in landmark reports from the IPCC and IPBES, as well as the World Bank and FAO-led global agricultural assessment (IAASTD); stresses the importance of promoting agroecology, agroforestry, local production and sustainable food systems which focus on the development of short supply chains in both national policies and international forums, in order to ensure food and nutritional security for all as well as increasing the sustainable productivity of the agricultural sector and its resilience to climate change;

122.  Calls for the EU to take into account the conclusions of the Task Force for Rural Africa on the need for investment in African food chains, with the focus on value-added commodities; and calls on the EU and the Member States to actively work together with African partners to create synergies between the EU-Africa strategy and Green Deal policies, in particular the external dimension of the farm to fork strategy;

123.  Underlines that the use of pesticides in intensive agriculture in Africa can impact the health of workers who have very little access to training on plant protection and healthcare, in addition to causing environmental damage; calls for education and training in sustainable plant protection approaches and alternatives to pesticides and for the minimisation of exposure to hazardous substances; denounces the double standards applied by the EU regarding pesticides by allowing the export of hazardous substances that are banned in the EU to African countries and other third countries; asks, therefore, for the modification of the current EU rules in order to eliminate this legal incoherence, in line with the Rotterdam Convention of 1998 and the Green Deal;

124.  Is deeply concerned about the high dependence of African states on food imports, especially from the European Union, particularly when these imports are made up of subsidised products whose low price represents harmful competition for small-scale agriculture in Africa;

125.  Is concerned at the common agricultural policy-supported exporting of European milk powder to West Africa, given that the tripling of exports since the EU lifted its milk quotas in 2015 has had disastrous consequences for local herders and farmers who cannot compete; calls on the Commission to work on solutions with African governments and stakeholders;

126.  Recalls that hunger and food insecurity are again increasing across the world and that they will continue to increase unless prompt action is taken, and that Africa is significantly off track to achieve the zero hunger target (SDG 2) in 2030; recalls that the end of malnutrition in all its forms and SDG 2 should be considered as priorities in the new partnership, with particular attention to people in the most vulnerable situations;

127.  Stresses that COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis and closure of borders, locust infestations and desertification have deteriorated the already difficult food security situation in Africa and shone a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system; stresses the potential of local and regional markets to address current food system failures;

128.  Calls for the EU-Africa partnership to focus its efforts in the area of agriculture on safeguarding African countries’ right to food sovereignty and on increasing their food security as a priority, as well as enhancing their capacity to meet the nutritional requirements of their populations;

129.  Emphasises the importance of rural transformation and strengthening local, regional and transparent value chains in order to create sustainable jobs, avoid human rights violations and mitigate climate change; stresses the need to support young people and women, in particular through training, access to credit and access to markets; calls for their involvement in formulating agricultural policies and for support for collective action through small producer organisations;

130.  Emphasises the essential role of rural African women in agricultural and rural economies across the African continent, in particular with regard to food security; recalls that almost half of agricultural work in Africa is done by women, while women farmers are mostly small or subsistence farmers who do not have the necessary access to information, credit, land, resources or technology; encourages the advancement of inheritance rights for women and girls and calls on the EU to support partner countries, particularly regarding their recognition of women’s full entitlement to land rights;

131.  Stresses that women who work in subsistence agriculture face additional hurdles in maintaining food sovereignty due to the strong protection of new plant varieties by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in trade agreements;

132.  Emphasises the importance of supporting small farms and pastoralism and other traditional/local food systems in order to strengthen their resilience and boost their contribution to food security, sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation;

133.  Calls for the social tensions between settled agricultural populations and nomadic pastoral communities to be addressed, notably in regions with overlapping ethno-religious conflicts;

134.  Underlines the importance of research and innovation in encouraging sustainable agricultural practices and productive dryland agro-ecosystems and food systems; calls, in this regard, for a stronger reliance on the contributions of African traditional knowledge in the just transition, especially regarding agricultural practices, fisheries and forest protection, thereby empowering the African people and local communities;

135.  Encourages exchanges of knowledge and best practices between European and African farmers and, in particular, contacts between young farmers, women and representatives of rural communities around sustainable production methods and biodiversity protection, also within the framework of associations;

136.  Welcomes the proposal of the Task Force for Rural Africa for the establishment of a Europe-Africa twinning programme linking agricultural bodies of EU Member States and partner countries in Africa with the aim of sharing sustainable best practices and fostering relationships between strongly engaged and similar partners;

137.  Stresses the importance of the inclusion in the EU-Africa partnership of the protection and promotion of the right of local communities to access and control natural resources such as land and water; deplores the fact that land grabbing is rife in Africa; points out that it is a brutal practice that undermines food sovereignty and endangers rural African communities; stresses the importance of launching an inclusive process with the aim of guaranteeing the effective participation of civil society organisations and local communities in the development, implementation and monitoring of policies and actions related to land grabbing; calls for the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) to be observed in all projects that promote the protection of land rights, including in trade, and also for measures to ensure that projects do not endanger the land rights of small-scale farmers;

138.  Regrets the lack of recognition of the strategic importance of rangelands, which cover about 43 % of the African land surface and are therefore important carbon sinks; calls on the Commission to develop, together with local communities and local stakeholders, a strategy to optimise this potential through sustainable grazing management such as that practiced by pastoralists;

139.  Notes that, for example, grazing rights and community pastures are traditional land use rights based on common law and not on securitised property rights; emphasises, however, the fundamental importance of protecting these common rights for rural populations;

Partners in making digitalisation a lever for inclusion and development

140.  Stresses that the digital transformation represents a tremendous development lever for access to education, training, employment and health, as well as for the modernisation of the agricultural sector, the capacity of the public sector to deliver digital services such as eID, eHealth or eGovernment, and participation in political decision-making, human rights and freedom of expression, but that it can also bring with it the risk of undermining democracy, jeopardising civil and human rights and increasing inequalities; stresses that the digital transformation must support affordable, equal and inclusive access to the internet as well as the use and creation of digital technology services adhering to the relevant international and national standards and guidelines;

141.  Emphasises that the digital divide should be taken into account and suitably considered; underlines the need to prioritise access to internet connectivity for the majority of marginalised African communities in order to avoid the emergence of a huge gap between the rural and urban populations; considers that it is necessary to bridge the digital gender gap in order to drive a truly inclusive digital transformation; encourages women and girls to develop their potential with regard to new technology;

142.  Recalls the negative impact that online violence against women and girls and sexist hate speech, cyber-bullying, xenophobia, disinformation and stigmatisation can have on social inclusion and calls on African and European partners to address such issues in the EU-Africa partnership; stresses the need to ensure that digital education and literacy are holistic, including soft and transversal skills such as critical thinking and intercultural understanding;

143.  Stresses that the generation of e-waste worldwide poses challenges for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, notably regarding health and the environment; calls on the EU and Africa to step up their efforts to develop responsible investment, so as to help minimise e-waste production, prevent illegal dumping and improper treatment of e-waste, promote the efficient use of resources and recycling, and create jobs in the refurbishment and recycling sectors;

144.  Supports the digitisation and modernisation of public administration in African countries, in particular with a view to developing reliable civil registration agencies, providing secure identity documents and promoting data exchange; stresses that all data exchanged must be subject to relevant data protection and privacy laws; calls for the EU to work hand-in-hand with African nations in order to work towards global data protection standards, which in turn will help tackle crime and strengthen each other’s economies;

145.  Emphasises that innovation is necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the green transition; stresses that the partnership should promote research and innovation, and access to and usability of digital services, in order to foster cohesion and social inclusion; recalls, however, that the digital transition cannot take place without access to energy and that irregular energy supplies in rural areas constitute a significant barrier to access to digital services;

146.  Stresses that the COVID-19 crisis has forced an acceleration of the digital transformation in Africa; welcomes the AU’s desire to establish a digital single market; calls for the EU to support the establishment of an African digital industry and the proper regulatory framework for developing online commerce and data protection on the basis of the highest existing standards by providing technical assistance, boosting investment in digital infrastructures and entrepreneurship, and strengthening partnerships with governmental, economic, academic, scientific and civil society stakeholders;

147.  Highlights that according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals Report (2019), many challenges remain to be addressed if the SDGs are to be achieved, notably in Africa, in terms of access to food, energy, water and sanitation, education and health; believes that financial assistance and investment should primarily target the fulfilment of those basic human needs, which remain a prerequisite for the elimination of poverty and advances in human well-being, especially at a time when public resources are becoming increasingly constrained with competing demands, such as health and education;

148.  Stresses that accurate and comparable disaggregated data collection and statistical analyses, while respecting data protection and privacy rights, are fundamental to informed decision-making, particularly in the fields of agriculture, natural resource management and governance and health at national and decentralised levels;

149.  Stresses the need to use the digital transformation as a means to promote exchanges between the two continents, in particular between young people and civil society, by means of platforms;

150.  Calls on the EU and African countries to increase their joint efforts to ensure that the digital economy is socially and environmentally sustainable and to contribute to the objective of establishing a modern, fair and efficient taxation standard for the digital economy;

Partners for mutually beneficial mobility and migration

151.  Recognises the complex challenges and opportunities that migration movements play both in Europe and Africa for the prosperity and the development of both continents and stresses the need to strengthen cooperation in this area; notes that, in recent years, the migration issue has dominated the Africa-EU relationship and that this may have had a damaging effect on the way the two continents perceive one another; stresses that migration constitutes a reciprocal sustainable development tool for both regions;

152.  Recalls that up to 80 % of all international migrants who originate from African countries are moving within the African continent; notes that African countries host a large share of the total number of refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide, and that their vulnerable situation has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis; calls for global responsibility sharing for refugees;

153.  Considers that the human dimension of migration should be highlighted and particular attention paid to the more disadvantaged groups of migrants; calls for the adoption of an EU-Africa partnership on migration and mobility that puts the human dignity of refugees and migrants at its heart, that is grounded in the principles of solidarity, shared responsibility and full respect for human rights, international, EU and national law and refugee law;

154.  Recalls that specific actions should be taken to protect migrants from death, disappearance and family separation, and to prevent violations of their rights, including actions aimed at upholding the principle of non-refoulement and the best interests of the child;

155.  Underlines the need to address through adequate funding the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacements, such as political instability, poverty, lack of security and food security, violence and the negative effects of climate change;

156.  Considers that the success of the partnership will hinge on significant improvements in mobility opportunities between the various components of African and European societies and that the partnership should be designed in a sustainable fashion to create ‘brain gain’ rather than ‘brain drain’; considers that a more efficient visa policy and increased funding for the Erasmus+ programme would make a useful contribution to achieving this;

157.  Stresses the importance of developing a genuine circular migration policy enabling skilled and unskilled workers to benefit from an exchange of professional knowledge and mobility between the EU and Africa, facilitating the return of people to their countries of origin; supports the prioritising of eligible applications to the EU for work permits from countries of origin and transit (for instance, through embassies or online) in order to discourage migrants from resorting to irregular migration channels and ease the burden on asylum and migration systems;

158.  Recalls that the mobility of workers can be one of the responses to the EU’s demographic challenges and labour market shortages and mismatches; calls for safe and legal migration channels to be developed, and for the promotion of a more harmonised, comprehensive and long-term approach to labour-related migration at European level, based on a partnership approach that can benefit both partners in the long term; emphasises the importance of strengthening the Africa-EU Migration and Mobility Dialogue (MMD) and the Africa-EU Migration, Mobility and Employment Partnership (MME);

159.  Strongly condemns smuggling and trafficking of human beings; calls for the strengthening of efforts to trace and combat criminal networks of smugglers and seeks cooperation with African countries to combat it; calls in this regard for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary effort and coordination at all levels, in cooperation with local governments, including international law enforcement cooperation; considers that the fight against smugglers and human traffickers must be conducted jointly by the two parties, and with the support of Europol, among others;

160.  Calls for the EU and African nations to work together to create an effective and wide-reaching information campaign regarding the risks and dangers of human trafficking and migrant smuggling in order to prevent individuals from endangering their lives in order to enter the EU irregularly;

161.  Stresses the need for coherent EU engagement, ensuring that cooperation on fighting irregular migration or on integrated border management has no negative impact on existing frameworks of regional mobility in the African continent or on human rights; recalls the need that any partnership on Migration and mobility must take into account the two global compacts on Migration and Refugees (Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR));

162.  Considers that the fragmentation of national regulations on professional migration in the EU, together with the complexity and highly bureaucratic nature of the procedures, discourages recourse to the EU’s legal migration channels; recommends the establishment of a harmonised and non-bureaucratic EU application procedure under the EU-Africa partnership;

163.  Recalls the need to set up a dedicated and common European civil search and rescue operation to end the loss of life at sea;

164.  Calls on the EU to step up its commitments on resettlement and the other legal channels for people in need of international protection and to equally step up its political and financial commitments to support African partners in developing sustainable approaches for refugees, IDPs and stateless persons, notably by cooperating with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other UN agencies to reinforce development cooperation and provide direct assistance to humanitarian organisations near the homes from which refugees have fled;

165.  Recommends harmonising regional mechanisms for protecting displaced people in the context of disasters and climate change, in line with the Agenda for the Protection of Cross-Border Displaced Persons in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change, the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the Kampala Convention;

166.  Underlines the need to guarantee fair and accessible asylum procedures for people in need of international protection both in the European Union and in African countries and to respect the principle of non-refoulement in line with international and EU law; believes that any agreement with countries of origin and transit should guarantee the full protection of human lives, dignity and human rights;

167.  Underlines the importance of ensuring effectiveness, fairness and due process in the return policy, in the issuance of consular laissez-passers and in the conclusion of readmission agreements, giving preference to voluntary return, and ensuring that the rights and dignity of individuals are fully protected and respected; calls for strong EU engagement during the pre-return and post-return periods to facilitate the sustainable reintegration of returnees;

168.  Encourages continued cooperation with the IOM and other UN agencies to provide additional support to refugees and IDPs;

169.  Notes that in the EU’s negotiating mandate for the post-Cotonou Agreement, references to migration have multiplied, notably with regard to stemming irregular migration, while, in contrast, the ACP negotiating mandate puts the emphasis on poverty eradication, the promotion of legal migration, the importance of remittance flows, the need for returns and readmission to be voluntary and the preclusion of the use of development aid for negotiating restrictive border controls; calls on the Commission to take into account African countries’ priorities on migration in order to forge a real ‘partnership of equals’;

Partners for security

170.  Notes the addressing protracted conflicts requires joint actions to be taken by humanitarian and development actors and partners with high local legitimacy and credibility; calls, therefore, for the EU to foster a humanitarian-development nexus approach in its response, with a focus on strong local ownership;

171.  Welcomes the fact that the EU considers peace and security in Africa as a key condition for sustainable development and that the Union is committed to ‘markedly step up its support to Africa in cooperation with the international community’; shares the opinion that the matter of security in Africa is of great importance for the development of the continent supported by regional and international organisations, while African states are the foremost guarantors of their own security; calls for the EU, therefore, to continue its efforts to work in cooperation with its African partners in the further development of an African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), to achieve long-term peace and stability and overcome the crises and conflicts on that continent through an integrated approach that harnesses all available tools, including support for developing African security and defence capabilities and its military operations, civilian missions, peacebuilding and demilitarisation projects with respect for international human rights and humanitarian law and the independence and sovereignty of African countries, and support for initiatives coming from the AU, regional organisations such as ECOWAS and the G5 Sahel; encourages the Member States to participate in EU missions and operations and welcomes bilateral efforts contributing to peace and stability and urges the Council, in this respect, to swiftly approve the European Peace Facility in order to provide more comprehensive assistance to African partners in regions affected by conflict; emphasises the importance of multilateral cooperation within the AU-EU-UN triangle in the field of local, regional and international security and the role of civil society actors in peacekeeping and peace-building efforts; recalls in this light that security sector reform, justice reform, good governance, democratic accountability and the protection of civilians are prerequisite for winning the trust of populations in their governments and security forces; underlines, furthermore, the civil-military nexus and the need to better streamline both components of Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions; supports the increasingly proactive approach taken by cooperative regional security organisations towards the full operationalisation of the APSA, which provides the African Union and regional level organisations with the needed tools to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts; commends, in particular, initiatives such as G5 Sahel, given its increasingly pivotal role in decisive action taken by African nations to ensure peace and security in their own neighbourhood and calls on the Commission and Member States to increase political, financial, operational and logistical support to G5 Sahel; stresses that, in order to ensure appropriate levels of security and development, African countries must have adequate capacities in all essential sectors, most importantly regarding security and defence; calls for the EU to coordinate the development and security initiatives in which it is involved on the African continent as part of an integrated strategy that includes good governance, democracy, human rights, the rule of law and gender equality, with a particular focus on regions where vulnerabilities and tensions are the highest; welcomes the cooperation undertaken between the EU and Africa in combating terrorism and armed groups, in compliance with international law; calls, in the context of counter-terrorism policies, for the establishment of more transparent decision-making processes, increased compliance with a human rights-based approach and more engagement with communities affected by these measures;

172.  Underlines the important role that the Sahel plays from a strategic and security point of view; in this light strongly welcomes the establishment of the G5 Sahel in 2014 as well as the G5 Joint Force (G5 Force Conjointe), which was created in 2017 to combat the security threats in the region;

173.  Stresses the urgent need for the EU to address the escalating terrorist insurgency in northern Mozambique, which has already caused more than 1 000 deaths and forced around 200 000 people to flee their homes, and which poses a serious risk of spreading across the southern African region; urges the VP/HR to offer the EU’s support to Mozambique and its citizens; stresses that the lack of a response from the EU may lead to other international players taking the leading role that the EU aims to achieve in the continent;

174.  Expresses its concern that Botswana, Ghana, Uganda and Zimbabwe are included in the updated EU blacklist of countries that have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes, and calls on these countries to immediately take the necessary steps to comply with the requirements of and implement the legislation (i.e. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/855(13)); welcomes the fact that Ethiopia and Tunisia, after pursuing a number of reforms, have been taken off the blacklist;

175.  Highlights the fact that the mandates of the CSDP mission are comprehensive and aim, inter alia, to foster security sector reform, advance justice reform, strengthen military and police training and advance oversight; underlines the urgent need to improve the communication policy of CSDP missions as well as the EU’s overall strategic planning in order to increase the visibility of the EU’s actions and its aim of safeguarding the security and wellbeing of African people;

176.  Highlights the special role of religious entities in Africa that regularly play a mediating role in conflicts, with whom dialogue and cooperation is needed, especially in conflict areas, as interreligious dialogue may contribute to peace and reconciliation;

177.  Takes note that the joint communication aims to deepen EU support for African peace efforts through a more structured and strategic form of cooperation focusing on regions in Africa where tensions are the highest and calls for specific strategies in conflict regions to be considered a priority; encourages the EU and its Member States to continue burden-sharing with international organisations and partners, including allies and African states that serve as reliable allies against terrorism such as Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia; calls for the strengthening of the EU’s relationships with these pivotal states; calls for the EU to continue to assist African partners in building the capacity of their forces and security institutions, so as to provide effective and sustainable security and law enforcement services to their citizens, including through the European Peace Facility and CSDP missions, and calls for the EU to focus on an integrated approach to conflict and crises, acting at all stages of the conflict cycle, from conflict prevention, through response and to management and resolution;

178.  Highlights the fact that the objective of EU support for the African security sector is to encourage African ownership of security and defence matters; considers that the African Union and African states are key actors with which the EU is meaningfully engaged in order to jointly achieve sustainable development and human security objectives; strongly welcomes, in this regard, the plans of the African Union to send 3 000 soldiers in support of the G5 Sahel and sees it as a sign that that the AU and EU are indeed pursuing similar security objectives, built on shared objectives and shared responsibilities; welcomes, in this regard, the comments made by VP/HR Borrell to the UN Security Council on 28 May 2020 when he spoke of ‘finding African solutions to African problems’;

179.  Reaffirms its support for the UN peacekeeping missions on the African continent and calls on key players, in particular the United States of America, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom, to join EU efforts to mediate and advance cooperation and sustainable peace throughout the African continent; reiterates, in this regard, the EU’s willingness to increase its support to UN missions and to advance coordination between the various UN and EU missions;

180.  Welcomes the decisive drop in piracy off the coasts of both eastern and western Africa, which are a result of international maritime security efforts that serve as a precedent for European, African and transatlantic security cooperation;

181.  Considers it important that the EU continue its efforts to build more resilient states and societies through capacity building and security sector reforms, including through the European Peace Facility and its CSDP missions, and focuses on an integrated approach to conflicts and crises, acting at all stages of the conflict cycle;

182.  Recalls the threat that transnational organised crime, civil unrest and domestic crime pose to fragile and post-conflict states which struggle to provide the necessary security to their citizens; underlines, in this light, the importance of a well-trained national and regional police force; notes, however, that police forces often lack both proper training and equipment, and, most crucially, do not always have a proper connection with or the trust of the local population; underlines, therefore, the importance of strengthening and building professional police structures and calls for, inter alia, intensified conceptual, logistical and administrative support for the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation, based in Algiers, which was launched in 2014; believes that cooperation in this field will also help to advance the capability of peacekeeping missions and foster the police component of the APSA;

183.  Notes that the information sphere in Africa is coming under increasing influence from the EU’s global adversaries; calls, in this regard, on the EEAS and the Commission to actively tackle the problem of the lack of presence of a European voice within African societies and to counter false narratives and better promote the European approach and democratic values to the African people; notes that this requires better strategic communication that is focused on key regions and countries, as well as the establishment of a special unit responsible for such actions that works in close cooperation with EU delegations;

184.  Underlines the dangers of the proliferation of illicit small arms and recalls that these undocumented, and mostly illegally held, arms do not only threaten the safety and security of communities but are also used by dangerous transnational criminal networks engaged in various forms of trafficking, including of weapons, humans and illegal drugs;

185.  Urges the continuation of Annual Joint Consultative Meetings of the Political and Security Committee of the European Union with the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, with the objective of expanding the scope of cooperation to include joint field visits, joint sessions, the development of shared understanding and analyses of crisis situations, and the investigation of avenues for joint early action as the best means for establishing viable strategic partnerships;

186.  Recalls that Africa is host to the highest number of peace support operations (PSOs) in the world, to which it is the biggest contributor of troops and police; points to the need to adapt PSOs across Africa to the new reality of COVID-19 in order to adequately protect both citizens and PSO staff; points out the need to ensure adequate financing for these missions, given the fear of an imminent economic crisis and a reduction in available funding;

187.  Calls for the EU to ensure that CSDP missions are planned in an effective, accountable, robust way with efficient operations and stronger mandates tied to substantive political will, which sets out to resolve conflicts instead of freezing them;

188.  Encourages the EEAS to increase its presence with EU delegations throughout the continent, particularly in key AU Member States, in order to further advance the EU’s bilateral and regional relationships and ensure proper exchange with relevant stakeholders; underlines that such close ties constitute the basis for ensuring appropriate and well-structured global partnerships, as well as tailor-made responses; calls on the EEAS to significantly improve its media and communication strategy, not only in order to foster awareness of the EU’s efforts in the respective regions, but also to increase awareness and support among EU citizens for increased EU-Africa cooperation;

189.  Recalls the importance of coordinating the EU-Africa strategy with the UN, NATO, OSCE and other like-minded countries, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan;

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190.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.

(1) OJ C 356, 4.10.2018, p. 66. (2) OJ C 349, 17.10.2017, p. 11. (3) OJ C 363, 28.10.2020, p. 27. (4) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0173. (5) Texts adopted, P8_TA(2019)0298. (6) OJ C 215, 19.6.2018, p. 2. (7) OJ C 28, 27.1.2020, p. 101. (8) Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0084. (9) Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 applying a scheme of generalised tariff preferences and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 732/2008 (OJ L 303, 31.10.2012, p. 1). (10) Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (OJ L 130, 19.5.2017, p. 1). (11) Directive 2013/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 (OJ L 294, 6.11.2013, p. 13). (12) Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19). (13) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/855 of 7 May 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards adding the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar/Burma, Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe to the table in point I of the Annex and deleting Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka and Tunisia from this table (OJ L 195, 19.6.2020, p. 1).