By Karina Marrón González
Chief correspondent in Angola
In 2023, the National Children’s Institute (INAC for its acronym in Portuguese) registered 16,030 cases of violence of different kinds, among which paternity escape, physical violence, labor exploitation, psychological and sexual violence. They appear as the most recurrent.
The figure, however, represents a decrease compared to the previous year, when they exceeded 17 thousand.
This is an issue with roots rooted in culture, education and the social-economic situation, which requires the participation of the entire society for its prevention and combat, said the director of INAC, Paulo Kalesi, in dialogue with Prensa Latina.
Created in 1991 with the purpose of disseminating children’s rights, training on these issues and executing state policies related to the promotion and protection of these rights, its work path is currently advancing through alliances with other actors in society based on of new educational paradigms.
“Many people practice violence against boys and girls because they learned that violence educates, that it is an educational mechanism and we have a different discourse, that there is no light or serious violence, everything is violence and has consequences,” Kalesi said.
He commented that this June they will begin to work together with churches and associations in addressing positive education and alternative methods to violence, “to bring to each person who grew up believing that hitting is necessary, a different way of thinking, of dealing with with the kids”.
FAMILY AND SOCIETY INSIDE
An aunt who hit her niece for eating a plate of food; a father who sexually abused his daughter; a mother who tries to poison her 12-year-old daughter because she reported that she had forced her to steal from her work, and a child who ended up dead because he was accused of witchcraft, are stories that point out where we should look. .
“Our concern is focused on families. 75 percent of violence against children is carried out within families, that is why we have prioritized work with the communities, the residents’ commissions, who are the ones who know their neighbors best,” said the director of INAC. .
Kalesi assessed that among the causes of violence are some cultural beliefs and practices, such as the belief in witchcraft; also the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, dysfunctional families and social and economic difficulties, among others.
Although personally he was not in favor of considering poverty as a reason for violence, he acknowledged that several scholars do include it and Angola faces growing inflation in a context of low wages, where 32.4 percent of the population lacks employment, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics.
In this scenario, the director of INAC highlighted to Prensa Latina the importance of joining efforts to protect the rights of boys and girls, not only through reporting through the SOS-Infancia line, with number 15015, a service created by the institution that is free, anonymous and confidential.
It is also essential to take care of the environments and prevent, for which they work with the Ministry of Education to reduce cases of violence both from teachers towards students and among students themselves.
“With Education we have a good alliance to prevent violence, promote humanized attention in schools and train teachers on children’s rights,” he noted.
In this regard, he said that the joint work made it possible to detect cases of sexual abuse and remove the perpetrators from the educational system, since sometimes it happened that the teacher abused the student, she became pregnant and, after an arrangement with the family to assume paternity, The crime committed variable was excluded.
“This matter is not a family matter, it is a matter of the police and the Ministry of Education, which cannot have a person like this in front of the classrooms,” he stressed.
He also highlighted the joint work with the health sector, both for the care of minors and for the prevention of violence, since the professionals are trained and have a document that helps them identify the signs of this phenomenon, as well as to know what they should do.
He regretted that problems such as child labor persist, both in agriculture and in fishing and artisanal mines.
“When we receive complaints we direct them to the institutions. If you come from the province of Luanda, from the municipality of Luanda, it is not the INAC that goes to the meeting, the police are called and given the information so that they can act quickly,” explained Kalesi.
He noted that the Police is the closest collaborator and that is why in that force the training on children’s rights and the mechanisms for handling cases has been more intense, “because a child cannot be in a station, he cannot be transported in a patrol car, minors under 16 years of age do not respond criminally… This job is permanent,” he said.
RIGHTS IS MORE THAN CONFRONTING VIOLENCE
Defending the rights of children, however, often involves creating other conditions in society that directly or indirectly affect the fulfillment and respect of these prerogatives.
Recently the governor of Luanda, Manuel Homem, recognized that in this province alone around one million children remain outside the educational system, due to the lack of schools and teachers.
Meanwhile, the recently published Report on the World Food Crisis revealed that 38 percent of Angolan children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
In 2023, the INAC registered more than 300 cases of abandonment of newborn babies, but little is said about the legal prohibition that weighs on abortion and forces women to continue with unwanted pregnancies that in many cases are not in conditions of hold.
Kalesi told Prensa Latina that the institution he directs is working on the development of the National Plan to prevent and combat sexual violence against children, and the National Plan for the reintegration of street children.
The objective, he noted, is to have a document throughout the country and at all levels that serves as guidance on what corresponds to the ministries and each Government structure in each instance, which will facilitate addressing the problem in an articulated and coordinated way. .
They are also committed to creating the National Observatory of Children in Angola, to monitor all aspects related to this issue, anticipate possible situations of violence and verify what the Government has done to guarantee the rights of children.
Legal and psychological advice, through the rooms enabled at its headquarters in the 18 provinces of the country, is also another ongoing action, where they clarify doubts about issues related to minors and provide psychological help to victims of violence and their families. families.
Another aspect of work is the training of State institutions, because if they do not have knowledge of children’s rights they will not be able to take them into account when developing their policies.
“We are an axis of articulation between the various sectors, the institution that accompanies, alerts, appeals, proposes, suggests,” said the director of the INAC, who emphasized that they are working to have municipal representations, “because that is where the children, families and where action is most effective.”
“The country’s legislation responds to the needs, you just have to put it into practice, implement it,” said the director, who considers that the main challenge is to ensure that all institutions that work with children place them as an absolute priority.
“The issue of child health cannot wait, in the Ministry of Communications, anywhere, for them to have priority. That is the challenge, translating children’s rights as priorities. In the Church, these matters have to be dealt with by those most responsible and so everywhere,” she argued.
He added that the way is to municipalize social action, because the municipality is closer to reaching the family and solving the problem or doing preventive work, in which it is essential to strengthen collaboration with civil society associations so that they contribute to spread the educational and prevention message.
“This is a more concrete way we have to address the problem of street children, he noted, and also in the municipalities there is action in the fight against poverty; The training must be taken there,” she emphasized.
arb/kmg
