Page 0 of 139 Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2016-2017 The AFRICAN UNION: A VALUABLE PARTNER FOR THE EU? Case Study: The Fight against Irregular Immigration Masterproef van de opleiding ‘Master in de rechten’ Ingediend door Olivier Ubananeza (studentennr. 014488) Promotor: Prof. Dr. Erwoan Lannon (Comissaris: Dr. Purdey Lavisscher) 0 Page 1 of 139 1 Page 2 of 139 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my parents for their support throughout this long and enriching process. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Lannon. I am also thankful for his advice , his constructive comments and his kindness. I would like to thank Purdey Lavisscher for her availability , her kindness and her patience. It was a real pleasure to talk of my master’s thesis with her. I would like to thank the friends who have assisted me in the proofreading of the master’s thesis: Dominik, Amélie, Adélaide , Eliska and Mohammed . To them , my eternal gratitude. Finally, a special thank you to Bart for all his support , affection and friendship during my two years at Ghent university. He always encouraged me to be the best version of myself , especially in the redaction of this thesis. 2 Page 3 of 139 Table of contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of contents............................................................................................................................................ 3 List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Research Question ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Sub-Research Question ........................................................................................................................... 12 Part I. The African Union as a Strategic Partner for the European Union .................................................... 18 Chapter I. The African Union: An Analysis of the Main Institutional and Legal Features ................. 18 Section I. The genesis and main characteristics of the African Union ............................................... 18 §1. Historical Background: From the OAU to the AU ..................................................................... 18 §2. The main drivers behind the establishment of the African Union ............................................ 20 §3. The Governing Principles of the African Union: Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy ............................................................................................................................................................... 21 Section II. The current limitations of the African Union ..................................................................... 27 §1. The issue of state sovereignty ....................................................................................................... 27 §2. The predominance of soft law in African Union legal system ................................................... 28 Section III. Intermediate Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 30 §1. Understanding the African Union legal system .......................................................................... 31 §2. Identifying normative convergences between the EU and the AU ............................................ 31 Chapter II. From the EU-ACP Framework to the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership ........................... 33 Section I. The ACP dimension and the Cotonou Agreement revisions 2005/2010 ............................ 33 §1. Historical background: From Yaoundé to the Cotonou revisions ............................................ 33 §2. The pillars of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement ................................................................... 37 Section II. The 2007 Lisbon Declaration, the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership and the Joint Africa- EU Strategy (JAES): Towards a Continental Approach ..................................................................... 51 §1. The path towards the continental approach and the JAES ....................................................... 51 §2. The Objectives of the JAES .......................................................................................................... 57 §3. Legal and institutional framework .............................................................................................. 59 §.4 The implementation of the Africa EU strategic partnership: Action Plans and Summits (2008-2017) ........................................................................................................................................... 61 Section III. Intermediate conclusions .................................................................................................... 62 §1. The successes and shortcomings of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement ............................... 62 3 Page 4 of 139 §2. The Joint Africa-EU Strategy....................................................................................................... 65 Part II. Case study: The Africa - EU Partnership on Migration Issues ................................................. 69 Chapter I. The EU’s policy choices on cooperation with African countries in the fight against irregular migration ..................................................................................................................................... 69 Section I. Conceptual Framework: the Externalisation and the External dimension of EU migration issues. ...................................................................................................................................... 69 §1. Terminology ................................................................................................................................... 69 §2. The progressive development of the externalisation of the EU’s migration policy in Africa . 69 Section II. Cooperation with African countries on migration issues .................................................. 71 §1. Readmission clauses ...................................................................................................................... 71 §2. Readmission agreements ............................................................................................................... 72 §3. The Externalisation of Border Controls ...................................................................................... 78 Section III. Intermediate conclusions .................................................................................................... 82 Chapter II. The Migration Policy of the African Union .......................................................................... 84 Section I. Overview of the AU’s immigration policies ......................................................................... 84 §1. The free movement of people in Africa ....................................................................................... 84 §2. The Migration Policy Framework for Africa .............................................................................. 87 §3. The African Union Border Programme ...................................................................................... 93 §4. The AU Convention for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa (The Kampala Convention) .................................................................................................... 96 Section II. Intermediate conclusions ................................................................................................... 98 §1. The strengths of the AU immigration policies ............................................................................... 98 §2. The limitations of the AU immigration policies ........................................................................ 100 Chapter III. The Implementation of the Africa EU Strategic Partnership: Actions, Plans and Summits (2008-2016) ................................................................................................................................. 102 Section I. The fight against irregular immigration in Africa-EU Ministerial Conferences ............ 102 §1. The Joint Africa-EU Declaration on Migration and Development (the Tripoli Declaration) ............................................................................................................................................................. 102 §2. The Valetta Summit on Migration ............................................................................................. 106 Section II. The migration issues within the MMEP framework ....................................................... 109 §1. The Lisbon Summit ..................................................................................................................... 109 §2. The Tripoli Summit ....................................................................................................................