Violence Against Women
Talatona – A statistical data platform on domestic violence in Angola was launched on Monday, in Luanda, by the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women (MASFAMU).
The Platform is a digital tool to support domestic violence prevention and victim protection services in Angola. The victim portal is the address that provides functionalities to different types of users, through a simple, intuitive, and easily accessible graphical interface, from any device with internet access.
On the portal, it is possible to make a report, consult useful information about preventing domestic violence, send suggestions, search for support and protection services for victims, and receive advice and guidance.
The launch of this platform is the culmination of a series of actions taking place as part of the celebrations of the International Day of Non-Violence.
On the occasion, the Minister of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women, Ana Paula do Sacramento Neto, said that domestic violence continues to be a problem that takes away the peace of countless Angolan families, whose victims are mostly women, children, and the elderly.
"As you know, domestic violence is part of the catalog of complex crimes whose action to combat and hold the perpetrator criminally responsible, constitutes a very arduous task, all because it occurs, as a general rule, within walls, that is, within the family environment”, she said.
According to the minister, formal criminal control bodies can only act by triggering the competent criminal process against the aggressor upon a complaint from the victim, a relative, or a neighbor who has witnessed or become aware of the occurrence of such criminal conduct.
Ana Paula de Sacramento Neto highlighted that in this type of crime, the complaint appears to be the key element, without which it will almost never be possible to take its agents to court to answer for the crimes committed. Aware of this reality, he said, the Angolan legislator attributed domestic violence to the nature of a public crime, precisely to facilitate reporting, allowing it to be made by anyone who in some way witnessed or had knowledge of the commission of the criminal act.
On the other hand, he added that the victim rarely reports their aggressor, mainly due to the family bond that unites them and because, not infrequently, the aggressor is the guarantor of the family's livelihood and the other family members, despite having knowledge of such criminal practices, they feel inhibited from reporting it to preserve their livelihood.
"In order for us to quickly and effectively prevent and combat the phenomenon of domestic violence, it is essential to create an institutional mechanism for collecting, storing and processing data on the topic under analysis, capable of providing us with the closest information and figures of what really happens in the country with regard to domestic violence", the minister explained.
The minister recalled that during 2022, the Counseling Centers directly controlled by MASFAMU recorded 8,348 cases of domestic violence in 11 provinces, of which 2,105 were committed against men and 6,243 against women.
According to the minister, MASFAMU created the Domestic Violence Statistical Data Platform, convinced that, with its entry into operation, the country will have a mechanism for collecting and processing data on the number of cases of domestic violence registered daily.
In the same sense, the telephone line with terminal 15020 was reactivated to provide society with another channel for reporting all types of violence to which they are subjected or of which they are aware.
This is a telephone line that is being widely disseminated and its operation is nationwide, contributing significantly to the increase in the number of complaints, thus facilitating the discovery of aggressors, as well as their criminal liability. It will serve as a data collection mechanism on the number of cases of domestic violence occurring.
As part of the International Day of Non-Violence, MASFAMU, through INAC, takes the opportunity to launch the campaign with Martial Arts Club Dibanda Nzaze Conexão, which is aligned with actions to protect and promote children's rights based on the 11 commitments assumed by the Angolan government.
Data indicate that the MASFAMU Family Counseling Center in Luanda, CAF-Maianga, registered, from January to October 2023, 902 cases of face-to-face complaints, and with the reactivation of the 15020 SOS-Domestic violence line, they received 226 useful calls, referring to reports of domestic violence, being, 135 of which were made by men and 128 by women. VS/MAG/TED/DOJ