Luanda — Angolan academic Wilson de Almeida Adão was elected chair of the African Union (AU) Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

After the historic election, the first Angolan to chair a body of the International Human Rights Protection System, Wilson de Almeida Adão, thanked the trust placed in him and assured that he would work hard to protect African children.

He said that the committee will help, with the help of the member states, to ensure that children no longer suffer vicissitudes and have the opportunity to achieve their development in a harmonious and integral way.

He warned that there is little point in having rights without them being realised, and that they must be aligned when it comes to rights for the youngest, because the cause is noble and non-negotiable.

The committee's mission, he said, is to be the voice of those who have none and to be the guardian of children's fundamental rights.

Wilson de Almeida Adão said that he was born in northern Uíge province in 1985, during a period of war in which his parents often had to fight to eat, emphasising that he was also affected, like many children.

he was also affected, like many African children, by forced displacement due to armed conflict and worked as a boy.

Wilson de Almeida Adão is a lecturer in International Law and African Rights at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Angola. VIC/DAN/DOJ