The Malabo Protocol

The Malabo Protocol to the Constitutive Act of the African Union relating to the Pan-African Parliament, also referred to as the 2014 Revised Protocol, was adopted on 27 June 2014. It replaces the Protocol of 2001, which remains the instrument in force.

The Protocol is intended to expand the powers of the Pan-African Parliament once it has been ratified by 28 African Union member states. Its purpose is to strengthen the legislative mandate of the Parliament and to enhance its role in the affairs of the Union.

Fourteen of the 55 member states have ratified the Protocol. A further 14 have signed it without ratifying. The Protocol requires 28 ratifications to enter into force, and it has not entered into force. The figures are as recorded on 19 September 2023.

The slow pace at which member states move in respect of ratification and domestication of the legal instruments of the Union, the revised Protocol among them, is of great concern to African citizens. Stakeholders are calling on all states to expedite the process.

• Western Caucus, 7 of 15 ratified
• Central Caucus, 3 of 10 ratified
• Eastern Caucus, 2 of 14 ratified
• Northern Caucus, 2 of 7 ratified
• Southern Caucus, 0 of 9 ratified

The Protocol of 2001 was adopted on 2 March 2001 and entered into force on 14 December 2003, and it now carries 51 ratifications. The Malabo Protocol is twelve years from adoption and carries 14, half the number required.