Viana - The national human rights education strategy, implemented by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, aims to raise the citizens' knowledge of legal issues and strengthen the exercise of citizenship in the country, the Secretary of State Ana Celeste Januário said Tuesday in Luanda.
The Secretary of State for Human Rights and Citizenship while speaking at the first Conference on Human Rights and Citizenship in the municipality of Viana, highlighted that the more citizens know about their rights, the better they will be able to use them.
According to her, the department has been carrying out actions to publicise human rights in the country.
In this regard, Ana Celeste spoke of the creation of 18 provincial committees and 164 municipal committees, with the aim of training local key players in the importance of promoting and protecting human rights.
Ana Celeste said that she hoped similar committees would be set up at the commune and district level, so that justice would be closer to the citizens.
The government official pointed to the lack of knowledge of human rights norms and the constitution, domestic violence and the protection of vulnerable groups, especially the disabled, as the sector's main challenges.
Sequentially, the deputy governor of Luanda for the economic sector, Jorge Miguéis, considered the meeting to be extremely important for building knowledge of the law, in order for the citizens to be aware of their rights and defend them against any violation.
She recalled that Angola signed international legal instruments that safeguard human rights, such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, as well as the Convention against Torture and Other Unkind, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.
Jorge Miguéis considered it urgent to sensitise citizens to know more about legal issues, in order to demystify the idea that justice by one's own hands is the solution to resolving conflicts in communities, and recommended that this type of activity be carried out in the municipalities and districts of Luanda province.
Topics such as the “Institutional commitments of the municipal administration to the promotion, defence and protection of human rights and citizenship”, ‘The main challenges for the consolidation of civic space in the municipality”, “What civil society do we need for the country?”, were presented at the event, which took place at the Casa da Juventude in Viana municipality. FCC/HDC/OHA/MRA/DOJ
