CPLP: Delegation in Equatorial Guinea to support human rights integration

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CPLP: Delegation in Equatorial Guinea to support human rights integration

8:45 CAT | 05 Apr 2022

File photo: Lusa

A delegation from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is in Equatorial Guinea until Friday, for the second time this year, to support the country in its integration into the organisation, namely regarding civil society and human rights.

“A delegation from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries will be in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, between April 4 and 8, 2022, to implement two axes of the ‘Programme of Support for the Integration of Equatorial Guinea – PAIGE (2021-2022), namely, ‘Civil Society’ and ‘Human Rights’,” the organisation said in a statement.

According to the same statement, this delegation is composed of technicians from the executive secretariat of the CPLP, the Platform of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of Cabo Verde (PLATONG), the League of NGOs of Mozambique (JOINT), the Human Rights Commission of Portugal, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Attorney General’s Office of Cabo Verde, the immigration and borders service of Portugal and the Centre for Human Rights Ius Gentium Conimbrgae (IGC), of the University of Coimbra.

“In coordination with the authorities of Equatorial Guinea, the executive-secretariat of the CPLP has already been developing on the ground the activities of four axes of the PAIGE, namely, ‘Promotion of the Portuguese Language’, ‘Acquis’, ‘Cultural Heritage’ and ‘Social Communication’, between March 7 and 11, 2022,” the note recalled.

Recalling also that the XXIV CPLP Cabinet of Ministers, meeting in the city of Mindelo in July 2019, mandated the executive-secretary to “promote, in coordination with the authorities of Equatorial Guinea, the elaboration of the PAIGE with initiatives that include the five axes of the ‘Accession Programme’, plus two additional axes proposed by Equatorial Guinea, namely ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Economic Development’.”

This is the second CPLP delegation to visit Equatorial Guinea this year.

On March 7 a CPLP delegation began a visit to the country which aimed to “accelerate” the country’s integration as a member state of the organization and discuss “commitments” taken by the country, such as the abolition of the death penalty, as told at the time to Lusa by the executive secretary of the organization.

This delegation was led by Zacarias da Costa, who brought from Malabo the promise that the country will soon ratify the CPLP Mobility Agreement, signed by all member states in July 2021, at the summit of heads of state and government.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Timor-Leste recalled that “there have been more and more member states publicly declaring their expectations, somewhat frustrated, regarding the stagnation” in fulfilling the commitments made by Equatorial Guinea when it joined the Lusophone bloc in 2014.

Namely, with regard to the abolition of the death penalty in the Criminal Code, but “also, obviously another important issue, which is the implementation of the Portuguese language” in this country, the only Spanish-speaking country in the organisation, he said.

At the 2014 summit in Dili, where the country’s membership of the organisation was approved, in a speech in Portuguese before the Lusophone leaders, the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, made a commitment to “defend the statutes” of the CPLP and “act according to its principles and objectives” and announced that the Spanish speaking nation would have, the following year, a Portuguese-speaking multidisciplinary study centre dedicated to the community.

After that visit to the country, which lasted until 11 March, the community’s executive secretary said that the revision of the penal code to abolish the death penalty in the country had reached the parliament, precisely on the last day of his visit to Equatorial Guinea.

Zacarias da Costa said the document would “soon” be sent for promulgation by President Teodoro Obiang, with whom he met in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, a meeting he described as “very positive”.

Source: Lusa