Catholic Justice and Peace Commission Official Decries Undermining of “the supreme value” of Human Life in Angola

“It’s true that things have been getting better, but we still have political prisoners today who are denied their rights,” the Executive Secretary of CCJP of CEAST told ACI Africa during the December 10 interview. 

He went on to lament the challenge of food insecurity in Angola, saying millions  are living in poverty. “We have hundreds and thousands of children, including the elderly, who don’t know when their next meal will come,” he said. 

“Food is the basic thing you can give a person. The lack of adequate nutrition is a serious violation of human rights,” the Angolan Jesuit lamented.

He also noted gaps in the right to formal education and that many children in Angola are unable to attend school. 

Fr. Epalanga also lamented the lack of access to housing and healthcare, describing these gaps as “additional serious violations of human rights.”

More in Africa

A Catechist’s Memories of Sister Anna Ali Whose Tears of Blood Transformed Volatile Kenyan Community

Read the article

Moving forward, he said, “It is necessary to follow a process until we reach humanization, protecting human rights and ensuring that each person has the conscience to respect the rights of others.” 

He described “humanization” as the ideal state, where respect for human dignity is universally upheld, rendering the need for human rights defenders unnecessary.

“Nobody has the right to violate the dignity of others. These rights are natural and inalienable to the human person,” CCJP official said.

He underscored the need to incorporate human rights in syllabuses of institutions of learning and urged the Angolan government to support organizations defending these rights instead of viewing them as adversaries. 

“The government should support these organizations so that we can achieve what St. John Paul II called the civilization of love,” the Jesuit Priest said during the December 10 interview with ACI Africa.