WINDHOEK, Dec. 9 – The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum’s (SADC PF) 50th Plenary Assembly Session which kicks off tomorrow, 10 to 12 December, heralds a new era of parliamentary democracy and inter-parliamentary solidarity and cooperation in the region.
The Session will be held under the theme: “Celebrating a New Era of Democracy Towards Consolidating the Vibrant Voices of SADC Parliamentarians.” This new era calls for a celebration of the progress made in the democratic framework in the SADC region through parliamentary initiatives under the auspices of the Forum. The SADC PF prides itself as the flag-bearer of democratization and socio-economic development through the harmonization and synchronization of laws and policies in the region.
The 50th Plenary Assembly Session is being hosted by the Parliament of the Kingdom of Lesotho as it is that Parliament’s turn to host in line with the Forum’s Constitutional dictates – that each of its fifteen Member Parliaments gets a turn to host on a rotational basis. Lesotho’s Prime Minister Dr. Moeketsi Majoro is scheduled to address the Opening Ceremony on Friday morning.
Since the SADC PF’s establishment in September 1997, its progressive impact on the fabric of the SADC identity is unmistakable. “The SADC region has flourished in democratic governance over the past decades, with accountability and transparency increasingly becoming the pervasive norm rather than being an isolated exception,” said SADC PF Secretary-General, Ms. Boemo Sekgoma.
As the Forum celebrates this Golden Jubilee Plenary, whose Opening Ceremony coincides with International Human Rights Day, it seizes this momentous opportunity to reinforce its commitment to be guided by human rights, including those contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The SADC PF is the first inter-parliamentary entity that has a dedicated organ to monitor the domestication of laws and international treaties in the form of the Regional Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee (RPMLOC). Through the RPMLOC, the Forum monitors the various Model Laws including those on the elimination of Child Marriage and Elections and immense progress has been made towards the development of monitoring tools such as domestication scorecards and election observation, and technical assessment reports.
Domestication is a key exercise and remains topical especially as it extends to commitments inclusive of political declarations and common objectives like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are crucial to monitor in view of ensuring a steady implementation.
The 50th Plenary Assembly has the overarching objective to commemorate the sterling union of SADC Member Parliaments and pay a special tribute to their long-lasting dedication and commitment, the adoption of the SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence, and the recent decision by the 41st SADC Summit held in Lilongwe, Malawi in August this year which approved the transformation of SADC PF into a SADC Parliament.
Other objectives and expected outcomes of the Plenary include the promotion of solidarity and inter-parliamentary cohesion amongst SADC Member Parliaments; and taking stock of the progress made thus far on various fronts through the Forum’s diverse thematic initiatives and look forward towards a promising future.
