Luanda - National Assembly Speaker Carolina Cerqueira Monday pointed to National Human Rights Strategy and the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings as the main State mechanisms for defence and promotion of human rights in Angola.
In her speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the Workshop on Human Rights, the Speaker also mentioned the National Action Plan for the Eradication of Child Labour in Angola and the institutionalisation of the mechanisms for the defence and monitoring of human rights, through the local human rights committees.
According to Carolina Cerqueira, the challenge for Parliamentarians is to ensure that every national or foreigner who has chosen Angola as his or her home is offered a future vision that makes reality for the excluded, the marginalised and the vulnerable in society.
"The promise of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to live safely, without fear of existing, goes beyond the issues of peace and war," she said.
Carolina Cerqueira said the actions promoted by the government led Angola to improve 33 positions in the international transparency index, from 2017 to 2021, in the corruption area, and in the 80th position, in the Global Peace area, among 163 countries.
She also mentioned the annual index on press freedom, in which Angola improved 22 places, and the Freedom House index on freedoms, in which the country improved seven places.
In relation to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, she noted that Angola had improved four places in the last four years, while in the Index of Women's Participation in Politics, it was ranked 48 in the government and 52 in Parliament, out of 188 States.
Carolina Cerqueira highlighted the role of the Ombudsman’s Office in defence of citizens' rights, freedoms and guarantees, as part of its mission, particularly in advocacy and in monitoring public institutions, as well as in raising the awareness of society in general.
She added that the National Assembly has enabled the legal framework for the promotion of human rights to evolve considerably, with the approval of the Angolan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The event aims to contribute to guaranteeing fundamental rights, such as life, freedom, health, education, the right of opinion and expression, the right to demonstrate, the right to the environment, as well as the right to work and people's safety.
The workshop also aims to contribute to guaranteeing the right of defence, the right to a fair trial for those accused of a crime, the creation of a national platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences and good practices on human rights.
