Francisca Van Dunem
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Francisca Van Dunem | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Van Dunem in 2016 | |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 26 November 2015 – 30 March 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | António Costa |
| Preceded by | Fernando Negrão |
| Succeeded by | Catarina Sarmento e Castro |
| Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 4 December 2021 – 30 March 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | António Costa |
| Preceded by | Eduardo Cabrita |
| Succeeded by | José Luís Carneiro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francisca Eugénia da Silva Dias Van Dunem 5 November 1955 |
| Citizenship | Portugal • Angola |
| Party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations | MPLA (1974–1976)[1] |
| Spouse | Eduardo Paz Ferreira |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Fernando José de França Dias Van-Dúnem (godfather) |
| Alma mater | University of Lisbon |
| Occupation | Jurist • Judge |
Francisca Eugénia da Silva Dias Van Dunem (born 5 November 1955) is an Angolan-born Portuguese lawyer and politician who served as the Portuguese minister of Justice from 26 November 2015 to 30 March 2022, in António Costa's 21st and 22nd Constitutional Governments, and minister of Home Affairs from 4 December 2021 to 30 March 2022.[2] Van Dunem was Portugal's first black government minister in history.[3]
Van Dunem was born in 1955 in Luanda, then the capital of the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola. She went to Lisbon in the early 1970s in order to study law at the University of Lisbon. In April 1974, the Portuguese Estado Novo regime was overthrown by a left-wing military coup and in 1975 Angola become a newly independent communist state - the People's Republic of Angola. Her brother José Jacinto Van-Dúnem was murdered in a purge that occurred in Agostinho Neto's post-independence Angola that same year. Van Dunem did not return to Angola and pursued a family life and a professional career in Portugal.[4]
Van Dunem holds a degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, awarded in 1977. She was subject to competitive examination for the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's office in 1979.[5]