Panama Creates National Institute for Women

According to the proposal, the Inamu will be a decentralized public entity with legal personality, its own assets, and administrative, budgetary, financial, technical, and management autonomy. Its purpose is to coordinate and execute the national policy aimed at promoting, protecting, and defending the human rights of women, in accordance with its objectives, powers, and functions. The initiative also guarantees the right of all women, without any distinction, to a life free of violence, as well as the effective fulfillment of the obligations established in the Constitution, laws, and international instruments ratified by Panama. Among the objectives of the Inamu is to reduce the structural causes of inequality between men and women, by promoting the participation of women in the development and growth of the country. Additionally, to ensure full respect for human rights, by promoting, protecting, and defending women. To increase equality in access to and control of resources for the full development of women and their communities. The Commission for Women, Children, Youth, and Family approved in first debate Bill 447, which eliminates the Ministry of Women and creates the National Institute for Women (Inamu). The institute will be represented before the Executive Branch through the Ministry of Social Development, and subject to the oversight of the Comptroller General of the Republic, in accordance with the respective constitutional and legal provisions. The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, had previously indicated that the creation of the Inamu seeks to create a 'less bureaucratic and more effective' entity. The initiative was approved with five votes in favor, four against, and no abstentions. The bill was presented by the Minister of Social Development, Beatriz Carles.