ENGLISH |  09 PREAMBLE The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Convinced that acts of terrorism are deplorable and cannot be justified under any circumstances; that terrorism constitutes a serious violation of human rights and a threat to peace, security, development, and democracy; and that it is imperative for African States to take all necessary measures to protect their populations from acts of terrorism and to implement all relevant continental and international humanitarian and human rights instruments; Explanatory Note: See, Protocol to the OAU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism, Preamble. Reaffirming our support for the Organization of African Unity Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism of July 1999 and its 2004 protocol; and strongly rejecting and condemning the payment of ransom to terrorist groups; Explanatory Note: For the rejection of ransom see, Communiqué of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, at its 455th meeting on the prevention and combating of terrorism and violent extremism in Africa on 2 September 2014, para. 24. Bearing in mind the definition of “terrorism” contained in Article 28(G) of the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights; and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions on combating terrorism, in particular Resolution 1373 (2001); Bearing also in mind that the root causes of terrorism are complex and all conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and violent extremism need to be addressed, including prolonged unresolved conflicts, lack of rule of law and violations of human rights, discrimination, employment and educational disadvantage, political exclusion, socio-economic marginalization, and poor governance, stressing however that none of these conditions can excuse or justify acts of terrorism; Explanatory Note: See, Communiqué of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, at its 455th meeting on the prevention and combating of terrorism and violent extremism in Africa on 2 September 2014, para. 29.