Haiti AU Membership: The EU Outermost Regions & The Urgent Need For AU Outermost Regions

The European Union has nine designated Outermost Regions (ORs). These territories are located far from the European Continent but are integral parts of the EU. They are, namely, Canary Islands (Africa), Réunion (Africa), Guadeloupe (Caribbean),
French Guiana (South America),
Martinique (Caribbean),
Mayotte (Indian Ocean),
Saint Martin (Caribbean),
Azores (North Atlantic), and
Madeira (North Atlantic).

EU treaties apply to them in full, though they receive specially tailored support to offset economic challenges like remoteness, insularity, and difficult topographies.

During EU elections, the voters from these regions elect their own representatives to the EU Parliament. They use the Euro as their currency.

But when our own Haiti asked to join the African Union, they were rejected by the AU Commission and told they are not an African country. Is that fair?

Why can’t we see the Afro Descendant States of the African Diaspora as part of the AU’s Outermost Regions? AU Law, (Article 3(q) of the Protocol on Amendments to the AU’s Constitutive Act) makes it clear that all Africans of the Diaspora, (including Afro Descendants) are part of the Continent and should be invited and encouraged to participate fully in the AU.

The AU Commission must correct this error by welcoming Haiti and any other willing State of the African Diaspora into AU.

How the EU Commission helps the Outermost Territories

The EU Commission uses Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)to formulate tailored policies that account for the unique challenges of the ORs. To prevent standard EU laws from putting these remote territories at a disadvantage, the Commission actively incorporates OR-specificities into EU policies.

The Afro Descendants, which include Haiti, need to be invited and encouraged to join the AU, not kept out of it. One Africa.

#HaitiToAU #LetHaitiIn #Afrodescendants #PanAfricanism

The Prince & Princess Charles Offokaja Foundation has tirelessly worked to bring Haiti into the AU since 2019. And we need your help in this effort to give the Afro Descendants their Full rights in the African Family!