Committee on the Elimination of

Discrimination against Women

Fifty-fourth session

11 February – 1 March 2013

List of issues and questions with regard to the consideration of periodic reports

Angola

The pre-session working group examined the sixth periodic report of Angola (CEDAW/C/AGO/6).

Constitutional, legislative and institutional framework

1.Paragraph 7 of the State party’s report indicates that discriminatory laws will be removed as part of the pending legal reform. Please indicate the time frame for the implementation of this reform.

Visibility of the Convention

2.Paragraph 8 of the report cites article 13, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, according to which “general or common international law, received pursuant to the Constitution, forms an integral part of the Angolan legal system”. Please indicate whether the Convention has been cited by a domestic court and, if so, provide detailed information on the cases. Please provide information on the steps taken to provide training for legal professionals, including judges, prosecutors and lawyers as well as other actors responsible for the implementation of the provisions enshrined in the Convention. Please also provide information on initiatives carried out to disseminate the Convention as recommended by the Committee in its previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, para. 141).

National m achine ry for the advancement of women

3.Paragraph 10 of the report indicates that the State party started to develop a national gender policy in 2005. Please indicate the time frame for the finalization of this policy. Please also indicate the steps taken for the development of a plan of action for its implementation and elaborate on the mandate of the Multisector Gender Coordination Council established in 1999 in this regard (para. 17).

4.In line with the Committee’s previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, para. 151), please indicate the measures taken to allocate adequate human and financial resources to the national machinery. Please also indicate the measures taken to make the promotion of gender equality an explicit component of future land reform and national development strategies, in particular those aimed at repatriation, rehabilitation and resettlement, and those aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

Stereotypes and harmful practices

5.Please indicate concrete measures taken to change social and cultural patterns and eliminate gender-based stereotypes and harmful practices, such as early marriages and polygamy (para. 181). Please also indicate whether the State party envisages drafting a comprehensive plan to eliminate entrenched stereotypes that perpetuate women’s subordination in the family and limit their participation in all aspects of public life.

Violence against women

6.The report refers to the current development of a national action plan against domestic violence and a project entitled “Support of Gender Issues in Angola” to protect women victims of domestic violence (paras. 22 and 35), and the Committee was informed about the adoption of the Law against Domestic Violence in 2011. Please provide detailed information on the current situation and trends with respect to violence against women and girls, including rape, marital rape and domestic violence, and provide data on the number of cases of violence against women reported to the police and brought to court, and the number of prosecutions and convictions in this regard. Please indicate whether the draft national action plan against domestic violence: (a) encourages women to report acts of violence; (b) ensures the prosecution of perpetrators; (c) provides victims with protection, remedies and rehabilitation, including psychological support; and (d) provides for capacity-building and awareness-raising programmes for the police, lawyers, health and social workers, the judiciary and the public at large. Bearing in mind the Committee’s general recommendation No. 19 (1992) and in line with the Committee’s previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, para. 153), please indicate whether the State party intends to enact a comprehensive law on violence against women, including domestic violence against women and girls, and develop a comprehensive strategy to combat all forms of violence against women.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

7.Please provide information on the number of women and girls who are victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual and economic exploitation. Please also indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to prevent and punish trafficking and exploitation of prostitution, in line with article 6 of the Convention. Indicate whether the State party envisages enacting a law and amending the Penal Code in order to address trafficking and exploitation of women and girls and developing a comprehensive national strategy to combat trafficking in women and girls. Moreover, paragraph 38 of the report refers to the existence of programmes to facilitate the reintegration of children exploited in prostitution. In line with the Committee’s previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, para. 157), please indicate the measures taken to provide educational and economic alternatives to prostitution, and to introduce exit programmes as well as rehabilitation and reintegration measures for women exploited in prostitution. Please also indicate whether the State party envisages ratifying the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Participation in decision-making and representation at the international level

8.The report refers to the enactment of the Law on Political Parties of 1 July 2005 requiring that political parties include in their by-laws a quota for women of not less than 30 per cent (para. 14) and to the fact that 38.6 per cent of the representatives in the National Assembly were women (para. 48). Please provide information on the steps taken to achieve equal representation of women and men in other areas of political and public life, in particular in decision-making positions in the executive, the judiciary and the civil service at the national, provincial and municipal levels (para. 15), including through the adoption of temporary special measures, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 (2004) and as recommended in the Committee’s previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, para. 155). Likewise, please indicate the degree of participation of women in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public policies and in the post-conflict reconstruction process.

Nationality and citizenship

9.According to information received, women travelling with their children are required to present an official authorization signed by their husbands. Please provide detailed information on this requirement and indicate the legal basis for this practice.

10.According to information received by the Committee, the rate of childbirth registration is very low in the State party. Please indicate the legislative and practical steps taken or envisaged to ensure that all children are registered.

Education

11.The State party’s report refers to the limited budget allocated to education (para. 75), the very high illiteracy rate among women (para. 79), and the high dropout rate of girls due to early pregnancy, poverty, domestic work and family pressure (para. 81). Please indicate the measures taken to: (a) increase the budget allocated to education; (b) address the high level of female illiteracy; (c) reduce the dropout rate among girls; and (d) overcome the economic and cultural obstacles to women and girls’ access to education, in line with the Committee’s previous concluding observations (A/59/39, part two, para. 159). Please provide sex-disaggregated data on enrolment rates in primary, secondary, vocational and higher education, in both urban and rural areas. Please also indicate the steps taken to curb violence and sexual harassment of girls in schools and to eliminate stereotypical attitudes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in textbooks, curricula and teacher training.

Employment

12.The State party’s report indicates that, according to article 164, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the General Labour Law, employers are required to offer, for a job of equal value, the same compensation to all workers (para. 85) and refers to legal provisions granting maternity leave (paras. 95 to 102). Please provide information on the measures taken to: (a) ensure the effective enforcement of equal pay for work of equal value; (b) ensure the effective enforcement of the General Labour Law with regard to maternity protection, as recommended by the Committee in its previous recommendations (A/59/38, part two, para. 161); (c) ensure that protective measures for women are strictly limited to maternity protection and not based on stereotypical perceptions of their abilities and their role in society; (d) reduce the wage gap between women and men, including by addressing occupational segregation of women in the public and the private sectors and promoting women’s access to higher paying decision-making positions; (e) collect data on the representation of women in the informal sector and in decision-making positions; and (f) protect children, including girls, from exploitative child labour. Please also indicate whether the State party has adopted or envisages adopting legal provisions that prohibit sexual harassment and violence against women in the workplace.

Health

13.Paragraphs 119 and 120 of the report refer to: (a) the high rates of maternal mortality (1,500/100,000 live births) and fertility (6.9 children per woman); and (b) the low rates of contraceptive use (6.6 per cent), extended essential obstetric care (19.2 per cent), and births attended by skilled health personnel (47 per cent). Please provide information on the measures taken and envisaged to address and improve these issues.

14.In its most recent concluding observations on Angola (CRC/C/AGO/CO/2-4), the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about the high incidence of early pregnancies, with more than 50 per cent of first pregnancies being in women under 18. Please provide information on the measures taken to address these issues and on the availability and accessibility of comprehensive education on sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning services.

15.Please provide updated information on the impact of unsafe abortion on women’s health, including maternal mortality rates. Please explain the conditions under which abortion is legally allowed.

16.Paragraph 141 of the report refers to the existence of the Strategic Sectors Plan aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS. Please indicate the measures envisaged to ensure the effective implementation of this Plan at the municipal level. Please also provide information on the measures envisaged to reduce the number of women living with HIV/AIDS, reduce mother-to-child transmission and improve availability and access to HIV/AIDS services, including access to antiretroviral treatment, especially in rural and remote areas.

Women affected by the conflict

17.Please provide information on the measures taken to provide remedies and health-care services for women victims of violence, in particular sexual violence, during the conflict with the União Nacional Para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) that ended in 2002 and with the Frente de Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda (FLEC) that ended in 2006. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure access to justice and the indictment and prosecution of perpetrators of these acts of violence. Please also provide information on the number and the current situation of internally displaced women as a result of the conflict, and on initiatives taken to protect and support them. Please provide information on measures taken to locate, mark and remove land mines that disproportionately affect women and children working in the fields and to provide victims of land mines with access to physical and psychological recovery.

Disadvantaged groups of women

18.Please provide information on the measures envisaged to ensure that rural women, women heads of household and women with disabilities have effective access to health, education, land, water, food, housing, credit and income-generation projects. Please also indicate the measures taken to prevent acts of violence against and ensure protection and assistance to women belonging to the San community, and elderly women and children accused of witchcraft, as well as asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant women, particularly in the provinces of Lunda Norte, Malanje and Uíge. Indicate the steps taken to ensure the prosecution of perpetrators of violence and discrimination against disadvantaged groups of women, including as regards the reported abuses perpetrated by Angolan security forces during the expulsion process of migrant women.

Marriage and family relations

19.The report refers to the practice of polygamy in rural areas (para. 181) and to article 24 of Law 68/76 that permits adolescents to marry, on an exceptional basis, at 15 years of age for girls and 16 for boys (para. 251). Moreover, information before the Committee refers to the practice of early marriage, and the application of customary law that discriminates against daughters, widows and divorced women with regard to inheritance and property rights. Please indicate whether the State party intends to withdraw the legal provisions authorizing, on an exceptional basis, the marriage of girls at 15 and boys at 16 years of age. Please also provide information on measures taken or envisaged to eliminate the practices of early marriage and polygamy and to ensure equal rights, in practice, to daughters, widows and divorced women with regard to inheritance and property rights.

Amendment to article 20, paragraph 1

20.Please indicate any progress made with respect to the acceptance of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention.