Angola has long been severely criticized for its human rights record. A 2012 report by the U.S. Department of State said, "The three most important human rights abuses [in 2012] were official corruption and impunity; limits on the freedoms of assembly, association, speech, and press; and cruel and excessive punishment, including reported cases of torture and beatings as well as unlawful killings by police and other security personnel. Other human rights abuses included: harsh and potentially life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; impunity for human rights abusers; lack of judicial process and judicial inefficiency; infringements on citizens' privacy rights and forced evictions without compensation; restrictions on nongovernmental organizations; discrimination and violence against women; abuse of children; trafficking in persons; discrimination against persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and persons with HIV/AIDS; limits on workers' rights; and forced labor."2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Angola, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State In 2022, Freedom House rated Angola "not free".
Historical background
Formerly a Portuguese colony, Angola waged a war of independence that lasted from 1961 until 1975.
Following Angola gaining its independence in 1975, the country almost immediately plunged into a civil war between the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which was supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba, and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), supported by the United States and South Africa; the conflict is now considered to be one of the major proxy wars of the Cold War, Both the MPLA and UNITA utilised child soldiers. The war, which ended in 2002 with victory for the MPLA, resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the country; in 2003, 80 percent of Angolans had no access to basic medical care and 60 percent had no water. According to Freedom House, the Angolan civil war "claimed an estimated one million lives, displaced more than four million people, and forced over half a million to flee to neighboring countries. Many resettled people have remained without land, basic resources, or even identification documents. The resettlement process was slowed by the presence of an estimated 500,000 landmines and a war-ruined infrastructure. Legislative elections, delayed repeatedly since 1997, were finally held in September 2008."
Angola, officially a constitutional republic, has been run by the MPLA since 1975, with the office of president currently held by João Lourenço since 2017. An October 2010 article in The Guardian suggested that "[o]il, diamonds and landmines are just three clues to understanding the country – to which might be added poverty, repression and polio.... It is now one of Africa's biggest oil producers yet remains one of the world's poorest countries". Prior to Lourenço, Angola's president was José Eduardo dos Santos, who was in the role for 38 years between 1979 and 2017. Following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011, dos Santos became Africa's longest serving leader; he has since been surpassed by Teodro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. In 2010, dos Santos introduced a new constitution that abolished direct presidential election and eliminated the post of prime minister, further strengthening his position. Although the new constitution contained strong language about the protection of freedom of expression, association, and assembly, Raul Danda of the opposition UNITA party called it "a complete fraud" and said his fellow party members were wearing black "because it's like going to the graveyard to bury democracy".
Basic rights
While Angola's constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, gender, religion, disability, language, or social status, the government has not effectively enforced these prohibitions.
In 2012, Human Rights Watch reported that "although Angola's 2010 constitution guarantees the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and freedom of the media, the government has increasingly limited the exercise of these rights." A 2011 report by the U.S. State Department noted that the Angolan government was believed to engage in illegal surveillance of journalists, government opponents, and others, that journalists in the country are arrested, harassed, and charged with defamation, and that some journalists have been victims of shooting, stabbing, vandalism, and burglary. This has resulted in many journalists exercising self-censorship, with businesses pressured to withdraw advertising of media critical against the government, with little in the way of independent media outside of Luanda.
The government, according to Human Rights Watch, "has approved restrictive legislation, dragged its feet in allowing privately owned and community radio stations to operate in Angola's interior, censored state-owned media, sought to control the existing privately owned media, and prosecuted and intimidated independent journalists and civic activists".
Police violence In 2009, Angolan forces "arbitrarily killed 61 persons". The use of excessive force by police has routinely leads to deaths. In several cases in 2011 alone, Amnesty International reported that "off-duty police officers were accused of shooting and killing individuals", and most of the accused "had not been brought to justice by the end of the year". Human Rights Watch noted in 2012 that dos Santos had "faced an unprecedented wave of criticism" in 2011, with growing anti-government protests "[i]nspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements", to which authorities had responded by using "excessive force" and by "curtail[ing] media coverage of the demonstrations".
Free speech and right of assembly Human Rights Watch reported in July 2012 that Angola's government was "targeting protest organizers for arbitrary arrest and detention in response to increasing demonstrations criticizing the government or its policies". Angola had been the setting of "unprecedented public protests since 2011" by young people and war veterans, with the former demanding "social reforms and the resignation of President José Eduardo dos Santos" and the latter demanding "long overdue social benefits". The authorities had responded to the youth protests "with increasingly violent crackdowns, despite their small scale, and have arrested many youth leaders, journalists, and opposition leaders". One of the veterans' protests, which had "gained momentum since June", had been dispersed with teargas and gunfire, and over 50 veterans had been jailed, along with a leader of the a veterans' complaints commission. In September 2011, according to Amnesty International, the provincial government in Luanda "issued a by-law indicating the areas that could be used for assemblies and demonstrations. It excluded Independence Square, where the majority of anti-government demonstrations had taken place during the year."
In 2012, Human Rights Watch accused the Angolan government of "numerous incidents of political violence, intimidation of protesters, and crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations" in the run-up to the 2012 parliamentary elections. The report described a "crackdown on peaceful protests and the media" and "increasing incidents of political violence and intimidation". Incidents of political violence against “journalists, civil society activists, and others seeking to express their opinions or criticize the government of President José Eduardo dos Santos" had been on the rise, police and plainclothes security agents had "forcibly dispersed anti-government protests, beating and arresting peaceful demonstrators, organizers, and opposition politicians, and obstructing and intimidating journalists", and the government-run media had "sought to compel activists in custody to make incriminating remarks about opposition parties".
According to the International Telecommunication Union, approximately 15 percent of individuals in Angola used the Internet in 2011.
The right of assembly is guaranteed by Angola's constitution, although in reality demonstrations are frequently disrupted by police. Authorities must be informed in advance of public gatherings, but official permission is not necessary, although some gatherings have subsequently been prohibited by the government. Gatherings of the regime's critics are routinely disallowed or monitored heavily by police, with speakers at such events subject to punishment for remarks critical of the authorities. According to Human Rights Watch, there has been an increasing use in recent years of "unnecessary force against peaceful protesters and organizers".
Freedom of religion
Angola's constitution defines the country as secular, in which church and state are separated and guarantees freedom of conscience and religion. Religious groups must apply to the ministries of justice and culture for licenses; under the 2004 Law on Religion, such groups require at least 100,000 members, and adherents in at least 12 of Angola's 18 provinces to be recognized. Islam is not recognized, and the government has closed mosques as well as Islamic centers and schools. A total of 83 groups are officially recognized, while thousands of groups operate illegally. According to a 2012 U.S. State Department report on religious freedom, Angolan government agencies and civil society groups have enjoyed considerable success in their joint efforts to overcome native religious activities such as animal sacrifices, shamanism, and exorcism, which involve neglect and abuse.
Freedom of movement Angola's constitution and law technically permit freedom of movement within the country, freedom to travel abroad, and freedom to move abroad and repatriate. However, domestic travel is complicated by checkpoints at which travelers are subject to harassment and extortion by authorities, with international travel is complicated by a “rigid system of entry and exit visas".
Corruption Corruption is illegal but endemic in the Angolan government and businesses; it is rarely prosecuted. Extortion is widespread, as is bribery of government officials by businesses. The first postwar elections were held in 2008, and was considered generally fair, though the government's control of media gave it a strong advantage compared to the opposition. The president and his Council of Ministers have extensive powers, with the council, on the president's behalf, exercising both executive and legislative functions. Laws are usually drafted by the president and Council and submitted to the elected National Assembly for what is essentially a rubber-stamping. In November 2011, members of UNITA “walked out of a parliamentary debate on the new Electoral Legislative package for the 2012 general elections", complaining that it “contained unconstitutional provisions". In 2012, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria expressed concern about human-rights abuses in Angola "particularly since David Mendes declared that his political party will run against the party of the incumbent President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in the upcoming national elections to be held sometime in 2012". Following Mendes's declaration of his candidacy, he reported receiving death threats and that his property and that of the human rights organization Mãos Livres and Partido Popular vandalized. The death threats have intensified after he filed a complaint to the Attorney Generals' Office against the incumbent president accusing him of embezzlement of public funds".
Property ownership