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

Addendum

Replies of Angola to the list of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of its sixth and seventh periodic reports *

Introduction

1.This report concerns information and statistics for the period 2006–2010 and also describes the progress made in the following years, as an illustration of Angola’s political determination and commitment to meeting the undertakings entered into for the promotion of women and their protection against all forms of discrimination as subjects at law.

2.Because Angola is a party to a number of international human rights treaties which require the submission of periodic reports, in resolution No. 121/09, of 22 December the Government of Angola institutionalized the Intersectoral Commission for the preparation of human rights reports (CIERDH).

I.Constitutional, legislative and institutional framework

3.The process of legislative reform is under way with a view to adapting legislation, within the medium to long terms, to the Constitution of the Republic of Angola, adopted in 2010, which prohibits all forms of discrimination, whether direct or indirect; this has led to the strengthening of the capacity of the legal system to enable it better to serve citizens via a participatory process rooted in national cultural reality, and involving improved access to the courts, adapting laws to the actual situation and technical training for the personnel of the legal system.

4.Implementation of the legislative reform bears on the following actions:

(a)A plan of action to guide the reform of the judiciary, which has been publicized and discussed with civil society and judicial bodies at the provincial and municipal levels;

(b)Dissemination of information on the current situation of the administration of justice;

(c)An operational plan designed to evaluate resources and supervisory mechanisms and to evaluate results (indicators and methodology).

5.The legislative reform also covers the drafting of the judicial organization act, which makes it possible to unify the judicial system, reform the civil code and establish the organizational statutes of centres for mediation, conciliation and arbitration.

A.Visibility of the Convention

6.The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is one of the international human rights treaties ratified by Angola which have been incorporated into Angolan law by virtue of the provisions of article 26, paragraph 1, of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola, which stipulates that “the fundamental rights established in this Constitution shall not exclude others contained in the laws and applicable rules on international law”. Article 2 further stipulates that “Constitutional and legal precepts relating to fundamental rights must be interpreted and incorporated in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and with the relevant international treaties ratified by the Republic of Angola” and article 3 that “in any consideration by the Angolan courts of disputes concerning fundamental rights, the international instruments referred to in the previous paragraph shall be applied, even if not invoked by the parties concerned”.

7.In order to disseminate the Convention, the executive branch and its partners in society have organized workshops, lectures and seminars throughout the country intended for all levels of society, including traditional authorities and community leaders. When the law prohibiting domestic violence was introduced, the Convention was referred to as the fundamental instrument on which the law was based. This reference had a multiplier effect as participants were charged with publicizing the Convention and the law to at least 30 people in their communes; consequently, last year the Convention was directly brought to the attention of more than 500,0000 people. The task of disseminating the Convention is a permanent one. In the light of the supremacy of the Constitution set forth in its article 6, and of the interpretation and integration of the Convention as an instrument of international law for the settlement of disputes before Angolan courts, there is no need to provide instances of its application. Clearly there are some instances in which it is necessary to refer to it, such as procedures involving international situations or citizens of other nationalities; however, in the majority of cases, the integration of international treaties may be tacit, and there is no need to draw up statistics for instances in which it has or has not been referred to by the courts.

8.The National Institute for Judicial Studies (INEJ) has continued to train and issue qualifications to judicial officials, with an emphasis on clerks to the courts, notaries and court officials, in order to improve their performance, and has also adopted new study curricula, as reflected in the following table.

Table 1

Basic statistics on training

Indicator	Intake
2010
Judges	186
Prosecutors	206
Military judges	42
Court officers	239
Court officers assigned to the office of the Attorney General	195
Official provincial criminal investigation department	33

Source: Ministry of Justice.

9.As a result of these training activities, there have been the following changes in the judicial sector:

(a)An increase in the number of judges and officials in the office of the public prosecutor and other judicial departments who are trained to meet the needs of the courts;

(b)Reception of the public by judicial officials has improved;

(c)The working methods of notaries’ and court clerks’ departments have been standardized nationally.

10.In 2010, the major actions carried out to help to promote equality between men and women, to reduce inequality between them and to safeguard family values focused on vocational training and the acquisition of technical skills at all levels, including actions to promote literacy among rural women; they also included the training of 23 facilitators to conduct workplace gender equality audits, training 30 community and civil society leaders on “management for change”, 60 planning specialists and managers on gender budgeting and a training course at the integrated training and vocational education centre which was followed by 148 participants; all these actions generated multiplier effects.

11.The Government of Angola has acted directly, in partnership with other State institutions and with civil society organizations, to train workers who carry out actions to ensure respect for human rights as a whole and for those of vulnerable groups, such as women, in which the Convention is the main basic instrument of reference.

12.Each year, institutions draw up programmes that include seminars, workshops, round tables and other training activities to ensure better awareness and interpretation of the Convention among professionals and ordinary citizens.

13.With a view to implementing and scaling up training and dissemination activities, CIERDH has carried out training activities in the provinces; the activities involved provincial human rights committees and were coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and by networks for the protection and promotion of children’s rights, whose work is coordinated by the National Children’s Institute.

14.At the same time, numerous actions were initiated to continually raise the profile of the international human rights instruments by means of seminars, lectures and other activities intended for journalists, teachers, judges, lawyers, policemen, prosecutors and other professionals whose work involves them with society. These actions had a positive impact on Angolan society and led to the development of a greater awareness of the need to respect the rights of women and to a keener appreciation by citizens of gender equality issues.

B.National machinery for the advancement of women

15.In 2010, the following actions were undertaken to help promote gender equality, reduce disparities between men and women and safeguard family values.

Table 2

Actions and policy measures	Implementation
Studies into women’s political participation and in particular in public decision-making.	Preparatory actions for the studies, collection of information, data and experience of value in drawing up the terms of reference of the studies.
Technical capacity-building for staff providing victims of violence with support and follow-up.	Drafting and printing 840 technical training manuals on “Legal advice skills”, “Training on advisory work” and a “Manual for child educationalists”.
Training activities for 254 provincial family counsellors, 187 of them women and 67 men.
Drafting and reproduction of three bulletins intended to raise awareness of and publicize legislation on gender violence.
Implementation of actions to foster community associations.	Meetings with political, women’s professional, religious, social, cultural and community associations.
Vocational and technical skills training at all levels, including measures to promote literacy among rural women.	Training 23 facilitators to conduct “workplace gender equality audits” (provided by the Ministry of the Family and Women’s Empowerment (MINFAMU)).***
Change-management workshops, intended for community and civil society leaders (30 participants).

Table 3

Training 60 specialists and managers on gender budgeting . A training course at the Integrated training and vocational education centre for 148 participants. Application to the Ministry of Education for manuals to promote literacy in rural areas, in partnership with t he National Institute for C onsumer Protection (INADEC).****
Encouraging participation by citizens and vulnerable groups (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Meetings with and visits to organizations and groups that support vulnerable citizens who receive material and moral support.
Improving family-management skills (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Developing the model family management matrix. Relevant training for 370 workers, 216 women and 154 men. Launch of the Family Code revision process to adapt it to the Constitution.
Encouraging the production of sex-specific statistics (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Creation of the database on gender equality with the incorporation of statistics on domestic violence in Samba commune, Luanda province. Presentation of the training manual for technical staff on the collection, processing and dissemination of statistics on violence and on participation in decision-making bodies.
Promoting the social and financial advancement of rural women (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Training activities for traditional midwives and distribution of kits. Training workshop on “Community development” in the town of Huambo, Huambo province; 78 persons, 56 women and 22 men were trained. Drafting the standard training manual for traditional midwives and printing 60 manuals and 1,800 brochures to raise awareness among traditional midwives, in support of their work.
Institutional capacity-building (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Actions to develop synergy to strengthen interventions to improve family income, carried out by MINFAMU. Discussion and presentation of contributions to the draft national gender equality policy, held at the regular session of the Multisectoral Coordination Council. Drafting, revision and approval of the organizational statutes of MINFAMU, as part of the adoption of the Constitution.
Follow-up of international instruments and exchanges (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Participation in the summit of the World Family Organization (WFO), held in France on the theme of “Families in Balance”, taking into account Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No. 2. Reception and follow-up to the visit by the President of WFO, leading to the signing of an addendum to the existing protocol of intention and the signature of Angola’s readmission to WFO.
Promoting gender equity and equality (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Finalization of the draft policy for gender equality, pending approval by the Council of Ministers. Workshops for journalists from Luanda and Kwanza-Norte provinces to raise awareness among them and encourage the publication of articles on “gender equality and local governance”. Think tank on “The importance of genuine gender equality for development”, essentially intended for men and attended by 80 participants.
Promotion of participation by citizens and vulnerable groups (not scheduled in the 2010 national plan)	Meetings with and visits to organizations and groups that support vulnerable citizens and who are given material and moral support.

16.The Angolan executive branch is taking steps to draw up government policies to be implemented via programmes, projects, services and benefits, that will offer opportunities and a place in society so that women in rural areas, female heads of household and disabled women have effective access to health, education, land, water, food and housing and to credit and income-generating activities. These include:

(a)The national programme to support women in rural areas, approved by presidential decree No. 138/12, of 20 June, in response to the need to promote integrated rural development and combat hunger and poverty;

(b)The integrated municipal rural-development and poverty-control programmes, encompassing a variety of projects for rural areas, monitored by the national commission on poverty control;

(c)The Water for All programme, which is intended to provide drinking water for the population of rural areas and from which some 1.2 million people have already benefited; by the end of 2012 it is expected to cover 60 per cent of the rural population;

(d)The rural outreach and development programme (PEDR), the aim of which is to provide support for family farms and to make up for the shortage of productive resources; by 2010, a total of 3,293,556 families had benefited from the programme; the number of beneficiaries increased from 618,859 in 2005/06 to 1,512,609 in 2007/08 and to 1,162,088 in 2009/10; a special line of credit was opened in Kwanzas, worth US$ 350 million; US$ 150 million of the amount was for the harvest and the balance for investment. Some 24,000 small farmers living in 68 communes in 17 of Angola’s 18 provinces benefited directly from a disbursement of US$ 47 million;

(e)The national rehousing programme, run along the lines of supervised self-build, under which new settlements and low-cost housing have been built. As part of the low-cost housing subprogramme, the Government’s priority is to rehabilitate villages to provide rural families with decent living conditions. The programme’s overall aim is to provide housing and to develop low-cost housing for a total of 564,000 families, made up of some 3.3 million persons;

(f)The programme to hand over health services to municipal authorities, which is intended to decentralize the management of health services to the municipal level so as to enable municipal health service managers and providers to improve the management and running of services;

(g)The small firms support programme is designed to encourage family income-generation projects and to structure the informal sector of the economy. It has set a target of 100,000 beneficiaries by September 2012, so as to cover 500,000 families;

(h)The “Recipe for Happiness” programme to improve family-management skills; 1,001 persons responsible for families, including 716 women, followed the programme;

(i)The national microcredit programme, with 435,398 direct and 2,176,990 indirect beneficiaries, 80 per cent of whom were women, in 2012;

(j)The rural trade support programme, which is designed to promote the creation or expansion of rural commercial firms, wholesalers and retailers, with a focus on agricultural production and poverty reduction in rural areas by satisfying demand from rural populations for agricultural supplies and basic consumer goods.

17.Other allied policy measures:

(a)The rural outreach and development programme which is under way in Angola and which gives rural women an opportunity to take part in the country’s development process;

(b)The strategy for the advancement of women, whose implementation involves public and private institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs);

(c)The family counselling centres, as part of the effort to prevent and control domestic violence.

18.When compared with the targets set in 2010, the results reflect the efforts made in two directions: helping women to cope with difficulties specific to their condition and steps towards more active participation in national life.

19.The following table shows the extent to which the targets have been met.

Table 4

Title	2010	Level of achievement
Planned		Achieved
Family counselling	1 500	254	16. 9%
Vocational training for women	3 000	132	4 . 4%
Registration of acts of violence and counselling for victims	10 000	5 552	55 . 5%
Gender-equality activists/outreach workers	900	23	2 . 6%
Social activists/counsellors	900	681	75 . 7%
Microcredit beneficiaries	20 000	152 712	763 . 6%
Traditional midwives trained	2 000	656	32 . 8%
Kits issued to traditional midwives	2 000	4 586	229 . 3%
Conferences on gender equality and the family	522	530	122 . 7%
Number of participants in conferences	300 000	39 750	13 . 3%
Seminars/debates on gender equality and the family	90	66	73 . 3%
Persons benefiting from seminars	200 000	3 300	1 . 7%
Training for staff from MINFAMU and partners	30	88	220 . 0%

Source: Overview of implementation of the Government programme.

II.Stereotypes and harmful practices

20.Concrete measures taken to change social and cultural patterns and eliminate stereotypes:

(a)Permanent literacy campaigns;

(b)Scaling up education throughout the country;

(c)Development of the school-meals programme to encourage school attendance and prevent pupils from dropping out;

(d)Establishment of cooperatives in rural areas for the benefit of women;

(e)Implementation of the microcredit programme, with a focus on rural women;

(f)Permanent national campaigns to raise awareness by means of conferences on gender equality;

(g)Media campaigns on radio and TV (Education for all).

III.Violence against women

21.There have been significant changes in the situation of women and girls in respect of violence. As a result of the adoption of the Law against Domestic Violence and the awareness-raising activities carried out by the Angolan authorities, in partnership with national and international civil society organizations, victims denounce and lodge complaints to the competent authorities; the number of women who turn to counselling centres for information on their rights is constantly increasing.

22.The number of new cases is attributable to the fact that the rights of women and children are more widely disseminated and to the restoration of peace.

23.In 2010, approximately 1,525 cases of violence against women were registered, leading to 1,223 arrests. Of these crimes, 92 involved rape, leading to 46 arrests, and 34 indecent assault, for which 34 persons were tried.

24.In 2011, some 1,624 cases of violence were registered, leading to the arrest of 1,078 persons. Of these crimes, 57 involved rape, with 47 arrests, and 25 indecent assault, with 16 arrests.

25.In 2008, 3,127 used the services of the counselling centres. In 2010, the number was 3,120 and in 2011 8,774. The increase in the number of persons using the counselling centres is attributable to the dissemination of information on the Law Against Domestic Violence.

26.All women or children who are the victims of physical violence receive free medical and psychological assistance.

27.Efforts to promote the financial independence of female sex workers are part of programmes to provide support for the most highly vulnerable persons.

IV.Trafficking and sexual exploitation

28.The Multilateral Cooperation Agreement to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in West and Central Africa, which was adopted in 2006 at the Ministerial Conference of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), in Abuja, Nigeria, will make a significant contribution towards establishing coordination mechanisms to prevent and control cross-border trafficking. Because abductions and trafficking are inherently violent, the strategy adopted by the Government, with the support of UNICEF, is a priority for implementation, and will involve major partners such as WHO, ILO, Terre des Hommes, etc. and will be preceded by regional research for which provision has already been made.

29.The purpose of the Agreement is to set up a common front, based on national forces, to combat trafficking in persons, so as to prevent, control, abolish and punish trafficking in persons through international cooperation. It is also intended to protect, rehabilitate and reintegrate the victims of trafficking into their home environment, if necessary, and to provide mutual assistance to track down and arrest traffickers thanks to cooperation between the competent authorities of the signatory States. In 2007, the Government of Angola helped to draw up, in Sao Tome and Principe, the joint ECCAS/ECOWAS plan of action to control trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Trafficking is known to follow routes made up of the point of origin (countries or exit points from which child victims of trafficking are taken to a national or international destination); transit (countries or places through which traffickers and victims pass temporarily for reasons of geography or logistics), and of destination (countries or points of arrival of the traffic). The lack of systematized information and the current situation in the country makes it impossible to determine where Angola lies on this route. This state of affairs is considered deeply preoccupying by the authorities responsible for protecting and promoting the rights of the child, who have assigned it priority among policies and programmes on behalf of children.

V.Participation in decision-making and representation at the international level

30.During the period covered by the report and in the following years, action to raise awareness in society and mobilize it at all levels to achieve greater participation by women in central and local decision-making bodies was marked by continuity.

31.The following table sets out these actions.

Table 5

Participation by gender (%)

Year	Parliament	Central G overnment	Local governments	Prosecution service and judiciary
Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
2008	87 . 3	12 . 7	73 . 5	26 . 5	86 . 4	13 . 6	77 . 4	22 . 6
2009	61 . 4	38 . 6	77 . 5	22 . 5	88 . 9	11 . 1	77 . 4	22 . 6
2010	61 . 4	38 . 6	76 . 5	23 . 5	89 . 0	11 . 0	77 . 8	22 . 2

Source: Ministry of the Family and for the Advancement of Women.

32.As far as participation in public administrative bodies is concerned, women have continued to make gradual progress only in the central Government, where their participation has increased from 22.5 per cent to 23.5 per cent. In other sectors of the administration, their participation has remained stable or even slightly declined.

VI.Nationality and citizenship

There have been significant changes in the birth registration system thanks to the adoption of new measures; the most significant of these are the abolition of the registration fee for each child, expansion of birth-registration services in maternity hospitals and municipal administrations, improvements to the registry offices and an extension of their opening hours which are now from 8 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., and the extension of the age up to which children may be registered, which is now 5 years.

VII.Education

33.Although there is a lack of data for subsequent years, the measures taken to increase the education budget achieved the following results during the period 2006–2008.

Table 7

Expenditure on education, 2006–2008

Education	2006 f igure	%	2007 f igure	%	2008 f igure	%
State Budget	85 523 557 267	100	40 394 653 720	100	200 620 366 399	100
Pre school	9 706 2 14	0 . 01	84 444 000	0 . 06	51 031 062	0 . 03
Primary	3 207 381 676	3.75	10 134 228 803	7 . 22	36 214 205 032	18 . 05
Secondary	2 037 644 219	2 . 38	4 398 272 803	3 . 52	59 817 713 369	29 . 82
Technical vocational	19 379 977 853	22 . 66	45 151 136 117	32 . 16	570 398 007	0 . 28
Higher	7 768 011 432	9 . 08	12 914 856 492	9 . 2	18 390 613 430	9 . 17
Adult Ed.	238 366 882	0 . 28	1 619 276 481	1 . 15	1 304 040 301	0 . 65
Other serv.	52 882 468 993	61 . 83	65 552 438 847	46 . 69	84 272 365 198	42 . 01

Source: Ministry of F inance.

34.Six projects have been included in the public investment programme; they include the purchase of books and equipment for libraries, of laboratories for higher-education establishments and training for and an increase in the number of teaching staff.

35.As regards financial programming under the public investment programme, approximately Kz 603.2 million has been spent, after deduction of the amount spent on science and technology, corresponding to a level of implementation of 84.97 per cent, the amount initially allocated in 2010 having been Kz 709.9 million, excluding the amount allocated to studies, projects and auditing.

36.The main indicators determined by the study into the well-being of populations (IBEP 2008–2009) in the sphere of education and literacy are set out in the following table.

Table 8

N o.	Indicator Data expressed as a percentage	Angola	Residence	Sex
1	Children aged from 3 to 5 years enrolled in preschool education	9 . 7	11 . 6	7 . 6	10 . 5	8 . 9
2	Population aged over 18 years and having attended school	75 . 9	88 . 6	59 . 9	87 . 8	65 . 5
3	Net primary-school attendance rate	76 . 3	84 . 9	66 . 8	77 . 2	75 . 4
4	Net secondary-school attendance rate	18 . 9	29 . 7	4 . 6	20 . 6	17 . 4
5	Population aged over 15 years able to read and write	65 . 6	81 . 8	44 . 8	80 . 9	51 . 9

37.More recent figures produced by the evaluation of the experimental phase of the educational reform are set out in the following table.

Table 9

Level of education	% of those completing the level
Male	Female
Primary education	57	43
Secondary education, of those having completed the first level	68	32
Secondary education, general second level	54	46
Secondary education, second level of training for primary-education teachers	43	57
Secondary education, second level of training for first-level teachers	52	48

38.The gender-parity index in secondary education, which includes general intermediate training, technical and vocational training and training for primary- and secondary-schoolteachers is 0.88 per cent in urban areas and 0.27 per cent in rural areas.

39.The educational reform launched in 2002 is intended to improve the accessibility of education by making it free of charge and providing in-service training for teachers. Previously, only 27,276 classrooms were available to the education system, in comparison with 53,592 in 2010, an increase of 96.4 per cent.

40.The new intake capacity of the education system increased from 4,393,497 to 6,168,454 between 2004 and 2010, i.e. an increase of 87.4 per cent. The proportion of the overall State budget allocated to the education sector rose from 3.82 per cent in 2006 to 8.52 per cent in 2010.

41.The measures adopted have created favourable conditions for improving the quality of education thanks to a reduction in the number of pupils per class, selection and training of teachers, the distribution of teaching material and the introduction of school meals. As a result, the success rate increased from 42 per cent in 2004 to 91 per cent in 2010, while during the same period, the repeat rate and the dropout rate fell from 32 per cent to 6.08 per cent and from 26 per cent to 2.82 per cent respectively.

42.The figures for performance are as follows:

(a)In primary education, out of every 1,000 pupils enrolled in year one, 831 completed year six, 571 of them without having repeated a year, a success rate of 57.2 per cent;

(b)In the first level of secondary education, out of every 1,000 pupils enrolled in year seven, 870 completed year nine, 585 of them without having repeated a year, a success rate of 58.5 per cent.

(c)In the second level of secondary education, out of every 1,000 pupils enrolled in year ten, 612 completed year twelve, 512 of them without repeating a year, a success rate of 51.2 per cent;

(d)In the second level of secondary education, teacher training, out of every 1,000 enrolled in year ten, 554 completed year thirteen, 454 of them without repeating a year, a success rate of 45.4 per cent;

(e)In the second level of secondary education, intermediate technical training, out of every 1,000 pupils enrolled in year ten, 490 completed year twelve, 350 of them without repeating a year, a success rate of 35 per cent.

43.In order to promote socio-educational measures and actions to raise the overall level of education of young people and adults, and in the light of integrated efforts to control poverty, the Government has adopted Resolution No. 9/70, of 28 February and approved the strategy to revive the literacy and school-enrolment campaign for the period 2006–2015; it has assigned priority to efforts to promote literacy as an overriding imperative for Angola’s economic and social development, in the context of education for all as one of the Millennium Development Goals. The objective set for 2017 is 85.6 per cent, which means that some 10,000,000 adults will learn to read and write.

44.The programme for the implementation of the new education system has gone ahead as planned and in 2012 has reached the global evaluation phase, with an emphasis on the level of gender equity in the system and its programmes, including teaching programmes, textbooks for pupils and teachers’ manuals and a programmatic approach to human rights.

VIII.Employment

45.State institutions are governed by the laws that determine the legal regime of the civil service; this comprises a competitive public entry examination without any form of discrimination which selects the best candidates regardless of whether they are men or women. The system of remuneration is determined by a scale set by ministerial decree and civil servants are paid in accordance with the category or function to which they have been assigned on the basis of their aptitudes. Civil servants, and in particular pregnant women and women who have recently given birth, benefit from protection under the law. The laws in question are clear and give rise to no discrimination or disadvantage.

46.For its part, the general labour Act (Act No. 2/00), applies to work in public, mixed, private and cooperative firms and in social organizations that are not part of the public administration. Article 1 of the Act stipulates that it applies to all workers providing services to an employer in return for remuneration in an organization run by and under the management of the employer, as well as to apprentices and trainees placed under the authority of an employer; to the work performed abroad by Angolan nationals or resident aliens employed in Angola by national employers, without prejudice to provisions that are more favourable to employees or to workplace provisions relating to public order. It also applies by default to non-resident aliens.

47.Under article 8, the legal foundation for the employment relationship is the labour contract which establishes rights and duties that are mutually binding on the worker and employer who are parties to the contract. Exceptionally, in those cases provided for by the Act, the legal employment relationship may be established by appointment. Article 9 concerns those special relationships that apply to the following types of work: domestic employment; work performed by prisoners in penal establishments; professional sporting activity; artistic activity in spectacles for the public; work in commercial undertakings for one or several firms, with no responsibility for the result of such undertakings; any other work that the law considers to involve a special legal employment relationship. The regulations applicable to these forms of employment ensure respect for the fundamental rights set forth in the Constitution and in law, together with the guiding principles of the General Employment Act.

48.The Act also determines the subjects of the contract and their capacity as well as its purpose, form and duration. Finally a number of provisions guarantee employment relations between workers and employers and the right to work, set out in article 3, which provides that all citizens are free to perform work of their own choosing, on the basis of equal opportunities and without any form of discrimination based on race, colour, sex, ethnic origin, civil status, social condition, religious or political beliefs, trade-union membership or language. The right to work is inseparable from the duty to work, except for those whose capacity to work is impaired by age, illness or disability. All citizens have the right freely to choose and exercise a profession, subject to the exceptions specified by law. The conditions under which work is performed must respect the freedoms and dignity of workers, allow them normally to satisfy their needs and those of their family, to preserve their health and enjoy decent living conditions.

49.Article 28 covers the contract of employment for domestic work, requiring the approval of the Labour inspectorate which keeps a copy of the contract in order to check compliance with occupational hygiene and safety regulations if necessary. Wages for this type of employment are set by the provisions of article 164, paragraph 5. The domestic employment contract is one under which the worker purchases the raw materials and provides the finished products to the seller, for a given price, with the condition that the worker is financially dependent on the purchaser of the finished product. Any employer who employs domestic workers must provide them with a document registering them, specifying the employee’s identity, the nature of the work performed, the quantities of raw materials provided, the rates used to determine the wage, the receipt of the articles produced and the receipt and delivery dates.

50.Application of these legal provisions and of any others that foster good relations between workers and employers is ensured by:

(a)Mutual respect for the law and for the clauses of the contract;

(b)The rights deriving from the right to work, and in particular freedom to join a trade union and to organize and exercise trade-union activity; the right to collective bargaining; the right to strike; right of assembly and the right to participate in the activity of the firm. These rights are exercised within the framework of the provisions of the Constitution and of specific legislation;

(c)Recourse to the competent agencies of the Ministry of Public Administration, Employment and Social Security;

(d)The employment chambers of the provincial labour tribunals in cases of serious dispute.

IX.Health

51.The most recent health indicators were published in 2010 by the National Institute of Statistics and in 2011 by WHO; they show that life expectancy for both sexes increased from 48 in 2008 to 52 in 2010. Maternal mortality fell from 1,400 per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 410 per 100,000 in 2011, child mortality fell from 150 per 1,000 in 2001 to 116 per 1,000 live births in 2009 and under five mortality from 250 per 1,000 live births in 2001 to 196 per 1,000 live births in 2009.

52.According to the survey into the well-being of the population (IBEP), in 2009, 47 per cent of women had attended an average of four antenatal check-ups, 42 per cent of deliveries took place in public health facilities and 49 per cent of deliveries were attended by trained health professionals.

53.With this situation in mind, in 2009 the State adopted measures that have had a significant impact on the performance of the national health system at both the provincial and municipal levels. The programme for the municipalization of health services is designed to bring services closer to the populations while ensuring the level of quality required to prevent and treat those diseases that most affect them, with the capacity to develop local, dynamic and modern management.

54.The primary health-care network has been improved by the construction of 15 new municipal hospitals and the upgrading of 1,776 health posts and centres in Angola’s provinces and communes.

55.In 2010, 3,566 health professionals, including physicians and diagnostic and treatment technicians received specialized training in fields that are fundamental to improving maternal and child mortality; in addition, 13 training schools for health technicians were set up providing 8 new courses and 12 specialized courses in intermediate-level health technology in 13 provinces.

56.The joint actions generated by positive local outsourcing, brought about by the integrated municipal programme for rural development and poverty control have improved the accessibility, performance and institutional capacity of health services and brought them closer to their communities; this novel approach has enhanced the potential of municipal administrations to take on responsibilities for health, under the guidance of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the Ministry of Finance.

57.The reorganization of the national health service currently benefits from the adoption of the national health policy, the drugs policy, the legal regime applicable to hospital management, the professional nursing diploma, the text relating to the maternal and perinatal deaths audit committees and the new organization chart of the Ministry of Health.

58.The direct causes of maternal mortality are complications during pregnancy and during and after childbirth and affect some 15 per cent of pregnant women. In 2006, out of 104,385 pregnant women admitted to health facilities with obstetrical complications, 45 per cent presented direct and 46 per cent indirect causes. More than 1 per cent of pregnant women died before discharge from hospital, out of a total of 1,410 maternal deaths. Direct complications accounted for 61 per cent of the deaths and indirect causes 36 per cent. Among the 860 maternal deaths from direct causes registered by 104 health units, the main causes of maternal death were haemorrhage (25 per cent) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (20 per cent). Among the 514 maternal deaths from indirect causes, 39 per cent were from malaria, the main cause, 13 per cent from anaemia and 3 per cent from HIV/AIDS.

Distribution of maternal deaths from direct causes

Haemorrhage25%Blood poisoning20%Ectopic p.6%Obstructed labour14%Other causes13%Uterine rupture10%Sepsis8%Abortion4%

59.In Angola, in accordance with current legislation, a therapeutic termination of pregnancy is practised in case of pregnancy following rape, risk for the mother’s life or failure of contraception. The immediate consequences are an increase in maternal morbidity and mortality rates, greater demand on maternity hospitals and a need for more beds, blood, antibiotics and operating theatres, with high human and financial costs for families.

60.A survey carried out in 2010 found that national prevalence of HIV/AIDS had stabilized at 1.9 per cent, the lowest level in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

61.The strategic national plan (2011–2014) is organized as follows: 1 – prevention, 2 – treatment and care, 3 – impact mitigation, 4 – strengthening systems and services, and 5 – follow-up and evaluation; it relies on the following principles: respect for universal human rights; multisectoralism; a results- and evidence-based approach; strengthening systems that will serve as a basis for the plan’s implementation, so as to develop a scheme for implementation with five components, using five interlinked thematic axes to achieve the following results:

(a)Reduction of new HIV infections in Angola and efforts to control the spread of the epidemic;

(b)Reduction of morbidity and mortality among persons living with HIV and an improvement in their quality of life;

(c)Mitigation of the impact of HIV and AIDS on affected individuals, families and communities, and particularly among vulnerable women and orphans;

(d)Institutional capacity-building to ensure effective and sustainable implementation of the multisectoral response to STIs, HIV and AIDS;

(e)Availability and use of data suited to Angola’s epidemiological profile in order to provide a documentary basis for cross-cutting strategic planning and programming processes to meet the challenges faced by development in Angola.

62. The programme to prevent vertical transmission (PVT) is being implemented as a means of reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS; it began in 2004 with the establishment of three units in the capital city and in 2005 was expanded to the 18 provincial capitals. Since 2007, the programme has been integrated within reproductive health services, ensuring easier access to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for pregnant women.

63.At present, the programme to prevent vertical transmission is being implemented in 111 of the 164 urban-rural communes (a level of coverage of 67 per cent), and a total of 204 health units provide PVT and diagnostic services for children at risk, using rapid serological tests for children aged over 18 months.

64.The main preventive intervention has relied on media campaigns, events to train peer-trainers and selected groups via lectures, workshops, debates, condom distribution, distribution of information aids, interpersonal education and communication with different actors to promote safe behaviour, knowledge of transmission pathways and ways of preventing HIV, an understanding of health status, and to generate support for counselling, voluntary testing and prevention of vertical transmission programmes and antiretroviral treatment.

X.Disadvantaged women affected by the conflict

65.Generally speaking, it is women affected by the armed conflict, the victims of sexual violence, women who have been internally displaced, returnee women, women with small farms and women living in rural areas who make up the most disadvantaged and vulnerable population groups and who benefit from the social support programme through the welfare measures provided for under Act No. 7/4, the fundamental welfare act, of 15 October, which covers not only vulnerable women, but all vulnerable persons.

66.For the purpose of consolidating the programme and putting it into practice, the Government has taken a range of measures that apply to persons and groups who are permanently or temporarily at risk or suffering from shortages on account of economic deprivation or other factors responsible for vulnerability. Welfare support is directed towards and focuses on the exercise of citizens’ basic social rights, and in particular the right to life, health, food, housing and comprehensive development.

67.These measures are aimed at ensuring inclusion in society and encompass programmes, projects, services and social and welfare benefits based on the principle of mutual coordination and complementarity with other social policies so as to reach out to those individuals in need of social support.

68.According to data for 2011, a total of 7,952.66 metric tons of goods were provided for 534,395 people. These included 127,000 people in Government-run institutions, 47,416 needy or dependent people, 239,310 victims of disasters or calamities, 18,857 disabled people entitled to compensatory measures, technical assistance, various toolkits to enable them to exercise their profession and to transport to specialized services, 52,365 persons issued with kits to enable them to exercise their profession as part of work- and income-generation projects, 3,268 reintegrated veterans (PGDR/PGRR and Cabinda Programme) and 46,179 returnees from Angola’s neighbouring countries.

69.In order to reduce the possibility of illegal population movements, questions of migration and asylum are increasingly important for the Government of Angola, because they encompass questions relating to the rights and obligations of refugees and immigrants; accordingly, the relevant policies need to be concordant with the respective national and international instruments, such as the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees of 1967 and the 1969 OAU Convention on refugees, which Angola has ratified.

70.In partnership with the humanitarian agencies, the Government of Angola has resettled approximately 4 million internally displaced persons who were living in the camps and transit centres set up for them.

71.The programme for the resettlement of populations directly affected by the armed conflict came to an end in 2006, by when 61,659 displaced Angolan citizens had been resettled. There are no displaced persons on Angolan territory.

72.The process of updating figures for refugees in Angola is progressing and a total of 5,000 persons, many of whom are women, have been registered, with a total of 1,275 families, as shown in the table below.

Table 10

N o.	Province of destination	Adults	Children	Subtotal	Number of families
M	F	M	F
1	Bengo	56	48	50	51	205	44
2	Cuanza Norte	7	4	7	8	26	7
3	Malange	119	79	99	79	376	134
4	Moxico	274	430	793	749	2 246	526
5	Luanda	378	244	344	332	1 117	375
6	Lunda Norte	34	28	36	24	123	28
7	Lunda Sul	164	161	98	171	580	161
Grand total	654	750	1 083	1 082	4 673	1 275

73.Refugees receive support and assistance in the form of food and non-food items, together with medical assistance and medicines, legal aid and payment of their rent. In 2011 alone, there were approximately 832 refugees, 445 women and 387 men.

74.In order to improve the living conditions of vulnerable persons, a total of 71,166 construction kits were distributed to 2,370 families, corresponding to 11,860 persons as shown in the following table.

Table 11

N o.	Province	Number (units)	N o. of families benefiting	Metric tons
1	Benguela	14 310	4 77	94. 45
2	Bié	6 000	200	39 . 6 0
3	Cunene	3 000	100	19. 8 0
4	Cuanza Norte	2 000	66	13. 2 0
5	Cuanza Sul	3 300	110	21. 78
6	Cuando Cubango	8 500	283	56. 1 0
7	Huambo	11 500	383	75. 9 0
8	Huíla	1 800	60	11. 88
9	Luanda	2 560	85	16. 9 0
10	Lunda Norte	1 500	50	9. 9 0
11	Lunda Sul	7 636	254	50. 4 0
12	Malange	6 060	202	40. 0 0
13	Moxico	3 000	100	19. 8 0
Total	71 166	2 370	469.71

75.A total of 15,411 disabled persons in the provinces Bié, Cuando Cubango, Luanda, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Moxico received a range of technical aids and means of locomotion including 11 wheelchairs, 13,800 walking sticks for adults, 550 Zimmer frames, 1,000 pairs of crutches and 50 sticks for blind persons.

76.As part of the employment- and income-generation programme, in 2011, 15 provinces implemented projects covering a range of occupational fields from which 52,365 persons benefited. The beneficiaries included young people, the elderly, the disabled, Angolan refugees, persons forcefully repatriated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, refugees living in Angola and other vulnerable persons in the communities benefited. A total of 19,038 tool kits were distributed.

77.These tools have made it possible to set up 10,523 production cooperatives and created a similar number of employment opportunities in various fields of activity, including agriculture, joinery, tailoring, plumbing, shoe-shining, tyre services and lock repair.

78.In addition, a CEC kit was provided for Huila province, for the benefit of 250 persons.

79.During 2011, 1,319 disabled persons were referred to various specialized services under the community-based rehabilitation programme.

80.As part of the assistance programme for the elderly, a total of 1,333 persons, including women, have been accommodated in 15 homes for the elderly in the provinces of Benguela, Bié, Cuando Cubango, Cuanza Sul, Huambo, Huíla, Luanda, Moxico, Namibe and Uíge.

Table 12

Number of homes and residents

No.	Province	Name	Location	Number of homes	Sex	Number of elderly persons
M	F
1	Benguela	Lar Cavaco	City of Benguela	1	32	33	65
Lar Girassol	City of Lobito	1	24	28	52
2	Bié	Lar Cangalo	City of Cuito	1	26	20	46
3	Cuanza Sul	Lar do Sumbe	Sumbe	1	14	15	29
Lar Porto Amboim	Porto Amboim	1	4	6	10
4	C. Cubango	Lar Hojy -ya-Henda	City of Menongue	1	17	49	66
5	Huambo	Lar Dango	City of Huambo	1	141	154	295
Lar Chivela	City of Huambo	1	73	208	281
6	Huíla	Lar Tchioco	Ciy of Lubango	1	20	37	57
7	Luanda	Lar Beiral	City of Luanda	1	54	40	94
8	Moxico	Lar Bomba Alta	City of Luena	1	35	30	65
Lar Kapango	City of Luena	1	60	48	108
Lar do Luau	City of Luau	1	22	36	58
9	Namibe	Lar Ondjuvu Yetu	City of Namibe	1	37	19	56
10	Uíge	Casa Lar Quituma	City of Uíge	1	41	10	51
Grand t otal	15	600	733	1 333

81.The following activities have been carried out under the national demining institute’s demining programme:

(a)Checking and demining 405 km of highways;

(b)Demining 361,184 m2 of border areas;

(c)Demining 945,683,967 m2 of agricultural areas and areas of socioeconomic importance;

(d)Checking and demining 32 km of high-tension lines;

(e)Checking and demining 326,939 m2 of railway property;

(f)Detection, deactivation and destruction of 3,012 antipersonnel mines;

(g)Detection, deactivation and destruction of 102 antitank mines;

(h)Detection, removal and destruction of 39,278 unexploded devices;

(i)Detection and destruction of 356,205 lethal items;

(j)Detection and collection of 955,568 metallic items;

(k)Education of 21,377 persons on the dangers of mines.

81.As regards the reintegration of veterans, 67 per cent of the objectives have been met: out of the 4,851 beneficiaries for whom provision was made under the Government’s programme to improve reintegration (PGRR) and the programme for FLEC (Frente para a Libertação de Enclave de Cabinda) veterans, 3,268 ex-servicemen have been reintegrated; this figure will increase in future years as a result of the implementation of the budget provided for it, which includes additional credit lines opened at the end of 2011, to a planned 4,611 beneficiaries.

XI.Marriage and family relations

82.There used to be no prostitution in Angolan society, nor were there any women without means of support. Both married and unmarried women were supported by their families; this is no longer true today.

83.The number of single mothers is constantly increasing, because Christianity teaches that it is a sin to have more than one wife; as a result, politicians and Christians who should display social restraint and responsibility secretly have children by several women, without taking responsibility for them; this is one of the evils of polygamy in Angola, and probably in Africa as a whole and it leaves a legacy of children without parents and single mothers who have no one to turn to, such has been the deterioration of the family structure.

84.Many of these women attend church; although some 80 per cent of churchgoers are women, only 30 per cent of them are married or have a companion. Nevertheless, they are not always able to change this complex situation and prefer to remain silent and to do nothing about it; when a woman finds that a man already has another wife, she merely accepts it, because from her point of view she is the sinner.

85.Article 23 of the Constitution of Angola concerns the principle of equality; it stipulates: 1. Everyone shall be equal under the Constitution and the law; 2. No one may be discriminated against, privileged, deprived of any right or exempted from any duty on the basis of ancestry, sex, race, ethnicity, colour, disability, language, place of birth, religion, political, ideological or philosophical beliefs, level of education or economic, social or professional status.

86.This constitutional precept entails a commitment on the part of institutions and various public bodies, in partnership with civil society, the religious and traditional authorities and community leaders, to seek solutions to all those situations inherited from the past and rooted in the cultural diversity of the peoples that make up Angola.

87.According to historians, in Angola, the practice of marriage during adolescence or at an early age is not a recent development; it dates from time immemorial. It represents a custom whose roots lie in historical usage but which is now considered harmful, as it leads to unwanted pregnancies that compel teenage mothers to interrupt their studies, put an end to their childhood and assume responsibility for a child and a home; this makes it difficult for them to keep in touch with their peer group and inevitably and suddenly transforms adolescent girls into quasi-adults. It is a situation that carries a high health risk, especially in terms of STI and AIDS.

88.Weak family structures are incapable of providing sufficient support, while the other social structures and those systems that have been put in place do not yet have the capacity to provide a suitable response to these problems.

89.Because early pregnancy is an affliction of contemporary society, measures are being tested for implementation in schools as a means of constantly reminding teenage girls of the various risks to their health and of their harmful consequences. Efforts focus on analysing, interpreting and describing the information that is most relevant in terms of its influence on early pregnancy and adolescent development.

90.Research is being carried out into the subject and an effort is being made to envisage mechanisms capable of reducing the high levels of early pregnancy during adolescence and to come up with ways of avoiding its harmful impact on the lives of adolescent girls.

91.Twenty-seven of the 37 years since Angola became independent were taken up by a fratricidal war which prevented the full implementation of policies designed to ensure the harmonious development of the nation; these included policies to eliminate all harmful and discriminatory cultural practices and regional imbalances introduced by the Portuguese Government during five centuries of colonization and to foster equality between men and women.

92.The restoration of peace in 2002 had a multiplier effect on actions designed to do away with all the obstacles, once the efficacy of the policies adopted had been clearly shown and the efficiency of the actions deriving from them had been established; nevertheless, it has to be recognized that much remains to be done to ensure that citizens, and in particular women, enjoy all their rights, in conformity with the universal vision of human rights.

93.The dynamics of the current process of harmonizing Angolan legislation with the country’s Constitution and with the international human rights instruments ranks as the most important step towards attaining the objectives to which the State has committed itself before its people and the international community. Accordingly, the State has adopted a range of laws to ensure the implementation of the package of measures intended to reverse the trend in an area that still requires special attention.

94.The laws reinforce measures taken by the Government, local measures and measures adopted by the traditional authorities which contribute towards the elimination of harmful cultural practices; an example of this is the explicit prohibition on early marriage introduced in the kingdom of Quipungo by the council of ministers of King Emabala do Ngungo.