Angola’s Ministry of Family and Women Promotion (Minfamu) met this week to collaborate on a draft law intended to combat violence against women. Domestic violence is not criminalized in Angola and is rarely prosecuted in rape or assault cases. According to the Angola Press Agency, local women’s rights advocates aim to guarantee protection for victims and to establish criminal punishments for domestic violence.
At the same time, Minfamu launched a year-long project aimed at developing a statistical analysis of the prevalence of domestic violence in Angola. This project also aims to improve and standardize the response to domestic violence incidents by counseling centers, according to the Angola Press Agency.
A 2006 US State Department report on human rights practices lists discrimination and domestic violence against women and children as one of Angola’s existing human rights abuses that is rarely prosecuted and widely underreported. The report found that “under the constitution and law women enjoy the same rights as men” in Angola, but that “societal discrimination against women remained a serious problem, particularly in rural areas.”
