The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to many other upper houses of legislatures throughout the world, in that its purpose is to represent the governments of the provinces, rather than directly representing the people.
The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, having lasting for the first five years. Initially the seat of the Pan-African Parliament was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but was later moved to Midrand, South Africa. The goal in establishing the parliament was creating a space where people from all states of Africa could meet, deliberate, and pass some policy on issues that affect the entire continent of Africa.
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of eight countries in East Africa. The member states are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Salva Kiir Mayardit, the president of South Sudan, is the current EAC chairman. The organisation was founded in 1967, collapsed in 1977, and was revived on 7th July 2000. The main objective of the EAC was to foster regional economic integration.
To help coordinate efforts in dealing with issues on the continent the Pan-African Parliament created eleven permanent committees:
- Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environment
- Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs
- Committee on Trade, Customs, and Immigration Matters
- Committee on Cooperation, International Relations, and Conflict Resolution
- Committee on Transport, Industry, Communication, Energy, Science, and Technology
- Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs
- Committee on Gender, Family, Youth, and People with Disabilities
- Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism, and Human Resources
- Committee on Justice and Human Rights
- Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Discipline
- Committee on Audit and Public Accounts
The Committee on Rural Economy Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment is one of the ten Permanent Committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Committee on Trade, Customs, and Immigration Matters, is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Committee on Cooperation, International Relations, and Conflict Resolution is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Committee on Transport, Industry, Communications, Energy, Science and Technology is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Committee on Health, Labour, and Social Affairs is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism and Human Resources is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament. It deals with issues relating to education, cultural issues, tourism and human resources.
The Committee on Justice and Human Rights is one of the eleven permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament. It is in charge of law and justice issues in Africa.
The Committee on Gender, Family, Youths and People with Disabilities is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament. It concentrates on issues concerning women, family and people and children with disabilities.
The Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline is one of the ten permanent committees of the Pan-African Parliament.
The Assembly of the African Union, which is formally known as the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government (AU-AHSG), is one of several decision-making bodies within the African Union. The other bodies are the Pan-African Parliament; the Executive Council, consisting of foreign ministers of the AU members states; and the African Union Commission. The Assembly of the African Union consists of the 55 heads of state and government of the member countries. The Assembly meets once a year.
A continental union is a regional organization which facilitates pan-continental integration. Continental unions vary from collaborative intergovernmental organizations, to supranational politico-economic unions. Continental unions are a relatively new type of political entity in the history of human government. Throughout most of human history, political organization has been at the local level and in more recent centuries, the sub-regional ("regional")/sub-continental level ; however, starting with the advent of better transportation, weapons and communication there was for the first time the ability for a union of member states to organize at the continental level. After the devastation of the First and Second World Wars in the middle of the twentieth century, Europe began to slowly integrate with the founding of the "European Community", which became a political union covering much of the European continent.
The Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament is the essential leadership of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), consisting of one President and four Vice-Presidents.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya. Between 1966 and 2013, it served as a unicameral house. In 2013, it became the lower house when the Senate was reestablished.
The Community of Sahel–Saharan States aims to create a free trade area within a region of Africa. There are questions with regard to whether its level of economic integration qualifies it under the enabling clause of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. The intention of the AU was to replace the Organization of African Unity (OAU), established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa by 32 signatory governments; the OAU was disbanded on 9 July 2002. The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states.
Anne-Karin Glase is a German former Christian Democratic Union of Germany politician who has served three terms as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Germany constituency for the European People's Party Group from March 1991 to July 2004. She had previously represented the Potsdam constituency as a member of the East German parliament Volkskammer between March 1990 and October 1990. Glase was on various committees such as the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Budgets during the period she was an MEP.
