PROTOCOL TO THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE AFRICAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY RELATING TO FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS, RIGHT OF RESIDENCE AND RIGHT OF ESTABLISHMENT PREAMBLE We, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African Union; RECALLING our commitment to conclude a Protocol on the free movement of persons, tight of residence and right of establishment, under article 43(2) of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, which was adopted in Abuja, Nigeria on 34 June, 1991 and entered into force on 12" May, 1994; MINDFUL ofarticle3(a) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union which promotes the achievement of greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and the people of Africa; and the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community which promotes economic, social and cultural development and the integration of African economies; REITERATING our shared values which promote the protection of human and people’s rights as provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights which guarantees the right of an individual to freedom of movement and residence; GUIDED by our common vision for an integrated, people-centered and politically united continent and our commitment to free movement of people, goods and services amongst the Member States as an enduring dedication to Pan Africanism and African integration as reflected in Aspiration 2 of the African Union Agenda 2063; RECALLING our commitment under article 4 (2)(i) of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community, to gradually remove obstacles to the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital and the right of residence and establishment among Member States; BEARING IN MIND the strategies of the Migration Policy Framework for Africa adopted in Banjul, in The Gambia in 2006 which encourage Regional Economic Communities and their Member States to consider the adoption and implementation of appropriate protocols in order to progressively achieve the free movement of persons and to ensure the enjoyment of the right of employment in the host countries; residence, establishment and access to gainful RECOGNIZING the contribution and building on the achievements of the Regional Economic Communities and other intergovernmental organizations towards progressively achieving the free movement of persons and ensuring the enjoyment of the right of residence and the right of establishment by citizens of Member States;