concept of legitimate government as the basis for peacebuilding. The CSSDCA also welcomed the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Protocol on the establishment of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights as being integral to the OAU wider objective of collective security for durable peace and sustainable development. The AU has placed similar emphasis on key documents such as the Solemn Declaration and the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). In the year 2000, the AU replaced the OAU and with it came significant paradigmatic shifts. The Constitutive Act of the African Union with its emphasis on principles of peaceful co-existence of Member States, peaceful resolution of conflicts among states, the right to live in peace and security, gender equality and respect for good governance signalled winds of change on the continent. Later developments including the establishment of a continental peace and security architecture are discussed in the next section of the report. While not an AU instrument, the adoption of the normative UNSCR 1325 and the obligations it placed on all Member states of the United Nations progressively became influential at the level of member states and collectively, the AU. The AU Peace and Security Architecture that was subsequently developed by the AU Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the AU increasingly integrated the Women, Peace and Security agenda, working with member states and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to develop an African response to peacebuilding. The Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance of 2002 that established the APRM reflects a determination by Africa’s leadership to increase efforts in restoring stability, peace and security in the African continent ‘as fundamental conditions for sustainable development, alongside democracy, good governance, human rights, social development, protection of environment and sound economic management.’101 This approach encapsulates an indivisibility between governance and peace and security for citizens. Taking stock of Africa’s history, and in recognition that women and children have borne the brunt of the various conflicts, 101 AHG/235 (XXXVIII) 40