AU Emphasizes Role of Legal Professionals in Achieving Reparative Justice in International System

Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, Director of the Directorate of Citizens and Diaspora at the African Union Commission, delivered the opening address at the 15th Annual Conference of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), held under the theme "Justice through Reparations" in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. He highlighted that the African Union had approved the establishment of a continental committee of experts and a reference group of international legal scholars to follow up on the 2025 theme of reparative justice for Africans and people of African descent.

Aljowaily welcomed the initiative of PALU to dedicate the theme of their annual conference to justice and reparations, considering that "the pen of African lawyers is one of the writing tools of international justice," which must be achieved for African peoples, including through reform of the international economic and political system, as called for in African Summit Decision 884, which designated the theme for 2025.

He added that efforts are underway to build transcontinental partnerships with other regional organizations, most notably the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to strengthen relations between the African continent and peoples of African descent, including through the pursuit of reparative justice in fulfillment of the mandate issued by African leaders.

PALU’s conference also witnessed the election of the new Executive Office of the pan-African association, which will hold its next session in June 2026 in the North Africa region.