The African Union integration agenda: The quest for dignity, peace and prosperity

This paper examines the operationalisation of the African Union's integration agenda through the lenses of modern human rights. It uses as method, the multi, inter, and trans-disciplinary approach (MIT) to draw a synergy between the three pillazrts of African Union vision for integration: dignity, peace and prosperity. The paper premises the relevance of the human rights approach to Africa's integration on the fact that the respect for the worth and dignity of the human being is part of African cultural heritage, and central to the mandate of the African Union (AU). It is argued that the AU is well placed to materialize the ideals of Africa's unity, peace, security, development and integration. The AU inherited and adopted a body of comprehensive enabling decisions, forward-lookling vision statements, treaties and policies to foster these ideals. However, a transparent and participatory implentation of decisions and treaties remains a major challenge in Africa. In order to address the implementation gaps, the author proposes the combination of approaches, the use of African indigenous knowledge and the human rights based approah to achieve a sustainable unity, peace, security, development and integration in Africa.