Tomorrow (14 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1361^st meeting, an annual consultation with the African Governance Architecture–African Peace and Security Architecture (AGA–APSA) Platform and the Permanent Representatives Committee Sub-Committee on Human Rights, Democracy and Governance (HRDG).

Following the opening remarks by Mohamed Khaled, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the AU and PSC Chairperson for August 2026, Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), will deliver introductory remarks. Presentations are also expected from Jevin Pillay Ponisamy of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Office to the AU, in his capacity as Vice Chairperson of the AGA-APSA Platform, on behalf of Khaled Mohamed, Chairperson of the AGA-APSA Platform, as well as from Willy Nyamitwe, Permanent Representative of Burundi to the AU and Vice Chairperson of the PRC Sub-Committee on HRDG.

The PSC last held this joint consultation at its 1295^th meeting on 8 August 2025. It requested a comprehensive matrix of AU legal frameworks on governance, human rights, peace and security, assessing whether they remain ‘fit for purpose’, together with an action plan for their review. It also reiterated the need to operationalise the African Governance Facility and integrate governance and human-rights indicators into the PSC’s early-warning systems. This consultation seeks to strengthen synergies between the AU’s governance and human-rights mechanisms and the PSC’s early-warning and preventive responsibilities.

This year’s consultation coincides with a notable institutional shift. For 2026–2028, the PSC chairs the AGA–APSA Platform at both levels: the PSC Chairperson for the month at the political level and the Head of the PSC Secretariat at the technical level. This gives the Council a more direct opportunity to steer cooperation across governance, human rights, democracy, peace and security, and to advance an ‘AU delivery as one’ approach through aligned priorities, coordinated action and stronger follow-up. The tripartite engagement also reflects the mutually reinforcing nature of these agendas and provides a practical forum for reducing institutional silos and drawing on the comparative strengths of the participating bodies.

The consultation is expected to revolve around four closely connected areas: strengthening sustained institutional cooperation among the PSC, the PRC Sub-Committee on HRDG and the AGA–APSA Platform; improving the exchange and joint analysis of information on governance, democracy, human rights, peace and security trends; identifying priorities for coordinated responses to governance-related risks; and examining governance deficits and institutional weaknesses, including gaps in accountability, inclusion, transparency and institutional effectiveness, that can contribute to conflict and instability.

In terms of institutional synergy, coordination and sustained engagement, the consultation provides an opportunity to assess how the PSC, the AGA–APSA Platform and the PRC Sub-Committee on HRDG can translate their complementary mandates into more regular and coordinated action. The September 2025 review of the High-Level Panel of Eminent African Experts on the Review of AU Governance, Peace and Security Frameworks found the AU’s governance, peace and security frameworks largely relevant, but constrained by limited political will, weak prioritisation, resource constraints and changing geopolitical dynamics, and called in particular for stronger AGA–APSA synergies, institutional coherence and implementation. Although the review focused primarily on AGA and APSA, its findings are relevant to the tripartite consultation because they underline the wider need for stronger coordination and follow-through across governance, human-rights and peace and security mechanisms. The consultation can therefore consider whether existing arrangements among the three bodies are sufficient to sustain cooperation and implementation beyond the annual engagement. An Amani Africa policy brief provides a complementary APSA-focused perspective, highlighting implementation deficits, institutional follow-through and the early warning–early action gap.

A related outstanding issue concerns cooperation measures requested in earlier PSC decisions and carried forward in 2025. These include joint promotional activities supporting ratification and domestication of AU shared-values instruments and closer PSC participation in AGA–APSA flagship initiatives. Subsequent engagement indicates progress, but does not establish whether the joint visits occurred or specific PSC responsibilities were assigned for flagship implementation and monitoring. The consultation may therefore seek reporting and a regular mechanism for sustaining PSC involvement.

A notable development was the AGA–APSA Platform’s first statutory technical meeting of 2026, convened from 9-10 February, which reviewed the Secretariat’s activities and work plan, the proposed flagship initiative, the Governance, Peace and Security Programme and revised Rules of Procedure. At the political meeting on 10 February, which included PSC and PRC Sub-Committee participation, Bankole Adeoye urged the Platform to accelerate implementation of its decisions and communiqués. He identified youth empowerment as the proposed flagship, called for implementation of the AGA–APSA Youth Engagement Strategy and, stressing the need to move from policy to action, stated: ‘We do have the strategy already, the AGA–APSA Youth Engagement Strategy; we just need to action it.’ While this indicates some follow-up, the PSC’s precise role in planning, implementation and monitoring remains unclear. The consultation may therefore seek clarity on political endorsement of the revised Rules of Procedure, allocation of responsibilities and the status of the Joint Roadmap, framework matrix, African Governance Facility and decision-tracking mechanism. Without consolidated reporting and clear follow-up, annual consultations risk repeating commitments while leaving previous assignments unresolved.

The consultation may focus on how the PSC, the AGA–APSA Platform and the PRC Sub-Committee on HRDG can make more systematic use of governance, human-rights and electoral information for early warning and preventive action. The February 2026 Assembly decision called for stronger CEWS monitoring of electoral processes and a human-rights-based approach to early warning through Preventive Action Cells, standardised indicators and support to National Human Rights Institutions and national early-warning mechanisms. This provides an important basis for establishing clearer arrangements through which information generated across the AU governance and human rights mechanisms can inform joint analysis and timely political engagement. Amani Africa’s Special Research Reports (here and here) similarly underlined the need to strengthen prevention and place greater reliance on political and diplomatic tools. The consultation could therefore consider practical arrangements for pooling analysis across the three bodies and translating it into coordinated preventive engagement in countries facing elevated governance and conflict risks.

The AU generates substantial governance and human-rights information. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) activity report illustrates the human-rights information already available within the AU and records the Commission’s June 2025 consultation with the PSC on strengthening institutional synergies, regular information exchange and a rights-based approach across the conflict cycle. The challenge is therefore less the absence of information than ensuring that relevant information reaches preventive structures early, in an accessible and actionable form, and is linked to political follow-up. Election-related risks provide an entry point. The February 2026 Assembly Decision encouraged early deployment of technical teams and Heads of Mission during the pre-election phase and stronger CEWS monitoring of electoral processes, while the ACHPR’s 2026 resolution on elections calls for adherence to relevant human-rights obligations ‘before, during and after the electoral process,’ including protections relating to political participation, freedom of expression and assembly, electoral-body independence and election-related violations. Joint pre-election risk assessments could therefore link electoral expertise with human-rights monitoring, governance analysis and preventive diplomacy, shifting attention beyond election-day observation to restrictions on political competition, institutional distrust, inflammatory mobilisation, contested constitutional changes and unimplemented recommendations.

The fifth joint PSC–APRM retreat, held in Burayu on 29 and 30 April 2026, offers a practical model. Its Joint Declaration called for regular interaction among the PSC, the African Peer Review (APR) Panel of Eminent Persons, Panel of the Wise, WiseYouth, FemWise and AGA–APSA Platform, and for ‘institutionalising data and information sharing’ so that APRM country findings feed systematically into APSA early warning and mediation planning. At its 1349^th meeting on 21 May, the PSC welcomed the APRM’s development of an early-warning system dedicated to governance and ongoing work to include it in the continental risk-and-threat matrix, while urging Member States to integrate APRM assessments into CEWS and establish national structures able to ‘translate early warnings into immediate preventive actions.’ Building on these developments, the consultation could identify practical arrangements for pooling information, conducting joint assessments and establishing clear pathways for political follow-up. The consultation could also consider how the findings and recommendations of the Africa Governance Report can secure political uptake and follow-up by Member States, particularly where governance assessments identify vulnerabilities with implications for peace and security.

Such arrangements could also strengthen coordinated responses to governance-related risks beyond elections. Joint assessment could extend to countries facing elevated risks from political transitions, constitutional disputes, emerging transnational and geopolitical risks, including external interference, institutional breakdown or severe deterioration in civic space. Bringing the PSC’s political authority, the AGA-APSA Platform’s coordination role and the Sub-Committee’s Member State engagement to enable earlier and more coherent preventive diplomacy. A similarly integrated approach could inform post-conflict reconstruction, consistent with the revised AU PCRD Policy, by linking governance, human-rights, institutional-reform and rule-of-law priorities to efforts to prevent relapse into conflict.

The youth dimension should likewise be connected more directly to governance and prevention. The AGA-APSA statutory meetings have identified youth empowerment as a flagship priority, while preparations for the Africa Governance Report 2027, under the theme ‘Youth in Governance: From Promise to Prosperity,’ provide a further opportunity to link youth participation to governance and preventive processes. The Citizens’ Engagement Strategy 2025–2030 provides a complementary framework for broadening citizen participation in AU processes. The consultation could therefore encourage country-level, time-bound implementation of the AGA–APSA Youth Engagement Strategy and stronger involvement of women, youth, civil society and marginalised communities in governance assessments and preventive initiatives.

Finally, the consultation may consider how existing AU norms and mechanisms can be used more consistently to address governance deficits and structural drivers of instability. The February 2026 Assembly decision recognised ‘governance deficits, human rights violations’ among the structural drivers of unconstitutional changes of government. The comprehensive matrix requested in 2025 could help identify outstanding ratifications, domestication and reporting gaps, overlapping mandates, implementation deficits and areas requiring normative review. The decision also placed the proposed 2028 AU Theme of the Year on human rights, democracy and governance within this broader agenda. The joint consultation can therefore provide the opportunity not only to improve information exchange, but to connect information to joint analysis, early political engagement and sustained follow-up on governance and human rights commitments.

The outcome of the session is expected to be a Communiqué. The PSC may reaffirm the importance of strengthening the linkages between governance, human rights, democracy, peace and security, while supporting the continued institutionalisation and strengthening of its annual engagement with the AGA–APSA Platform and the PRC Sub-Committee on HRDG. It may call for deeper collaboration beyond the annual consultation through concrete joint actions that strengthen conflict prevention, democratic governance and sustainable peace, consistent with a stronger ‘One AU Approach’. The Council may also encourage more systematic information-sharing and joint analysis of governance, democracy, human rights, peace and security trends, and agree on priority recommendations and coordinated responses to emerging governance challenges and risks. The PSC may reiterate the call on Member States that have not yet done so to ratify the ACDEG and other AU Shared Values instruments, while urging States Parties to strengthen implementation and meet applicable reporting obligations. It may also encourage mobilisation of political, institutional, technical and financial support for preparations related to the proposed 2028 AU Theme of the Year and associated flagship initiatives, including support from AU organs and institutions, Member States, RECs/RMs and partners, as well as measures to strengthen the institutional and operational capacity of the AGA–APSA Secretariat.