Born in Mozambique, Angela Melo is a lawyer. She is Vice President of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, based in Banjul, Gambia, founded in 1987 with the objective of promoting and protecting human rights in the African continent. From 2001 to 2007, she occupied the position of Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa within this organization. This role was created in 1998, with the purpose of informing and assisting African women about their rights and the methods and tools for defending them. In the '80s, she was among the first women in her country to practise law, dedicating her efforts in the difficult battle to eliminate several laws from the penal code that were offensive or harmful for the dignity of women. From 1994 to 2002 she was Vice President of the Non Governmental Organization, Mozambican Association of Women Legal Practitioners.

For many years, Angela Melo served the Mozambican Ministry of Justice as a Legal consultant on subjects of international public and private law, participating in Ministerial Conferences for the adoption of policies for the defence and promotion of women's rights in Southern African regions. She also prepared the draft for the Human Rights Convention in Mozambique for the Council of Ministers.

Women have always made up the majority of the African population, but they are also the most vulnerable part. Problems such as poverty, hunger, illiteracy, difficulty in finding work, or of entering into business, politics and science are principally women's problems. Although still insufficient, the progress that has been made in the area of female emancipation is not merely the outcome of an illuminated policy of the more progressive governments. It is also, if not above all, the result of the strong commitment made by African women themselves, whose more educated and liberal members constantly fight for the development of conditions of real economic, social and political improvement for women. Angela Melo's professional life, both in private practice as a lawyer as well as in public service of the Government of her country, has thus been distinguished by the defence of women's rights, especially their right to adequate instruction, in the belief that ignorance makes it easier to exploit and abuse women.

Angela Melo brings to WSS her experience and a profound understanding of the condition of African women who live with fear as a result of their inability to understand and face certain situations. This fear is born of a real condition of cultural inferiority and, in general, of economic and social dependence on men. The female population bear the burden, for example, of most agriculture related activities, and have many problems in common with women farmers in the West. But they also have many gender-related problems, such as the concentration of economic power in the hands of husbands, fathers or brothers, preventing them from selling their products in public, or unequal land division, cultural obstacles such as the sex-based division of labour, etc.

The violation of women's rights, therefore, is an expression of historically unequal power relationships between men and women. The resulting discrimination by men has become a real obstacle for women's all-round progress. Essentially, this is a result of socio-economic factors. Specifically, this stems from the harmful effects of traditional or customary practices and extremism, which are linked to race, sex, language, and religion. They perpetuate the inferior condition reserved for women within the family, at the work place, in the community and within society. However, violence against women is sometimes exacerbated by social pressure; especially by shame, if not actually fear, of reporting offences against women, the lack of access to legal information, help or protection, the absence of laws that successfully prohibit violent actions against women, unreformed laws, inadequate efforts by public authorities to promote awareness and the application of existing legislation, and the absence of other types of instruction and other means that can help to face the problem of the causes and consequences of violence. And since violence against women violates, weakens and nullifies the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental liberties, all this has stood in the way of attaining objectives such as equality, development, and peace. The fear of violence is a permanent barrier to women's mobility and limits their access to fundamental resources and activities.

The failure of action to protect and promote these rights and liberties when there is violence against women, and more generally against people regardless of gender, is a subject of serious worry, but at the same time, it is a huge undertaking, for the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. This Commission, instituted by the African Union, is made up of 11 members, chosen from among experts in human rights, whose reputations, moral integrity and experience in the field of law are well known. It is divided into six separate groups, known as Special Rapporteurs, each of which carries out monitoring, investigation and reporting of violations committed in different African States with particular reference to the sector they are responsible for. Among these, the Rapporteur of Women's rights plays a central role, with the job of assisting African governments in implementing their policies for promotion and protection of women's rights in Africa. They provide information regarding instruments of protection as provided for in the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, as well as increasing awareness of the public and institutions and/or international organizations in order to promote initiatives to improve the condition of women in Africa.

Angela Melo's participation in the WSS, as current vice-president of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, for which she carried out the work of Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women for many years, fits in with the these institutions' activities to give visibility to their work, to collect consensus, to be a continuing stimulus to governments so that they respect the commitments that they made regarding the elimination of all forms of discrimination and oppression of African women. Despite the results achieved, African women are still victims of some very specific violations. Examples are cases of abuses encouraged by cultural practices and traditional customs, such as genital mutilation, arranged marriages, etc. or whatever stands in the way of their living in conditions of equality with men.

All this has been and remains in strong contrast with the central role occupied by women since ancient times in African society, which has always been strongly matrilineal. Women are the repositories of an immense heritage of knowledge and skills. Ensuring instruction for girls and women of all ages especially in the villages and countryside can thus lead, for example, to an increase in agricultural productivity, a decrease in demographic growth and infant mortality, as well as the growth of environmental consciousness. For this reason it is not only humanly necessary to invest in women, it is also of strategic importance that it should accompany processes of social and economic development.