ANCIP

The objective of this ANCIP subproject is an empirical reconstruction of the practices of the African Union Panel of the Wise, a pillar of the African Peace and Security Architecture that has been operative since its inaugural meeting on 18 December 2007. The Panel is constituted of five eminent personalities that are appointed by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government. During their tenure of three years, the panelists advise the AU Peace and Security Council and Chairperson of the Commission, conduct fact-finding missions and support mediation operations. In the past fifteen years subsidiary mechanisms supporting the efforts of the Panel in conducting preventive diplomacy and conflict management have been created – the Pan-African Network of the Wise (PanWise), institutionalized in 2013, FemWise-Africa, a continental network of female mediators active since 2017, and WISEYouth, a mechanism for conflict prevention and media targeting African youth, launched in 2022.

Drawing on the analysis of official documents of the African Union and interviews conducted at the headquarters of the African Union, Camille Vern will collect data on the activities of the five panels and their subsidiary mechanisms. Filling a significant gap in academic literature on this institution of the AU, her research will encompass different perspectives on the practices of the Panel, mapping its  meetings, recommendations, reports and missions in order to get a broader understanding of the functioning of the strategy of the African Union in the domain of preventive diplomacy, conflict prevention and mediation.