Luanda - Angola stressed Tuesday its permanent commitment to providing assistance and social inclusion of the victims of explosive devices in the country.
Angola reassured its commitment during the discussions held on the sidelines of the 20th Meeting of the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.
It is usually referred to as the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, held in Geneva, Switzerland.
During the Tuesday's session, the Director-General of the National Mine Action Agency (ANAM), Leonardo Sapalo, highlighted the efforts and commitments undertaken by the Angola.
He mentioning the expansion of Luanda’s Viana Rehabilitation Centre and the social inclusion of the victims of explosive devices in the Paralympic football team.
Leonardo Sapalo said the programme carried out by the Angolan government, which improves and guarantees the rights of the victims of explosive devices and the welfare of their families defines the responsibilities of ANAM and the others benefiting from the some assistance.
The government's agenda, Sapalo said, includes the drafting of a national standard for assistance to victims, the construction and expansion of health units equipped with physiotherapy and rehabilitation services.
It (agenda) also covers the implementation of public and private programmes for victims of explosive devices to combat hunger and poverty, increase economic inclusion services via entrepreneurship and improvement of social security policies.
Leonardo Sapalo announced the main priorities for the implementation of assistance to victims.
According to him, assistance includes the collection of data from victims in the country’s 18 provinces, the use of the IMSMA v3.0 tool from October 2002, an interface that uses the geographical information system, institutional capacity building, and sharing of information on a regular basis among stakeholders with data by gender, age, and disability.
The list of priorities covers the availability of funds for social inclusion, the revival of physical rehabilitation, efforts by the state, non-exclusion of access to services and participation, the creation of network of women victims of mine, the involvement of organizations of women and children with disabilities inside victims’ assistance operators and social inclusion of women victims of explosive devices.
Sapalo pointed out the existence of challenges and obstacles that need to be overcome: the elaboration of a national plan and its effective implementation, engagement of all partners, institutional capacity building of the ANAM, mobilisation of financial resources and the understanding of the real situation of victims through data collection.
The official also recognized the need to expand the intervention regarding assistance to victims in an isolated manner, mitigate the divergence in the definition of sectoral priorities coupled with the availability of funds, improve financial capacity and working means of the governing body, which must receive particular attention from the State and international partners.
