Domestic Violence, Gender Top Family Ministry's 2008 Agenda

Luanda - Meetings in the provinces between the Government and its social partners, to analyse and discuss issues related to domestic and intra-family violence, as well as women participation in decision making bodies in the country, topped the agenda of the Ministry of Family and Women Promotion in 2008.

The consultations and meetings held during that period aimed at collecting contributions from various social actors to enrich the data that served as the basis for the drafting of the bill on domestic and intra-family violence for the  2008/2012 period, expected to be approved by the Cabinet Council in the first quarter of 2009.

Within the ambit of domestic violence too, the action of the Ministry of Family for 2008 focused on the implementation of other tasks, with stress to the updating of statistics, through the creation of a database in all institutions that deal with the issue in Angola.

Regarding achievements, the Ministry of Family and Women Promotion has to mention the 11th National Council on Family and the 3rd National Forum on National Micro Finance.

Another issue that also deserved the attention of the Ministry of Family was the creation of the Gender Budget, an essential instrument as it will permit the building of capacities of women and families, including gender equity and gender equality.

Concerning family responsibilities, the Ministry promoted events on micro-credits and will continue to do so in order to collect data for the formulation of policies and strategies on national micro finance, alike the bi-annually held national forums on micro-finance.

Other measures facing rural communities in terms of increased family responsibilities, the fight against HIV/AIDS, as well as the consolidation and reinforcement of partnerships with various government sectors and civil society, are tasks held in this period and will deserve further attention from the Ministry of Family and Women Promotion in 2009.

Regarding this too, other tasks that will also deserve the attention of Minfamu in the near future are related to the development of community centres and creation of a field of study and research that will allow the deepening of knowledge of problems of afflicting the Angolan families.

In the same period, Angola attended the 52nd Annual Session of the Committee on Women Status, an organ of the UN Economic and Social Committee held in February and March 2008.

"Gender equality is one of the priorities for Angola. Therefore, the Angolan government has been since 2003 increasingly raising funds for the social areas, aiming at the population's well-being, with positive reflexes on gender equality, " said in New York, the Angolan deputy minister of Family, Ana Paula Sacramento Neto.

At regional and international level, the Angolan government attended several events, among them, the 6th African Development Forum (ADF, VI), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 18 to 21 November, together with that of the African Union (AU) Economic Commission.

Another highlight was the participation of Angola at the World Family Summit Held in Cairo in Egypt, early in December last year, where the country was awarded for the first time the first international of the World Family Organization.

Given the importance of the matters mentioned above and others such as the fight against HIV/AIDS and Poverty concerning the society, it is expected that they will continue to take a special attention and be included among the priorities of government for discussion in 2009.