Visit to President Museveni of Uganda
Special allies of CCI come from countries such as Malawi and Uganda which have taken a strong stand against anything that is a threat against African values regarding the family, culture and religion. This beared a lot of fruit for CCI in the first quarter of 2023, as Henk Jan worked hand-in-hand with very vocal pro-life and pro-family Malawian Members of Parliament to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU JPA), the Parliamentary body of this still to-be-signed EU-ACP Treaty.
ACP-EU JPA
Together with the lobby support of CCI, Malawi alarmed other heads of delegation to the ACP-EU JPA about the dangerous provisions during the ACP-EU JPA in Brussels from 25 February - 2 March, 2023. While this should have been the moment for his motion to be tabled, the OACPS Secretariat did everything to block that from happening. CCI then assisted Uganda in putting forward their motion asking for the postponement of the signing of the EU-ACP Agreement until the ACP countries have reached consensus on its concerns on controversial provisions. Also this motion was blocked from being tabled. However, just like the ACP-EU JPA in Mozambique last year, both motions steered up a debate between the EU and ACP delegations. This resulted in the growing group of ACP countries that are concerned about the impact of the EU-ACP Treaty on their country. The key concerns being shared during the ACP-EU JPA in Brussels were:
- Lack of clarity on the amendments of the three regional protocols (EU-African, EU-Caribbean, and EU-Pacific), especially regarding the fact that the EU wants the EU-ACP Council of Ministers as a governing body to oversee the implementation of the Agreement, which basically overrules the competence of the national parliaments.
- The increasing awareness about the concerning provisions inside the EU-ACP Agreement that jeopardize the national sovereignty and the cultural, social, and religious values of individual States under this Agreement.
- The need for the OACPS Council of Ministers to be accountable to the ACP-JPA, just as the EU Council of Ministers is accountable to the European Parliament.
- The possibility to move the OACPS Secretariat out of Brussels and inside an African, Caribbean, or Pacific country.
Due to the above-stated concerns shared by the ACP delegations, the voting on the Rules of Procedures did not happen; once again, since the voting also did not happen during the ACP-EU JPA in Mozambique last year.
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW)
On behalf of CCI, together with its allies, our representative was able to raise its voice, speak up for life, family, and freedom and lobbied many high-level stakeholders about the dangerous concepts of SRHR, CSE, and SOGI which are also found in the EU-ACP Agreement. This resulted in an UNCSW 2023 agreement document without the terms “comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)”, “sexual rights”, and “sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)”.
While this is a reason to celebrate, several non-Western delegations expressed their reservations on the controversial terms that remained in several paragraphs in the EU-ACP agreement: “SRHR” (which includes “safe” abortion) and “comprehensive information about sexual and reproductive health” (another word for CSE).
To underline the words of our representative, “it became clear again that the war between light and darkness, between the progressives and faith-centred groups is huge and intense and an organization like CCI is therefore needed more than ever to sustain the campaign for life, family, and freedom”.
Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Uganda
The 2-day Inter-Parliamentary Conference held from 31 March till 1 April in Uganda was hosted by the Office of the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament and co-hosted by the African Bar Association (AfBA)[1]. The Conference was titled ‘1st African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values & Sovereignty’. It brought together Members of the Parliament (MP) and religious leaders from over 22 different African countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Sierre Leone, Eswatini, Malawi, and Uganda itself.
The Conference was a huge success with a variety of MPs providing statements on their stand to protect Life, Family, and Freedom, the exact Christian and traditional values CCI stands for. The EU-ACP Agreement was also discussed in a way to show the significant threat against these values in international agreements with the West. Henk Jan van Schothorst, CCI’s Executive Director, was also able to present about his lobbying work on the European Continent (in The Netherlands, EU member states, and in the European Parliament). In addition, CCI was able to join a delegation of Conference participants to meet with the Ugandan President and the First Lady to further raise their awareness about this Agreement as well.
This resulted in various media statements, with both the First Lady and President Museveni appearing to be well informed about the problematic provisions in the ACP-EU Treaty.
Against the massive, decades-long Western lgbt promotion, infiltration and recruitment of mostly young victims in Uganda, the Ugandan parliament has passed a law against homosexual praxis. We advised the President and Parliament to find a pathway for a legal safe haven for people whith same sex attraction.
[1] The AfBA Conference CCI and allies attended in August 2022 in Malawi made the AfBA President to take a stronger stand on Africa’s family, cultural and religious values and national sovereignty. One of the result is their willingness to co-host this Conference which shows a huge sign against the Western progressive human rights agenda from African influential lawyers.
Photo's: side event at the CSW67 in New York, Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Uganda, in front of the ACP Secretariat in Brussels and the Pro-Family team.
