Preamble

The Parties to this Convention,

1. Mindful of the growing threat to human health and the environment posed by the increased generation and the complexity of hazardous wastes,

2. Further mindful that the most effective way of protecting human health and the environment from the dangers posed by such wastes is the reduction of their generation to a minimum in terms of quantity and/or hazard potential,

3. Aware of the risk of damage to human health and the environment caused by transboundary movements of hazardous wastes,

4. Reiterating that States should ensure that the generator should carry out his responsibilities with regard to the transport and disposal of hazardous wastes in a manner that is consistent with the protection of human health and environment, whatever the place of disposal,

5. Recalling relevant chapters of the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on environmental protection, the African Charter for Human and Peoples' Rights, Chapter IX of the Lagos Plan of Action and other Recommendations adopted by the Organisation of African Unity on the environment,

6. Further recognizing the sovereignty of States to ban the importation into, and the transit through, their territory, of hazardous wastes and substances for environmental and human health reasons,

7. Recognizing also the increasing mobilization in Africa for the prohibition of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal in African countries,

8. Convinced that hazardous wastes should, as far as is compatible with environmentally sound and efficient management be disposed in the State where they were generated,

9. Convinced that the effective control and minimization of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes will act as an incentive, in Africa and elsewhere, for the reduction of the volume of the generation of such wastes,

10. Noting that a number of international and regional agreements deal with the problem of the protection and preservation of the environment with regard to the transit of dangerous goods,

11. Taking into account the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), the Cairo Guidelines and Principles for the Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous Wastes adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by Decision 14/30 of 17 June, 1987, the Recommendations of the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (formulated in 1957 and updated biennially), the Charter of Human Rights, relevant recommendations, declarations, instruments and regulations adopted within the United Nations System, the relevant articles of the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal which allow for the establishment of regional agreements which may be equal to or stronger than its own provisions, Article 39 of the Lome IV Convention relating to the international movement of hazardous wastes and radioactive wastes, African inter-governmental organizations and the work and studies done within other international and regional organisations,

12. Mindful of the spirit, principles, aims and functions of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources adopted by the African Heads of State and Government in Algiers (1968) and the World Charter for Nature adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations at its Thirty-seventh Session (1982) as the rule of ethics in respect of the protection of the human environment and the conservation of natural resources,

13. Concerned by the problem of transboundary traffic in hazardous wastes,

14. Recognizing the need to promote the development of clean production methods, including clean technologies, for the sound management of hazardous wastes produced in Africa, in particular, to avoid, minimize and eliminate the generation of such wastes,

15. Recognizing also that where necessary hazardous wastes should be transported in accordance with relevant international conventions and recommendations,

16. Determined to protect, by strict control, the human health of the African population and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from the generation of hazardous wastes,

17. Affirming a commitment also to responsibly address the problem of hazardous wastes originating within the Continent of Africa,

Have agreed as follows: