Translated from Portuguese. The Portuguese version prevails. Ler em português
The Vice-President of the Constitutional Court, Justice Vitória Izata, closed, on the morning of this Friday, 16 May 2025, the 11th Congresso Internacional de Direito na Lusofonia (International Congress on Law in the Lusophone World), which our country had been hosting since the 13th.
In full: the closing address delivered by the Honourable Vice-President of the Court.
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We have reached the final minutes of the proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Law in the Lusophone World, the second to be held on Angolan soil.
This 11th Congress, held under the theme “Justice in Building the Rule of Law in the 21st Century” and, in particular, within the framework of the jubilee of our citizenship, has sublimely achieved the objectives set by the Organising Committee.
These were four days of hard work that provided fruitful moments of reflection and debate on pressing issues and new challenges for justice, the result of broad participation. I therefore could not begin this brief address of mine in any other way than by thanking all those present, and those who followed us remotely, for their honourable attendance and for the multidisciplinary contributions they have left at this Congress, which we are now formally and solemnly closing.
I would like to address my thanks to all the Speakers and Moderators for having embarked on this odyssey of knowledge and shared their wisdom, whether through the excellent and enriching lectures with which they treated us, helping us to reflect on the various topics presented here, or through the way in which they chaired the various panels.
As we close this Congress, it seems to me more than evident that, like the previous editions, it has been another successful opportunity for the full affirmation of the Lusophone Law Research Network – REDIL within the Lusophone Community and an important step in its process of growth and emancipation through the expansion of the Portuguese language, which is increasingly asserting itself around the world.
The conclusions that have just been presented by the Coordinator of REDIL, Professor Mário Ferreira Monte, not only affirm the relevance of the theme chosen for this 11th Congress of ours, “Justice in Building the Rule of Law of the 21st Century”, but also highlight the imperative role of justice in consolidating and maintaining the Rule of Law, with emphasis on contemporary challenges and opportunities, with a view to greater integration and exchange between the justice systems existing in the countries that have Portuguese as their official language.
We believe that the actors in the justice system must rise to their responsibilities and to the ongoing challenges, and that important measures should therefore be adopted with a view to increasing their contribution to the democratisation of our States and to respect for the rights, freedoms and guarantees enshrined in the Magna Cartas of each of the member States of our community.
In this context, a necessary reorientation of the profile of the jurist as a professional in the justice sector is called for, embracing their important mission in the development of a justice system of excellence, together with the other professionals in fields related to Law, with the main focus on the well-being of the citizen and, as a fundamental objective, the building of free, just, democratic and solidary societies, of peace, equality and social progress.
In this new approach that we want and desire for the legal professions, it is essential to promote the valuing of legal professionals, together with the development of a competence model suited to the needs for technical and scientific qualification in their various areas of activity, enabling the presence and strengthening of the functions of the jurist in current and new areas of professional activity to become a reality.
The Justice Sector and citizens must be able to benefit fully from the technical and scientific potential of jurists and from their closeness to the population. Dear Colleagues and Congress Participants, it is not our intention, not least because of the time factor, to refer to all the conclusions emanating from the Congress, but I am convinced that we all leave here more aware of the duty and the need to contribute continuously to improving the Justice Systems of our countries, always placing the citizen at the centre of our objectives and priorities.
We commend REDIL for the launch of the annual Lusophone journal (Revista anual da Lusofonia), which greatly enriches us – and we take this opportunity to wish every success to the organisation of the 2026 Congress which, as was announced a short while ago, will be held in Brasília, Federative Republic of Brazil, and thereby to anticipate the passing of the baton.
We therefore end as we began.
We reiterate our thanks to our colleagues from Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, India, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste, who have honoured the Congress and the country with your distinguished presence (in person or remotely), and equally to our colleagues from Angola, particularly those who travelled from the other provinces, in the hope that these four days have been unique moments of exchange and of strengthening the bonds of friendship between colleagues from different latitudes – after all, organisations are, above all, the people who bring them to life!
These thanks extend to our colleagues on the Organising Committee, the Honorary Committee, the Scientific Committee and the Executive Committee of the Congress, for the commitment and dedication with which they embraced the organisation of this Notable Event, as well as to the colleagues who made up the Technical Secretariat.
To everyone, and to each one in particular, our heartfelt thanks on behalf of the Constitutional Court, the Faculty of Law of Agostinho Neto University, the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Angola, the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Angolan Armed Forces and REDIL.
It remains for us to wish you all an excellent journey home, in the hope that you have enjoyed your stay in Angola (the cradle of the Giant Sable Antelope and of the Welwitschia Mirabilis), a land known for its hard-working people, its natural beauty and a joyful and very welcoming people.
Our best wishes to you all.
It is with great joy that I declare closed the 11th International Lusophone Congress, whose central theme was “Justice in Building the Rule of Law of the 21st Century”.