Attacks on press freedom, police violence and arbitrary arrests in Angola are some of the complaints in the HRW report. But the Government says that they are not State policy.
The Secretary of State for Justice for Human Rights and Citizenship said Monday that Angola is monitoring complaints about human rights violations, stressing that these are “individual procedures” and not a policy of the Angolan State.
Speaking to Lusa, on the sidelines of a ceremony to sign human rights contracts by the European Union (EU) delegation, Ana Celeste Januário commented on the report by the organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), published last week past, expressing the government’s concerns on the issue.
Noting that HRW does not have a presence in Angola, the Secretary of State said that “These reports always bring some inaccuracies”, although he admits that “there are concerns” on the subject and added that the National Human Rights Strategy contemplates “very specific actions in these matters.”
Attacks on press freedom, police violence and arbitrary arrests in Angola are some of the complaints in the HRW report on human rights in 2022, which coincided with an election year in the African country.
Regarding police action, Ana Celeste Januário stressed that there is a protocol with the National Police for the training of agents, and all cases in which “there is poor performance” are followed. “It is not State policy in the field of human rights that human rights are violatedwhat threatens the dignity of any citizen, most of the time are individual procedures and breaches of protocol”, he stressed.
As regards freedom of the press and access to information, the Secretary of State also guaranteed that the reported cases are followed up. “The work we have been doing is focused on prevention, so that a violation (of human rights) does not occur in any area, but unfortunately this is not always possible in most countries of the world and HRW itself does this reference”, stressed the official. .
Ana Celeste Januário explained that the first step is always to verify the veracity of the information, followed by follow-up. “There are cases that sometimes appear to be violations or misconduct, but then it turns out that there is no State intervention, neither by action nor by inaction”he continued, stressing that when cases are confirmed there must be accountability.
For this reason, in 2022 a system of complaints began to be developed so that there is also a response and “so that the citizen does not feel that there is impunity and effectively feels the hand of the State.”
The minister also referred to the fact that, in the area of human rights, the Government has promoted spaces for dialogue with civil society, and bilateral dialogue mechanisms with institutions, as well as the publication of reports.
Source: Observadora
