• Human Rights in Angola

    The atmosphere surrounding Angola’s upcoming 2012 parliamentary elections – which will also determine the president – is one of increasing restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly and media freedom. The repressive climate has deepened since the resounding victory of the ruling Movement for the Liberation of Angola party in the 2008 elections. Criticism against President José Eduardo dos Santos, in power for 32 years, has risen significantly in 2011. Authorities are using excessive force to crack down on an incipient protest movement against bad governance, corruption, poverty and political repression. 

  • World Report 2012: Angola
    In 2011 President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, in power for 32 years, faced an unprecedented wave of criticism. Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements, Angola witnessed an incipient movement of anti-government protests. In response, authorities used excessive force to crack down on the protests, most of which were organized via the internet, and curtailed media coverage of the demonstrations.
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Angola

  • Angola: Violent Crackdown on Critics
    Apr 2, 2012
    The Angolan government should immediately end its use of unnecessary force against peaceful anti-government protesters, human rights activists, journalists, and opposition politicians. Ensuring that people can exercise their basic rights to freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly, and prosecuting those who violate those rights, is crucial for creating a peaceful environment for parliamentary elections slated for later in 2012. On April 4, Angola will celebrate 10 years of peace since the end of the decades-long civil war.
  • IMF: Withhold Funds to Angola
    Mar 27, 2012
    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should withhold a scheduled $130 million loan disbursement to the government of Angola until Angolan authorities fully and publicly justify a US$32 billion discrepancy in Angola’s public accounts.
  • Letter to IMF Managing Director Lagarde on Angola
    Mar 26, 2012

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should withhold a scheduled $130 million loan disbursement to the government of Angola until Angolan authorities fully and publicly justify a US$32 billion discrepancy in Angola’s public accounts, Human Rights Watch and the Revenue Watch Institute said in a letter to the IMF released on March 27, 2012. 

  • Angola: End Silence on Missing Funds
    Jan 17, 2012

    The government of Angola should publicly disclose its efforts to trace tens of billions of dollars in missing public funds apparently connected to the state oil company, Sonangol, Human Rights Watch in an open letter to the country’s finance minister. In December 2011, the International Monetary Fund reported that there was an unexplained US$32 billion discrepancy in the Angolan government’s accounts from 2007 through 2010.

  • Letter to the Angolan Minister of Finance
    Jan 17, 2012

    The government of Angola should publicly disclose its efforts to trace tens of billions of dollars in missing public funds apparently connected to the state oil company, Sonangol. In December 2011, the International Monetary Fund reported that there was an unexplained US$32 billion discrepancy in the Angolan government’s accounts from 2007 through 2010.

  • Angola: Explain Missing Government Funds
    Dec 20, 2011

    The government of Angola should promptly provide a full public accounting for US$32 billion in missing government funds thought to be linked to the state oil company. A December 2011 report by the International Monetary Fund revealed that the government funds were spent or transferred from 2007 through 2010 without being properly documented in the budget. The sum is equivalent to one-quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

  • Angola: End Violence Against Peaceful Protests
    Dec 7, 2011
    The Angolan government should end its use of unnecessary force, including by plainclothes agents, against peaceful anti-government protests
  • Angola: Free Demonstrators Unfairly Convicted
    Sep 14, 2011
    The Angolan authorities should immediately drop politically motivated charges against 18 people who were convicted after unfair trials for their participation in an anti-government demonstration in Luanda.
  • Angola: Stop Repression of Anti-Government Protests
    Sep 5, 2011
    The Angolan authorities should immediately end the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force against demonstrators. It should also ensure the protection of demonstrators and journalists covering anti-government protests against violence. More than 30 demonstrators arrested by the authorities are still being held incommunicado, their whereabouts unknown.
  • Angola: Stop Forced Evictions
    Aug 25, 2011
    The Angolan government should immediately take measures to protect the fundamental human rights of people forcibly evicted to make way for public infrastructure projects.
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