PRESIDENT POINTS OUT WAYS TO BETTER PROTECT CHILDREN

Luanda - The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, Tuesday said that Angola has made great advances in the strategy for child protection, but much remains to be done, mainly in terms of empowering families.

In a message on the International Children's Day (1 June), the Angolan Head of State encouraged the official bodies responsible for this purpose to continue their efforts to strengthen the fight against paternity denial and early pregnancy.

He also called for more action to combat domestic violence, sexual aggression, obscurantist practices such as accusing children of witchcraft, exploitation of child labour and other negative situations that are at the root of many of the problems of children in Angola.

He highlighted the issue of empowering families, as it is the nucleus where the first attention should be paid to children and where the first values are transmitted to ensure their full development, besides preventing possible deviations of conduct.

The Angolan President also recalled that since the first years of National Independence, the rights of children "began to be enshrined in the famous slogan Give the child everything he or she deserves and were formalised in the 11 Commitments for Children, adopted by the Government in 2007, and in other documents of equal importance".