I would like to offer some background. The African Union (AU) is about the sa...

I would like to offer some background. The African Union (AU) is about the same age as Security Council resolution 1325 (2000). I am sure it will be understood that this historic coincidence or opportunity has had an impact on the very structure of the African Union Commission, with its five female and five male Commissioners. That is a sacrosanct rule of the African Union. The Constitutive Act of the African Union incorporates gender elements from the international bill of human rights, as does the Union's Solemn Declaration on the Equality of the Sexes. This issue is clearly of great importance to the African continent and is reflected in its legal instruments.