Systematically implement and conduct training for front-line officials on the NRM and SOPs for the proactive screening and identification of victims among vulnerable groups, including foreign nationals such as migrants and refugees, particularly in Lunda Norte, as well as North Korean, People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Cuban workers, and refer trafficking victims to appropriate services. * Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, especially sex trafficking and labor trafficking in the construction sector, mining sector, and in animal herding, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Increase access to shelters and services for adult and child trafficking victims, either directly or in partnership with NGOs or international organizations. * Adequately fund the Inter-ministerial Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons (Commission) to effectively coordinate and build capacity across the government and implement the NAP on trafficking in persons. * Due to the ongoing climate crisis in Huíla, Cunene, and Namibe provinces, dedicate resources to address vulnerabilities of returned Angolan migrants from Namibia and screen them for trafficking indicators. * Amend Article 178 to criminalize all forms of internal sex trafficking. * Improve nationwide data collection on anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim identification efforts. * Support the provision of legal identity documents to vulnerable populations, including Angolans and refugees, to increase access to services and reduce vulnerability to trafficking. * Adequately train and resource labor inspectors to screen and identify victims of forced labor. * Increase oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. * Conduct trainings and multi-sector workshops for law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and the judiciary on implementing the anti-trafficking law. * Screen any North Korean workers for trafficking indicators and refer them to appropriate services, in a manner consistent with obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 2397. 

The government maintained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. Angolan law criminalized all forms of labor trafficking and some forms of sex trafficking. Penal Code Article 177 criminalized slavery, with penalties of seven to 15 years’ imprisonment, and the buying or selling of a child younger than the age of 14 for the purpose of adoption or slavery, with penalties of five to 10 years’ imprisonment. Article 178 criminalized the labor trafficking of adults and children and prescribed penalties of four to 10 years’ imprisonment. Article 189 criminalized some forms of domestic adult sex trafficking and prescribed penalties of one to eight years’ imprisonment. Article 190 criminalized transnational adult sex trafficking and prescribed penalties of two to 10 years’ imprisonment. Article 196 criminalized child sex trafficking and prescribed penalties of five to 15 years’ imprisonment. These penalties were all sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. A 2020 amendment to the penal code removed “sexual exploitation” as a purpose of a trafficking crime in Article 178. Because the other anti-trafficking articles did not criminalize all forms of internal sex trafficking, Angolan law did not criminalize all forms of sex trafficking.

The government initiated 10 human trafficking investigations with 15 suspects (three for sex trafficking, two for labor trafficking, and five for unspecified forms of trafficking) and continued 21 investigations from the previous reporting period, compared with eight investigations initiated in the previous reporting period. The government initiated one new prosecution for forced labor, after two consecutive years with no new prosecutions, and continued prosecution of eight alleged traffickers from previous reporting periods. The government reported one conviction of a trafficker; the court sentenced the trafficker to five years in jail. This compared with one conviction in the previous reporting period.

The government did not report any prosecutions or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and complicity remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action. Observers reported officials in border provinces accepted bribes to facilitate illegal entry from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Some immigration officers lacked understanding of the definition of human trafficking, conflating it with migrant smuggling, hindering law enforcement efforts. The government initiated investigations during previous reporting periods of allegedly complicit officials, including from the civil registration office and Migration and Foreigners Service involved in trafficking crimes; investigations remained ongoing. For the fourth consecutive year, the government did not report investigating or resolving disputes involving well-connected individuals allegedly forcing members of the San Indigenous group to work as indentured servants. Observers reported high-ranking government officials were allegedly complicit in facilitating sex trafficking in certain areas of Luanda. The Supreme Court upheld a 2020 conviction of five officials complicit in human trafficking in a case from 2015.

Multiple law enforcement agencies were mandated to investigate human trafficking. The Commission coordinated investigations and prosecutions of trafficking cases with the National Police, the Criminal Investigation Services, Migration and Foreigners Service, and the Attorney General. There were no specialized police units nor courts for prosecuting cases of human trafficking and all cases were tried in criminal courts. Observers reported court resources were inadequate to effectively prosecute trafficking crimes. One report in July 2023 found authorities had prosecuted less than a quarter of human trafficking cases since 2015. Additionally, law enforcement did not consistently or effectively enforce laws against child sex trafficking. The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MJHR) and the Ministry of the Interior (MoI), in coordination and partnership with international organizations, held eight workshops on human trafficking and migrant smuggling for police officers in the provinces of Luanda, Cunene, Lunda Norte, Zaire, Benguela, and Uíge. The MJHR and MoI, in partnership with an international organization, convened two trainings which included human trafficking modules, for National Police officers and prosecutors in six provinces. With support from international organizations, the government collaborated with the Governments of Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman Nigeria, South Africa, and the DRC to investigate transnational trafficking crimes. In one notable case, authorities, in cooperation with INTERPOL, arrested an alleged trafficker for allegedly recruiting victims from Vietnam online, confiscating their passports, and exploiting them in sex trafficking.

The government maintained protection efforts. The government reported identifying 44 trafficking victims, including 13 victims of labor trafficking, 19 victims of sex trafficking, and 12 victims of unspecified forms of trafficking, and it referred all 44 victims to services in 2023. Identified victims were from Angola and Vietnam; 10 victims were children, and 34 victims were adults. This compared with the government identifying 70 trafficking victims and referring 33 victims to services in the previous reporting period.

In April 2022, the government enacted its SOPs for identification of trafficking victims and an NRM for Protection and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking for their referral to care. The government also had SOPs for assisting child victims of violence, including child trafficking. The government, in coordination with an international organization, trained government officials in multiple provinces on the implementation of the SOPs and NRM; and in July, the Ministry of Justice, in coordination with international organizations, hosted a workshop for media professionals to raise awareness about trafficking issues. According to the SOPs, the National Police and Commission received trafficking victim referrals, and, in partnership with an international organization, screened and identified trafficking victims and referred them to services. However, observers noted frontline officials did not understand how to identify trafficking victims; many victims were identified by the community or self-identified to receive services. The government’s centralized response to human trafficking, bureaucratic processes, and limited staffing capacity resulted in delayed access to services for victims. Despite ongoing trainings, observers reported government officials often conflated human trafficking with other crimes, such as migrant smuggling and child abuse, and some frontline officials misidentified trafficking victims, hindering their access to protection services. Some victims faced delays in accessing emergency services while awaiting formal certification and extended waiting periods before victims could be repatriated or reintegrated into their home communities.

The government did not have adequate protection services to assist trafficking victims, including access to shelter services. The government did not report how many victims it provided services to compared with eight victims in the previous reporting period. The government previously allocated funding to a general human rights fund; however, it did not report if any funding was allocated during the reporting period or if prior funding was utilized for protection services. The government, through the National Institute of Children (INAC), operated child support centers for vulnerable children in all 18 provinces that could assist child trafficking victims with food, shelter, basic education, and family reunification. Additionally, the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women coordinated a national network of NGO-operated safe houses for vulnerable women, counseling centers, and children’s centers, which trafficking victims could access. NGOs and religious organizations also operated centers and provided services for trafficking victims, including the majority of shelter services; the government did not report providing any financial or in-kind support. The government could place child trafficking victims in shelters or in foster families. The government could provide all victims with legal representation, medical care, social workers, and counseling. Observers reported limited shelter options were available, especially for adults and outside urban areas, and shelter staff lacked specialized training on human trafficking.

The government provided some victim-witness assistance to support participation in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes; both access to care and immigration-related benefits were reportedly not contingent upon the commencement of a criminal investigation and the victim’s testimony. Angolan law permitted live teleconference testimony, in certain cases, and allowed foreign victims to pursue repatriation to their home countries while still participating in trials, although the government did not report any cases warranting use of this capability. While foreign victims remained in the country, Angolan law provided for immigration relief, including the right to seek asylum or temporary residence permits for 90 days, with the option to extend through the duration of criminal proceedings; the government did not report providing any residency permits to trafficking victims. Victims who were willing to participate in criminal justice proceedings were eligible for government-provided legal representation, medical and mental health services, some financial support, family tracing assistance, and access to education while having immunity from crimes committed as a result of their trafficking; the government did not report if any victims received this assistance. In the one conviction, the court ordered restitution be paid to the victim. With support from an international organization, the government cooperated with the governments of the DRC and Vietnam to identify or repatriate trafficking victims, and, separately, the government repatriated two victims to Angola from the UAE and Laos. Observers noted a need for training for consular and other staff to ensure adequate protection for victims during repatriation. Despite a high prevalence of transnational trafficking, law enforcement routinely detained and deported undocumented migrants crossing the Angola-DRC border without screening for human trafficking. As a result, authorities may have inappropriately penalized trafficking victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, particularly for immigration violations.

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent human trafficking. The Commission, led by the MJHR and the National Directorate of Human Rights, met seven times. The Commission did not have a dedicated budget to combat human trafficking or implement its NAP and relied on previously allocated Ministries’ general funding to support anti-trafficking activities. The government, in collaboration with international organizations and NGOs, continued to implement its 2020-2025 NAP on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Persons with donor funding. Provincial Human Rights Committees in seven provinces organized conferences, radio programs, and forums to raise awareness of human trafficking. The government conducted awareness raising initiatives, including television programs and radio broadcasts at the national level, and held anti-trafficking events in Cunene, Uíge, and Zaire provinces. The government, in coordination with an international organization, published pamphlets on human trafficking. The INAC supported a civil society organization to operate a hotline for crimes against children, including trafficking; the hotline received one call on human trafficking, but did not identify any trafficking victims, compared with 10 trafficking victims in the previous reporting period. The MJHR also operated a hotline for potential victims of crime, including trafficking. The government, in collaboration with an international organization, published a report with information on investigations, prosecutions, and convictions; however, this information was not publicly available.

Systemic corruption among labor officials and lack of resources prevented effective enforcement of labor laws, including against forced labor. The government did not have procedures to oversee and regulate labor recruitment beyond periodic labor inspections. The government did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees, nor did it have agreements to facilitate safe and responsible labor recruitment with other countries, which put migrant workers at greater risk of trafficking. Foreign workers were unable to change employers, except with a new work visa. The government conducted 8,027 labor inspections in 2023; however, the government did not report whether any inspections resulted in the identification of victims of forced labor. The government did not report training labor inspectors on trafficking crimes. Previously, personnel and financial deficiencies hampered efforts to identify forced and child labor, with a lack of funding to cover transportation expenses for labor inspectors, and limiting inspections to the formal economy, where only one-quarter of Angolans work. In 2023, the government increased funding to the labor inspectorate; however, observers noted the number of inspectors remained insufficient considering the size of Angola’s workforce. Despite the presence of young children in forced and child labor, no child labor-specific inspections were reported in 2023.

The government demonstrated minimal efforts to issue identification documents to Angolans following its mass registration campaign in 2021. Without proper documentation, Angolans were not able to access most services leaving them vulnerable to trafficking. Previously, the Foreign Ministry, in partnership with the MJHR and an international organization offered an anti-trafficking training for Angolan diplomats and integrated this into the Foreign Ministry training academy; the government did not report efforts to train its diplomats. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Angola, and traffickers exploit victims from Angola abroad. Traffickers exploit Angolans, including children as young as 12 years old, in forced labor in the brick making, domestic service, construction, agriculture, fisheries, and artisanal diamond mining sectors. Angolan girls as young as 13 are victims of sex trafficking, and girls in domestic work within private homes in Angola are vulnerable to labor trafficking. Angolan adults use children, including Congolese children, younger than 12 in forced criminal activity, such as petty street crimes, because children cannot be criminally prosecuted. Children of refugees lack legal identity documents preventing them from obtaining a secondary education and making them vulnerable to exploitation. “Handlers” increasingly bring children from rural areas to Luanda for street work, including begging, shoe shining, car washing, and parking assistance, where they are vulnerable to forced labor from their handlers and other traffickers. Extreme poverty, economic decline, rising unemployment, and inflation in recent years has led to a significant increase in the number of children using the streets as a source of livelihood, especially in urban areas.

The provinces of Luanda and Benguela, and the border provinces of Cabinda, Cunene, Lunda Norte, Namibe, Uíge, and Zaire are the most high-risk areas for trafficking activities. Government officials in Lunda Norte province continued to deport thousands of undocumented Congolese workers subjecting them to human rights abuses – including rape – leaving them vulnerable to trafficking. Climate change, including slow-onset events like prolonged drought, increased displacement, forcing children in some villages to drop out of school to gather water, dig wells, and herd cattle or relocate to urban areas where they faced increased vulnerabilities to trafficking. Severe food insecurity and malnutrition across the southwestern provinces of Angola increased migration into Namibia, which may increase vulnerabilities to trafficking.

Transnational traffickers take advantage of Angola’s numerous unsecured, informal, and heavily used border crossings. Traffickers take some Angolan boys to Namibia for forced labor in cattle herding and force others to serve as couriers to transport illicit goods as part of a scheme to skirt import fees in cross-border trade with Namibia. Other recruiters take Angolan adults and children to Namibia for work in agriculture, construction, mineral extraction, and unlicensed street vending, where they may be exploited by employers. Traffickers exploit Angolan women and children in forced labor in domestic service and sex trafficking in South Africa, Laos, Namibia, and European countries, including the Netherlands and Portugal. Some men, originally from Algeria and Mauritania, operating small grocery stores – known as cantinas – in Angola reportedly forced their wives and children to return to their countries where they may be exploited in domestic servitude.

Trafficking networks recruit and transport Congolese girls as young as 12 years old from Kasai Occidental in the DRC to Angola for labor and sex trafficking. Undocumented Congolese migrants, including children, enter Angola for work in diamond-mining districts, where traffickers exploit some in forced labor or sex trafficking in mining camps. Traffickers also exploit adult and child Congolese economic migrants in forced labor in construction. Women from Brazil, Cuba, DRC, Namibia, and Vietnam engaged in commercial sex in Angola do not have access to their legal identity documents and may be victims of sex trafficking, including in massage businesses and hotels. Large corporations operating in Angola employ Angolan children to work in brick making. PRC national-owned companies with large construction or mining contracts bring PRC workers to Angola; often workers live in compounds with little outside interaction, limiting efforts to detect potential forced labor. There are reports PRC-owned and operated construction companies exploit Brazilian, PRC, Kenyan, Namibian, Southeast Asian, and possibly Congolese workers in forced labor. These companies also at times coerce workers to operate in unsafe conditions, which reportedly have resulted in some deaths. According to the Cuban government, in 2023, there were 2,056 government-affiliated Cuban workers in Angola, including 1,171 Cuban medical professionals, 582 workers in education, 212 workers in companies, and 91 workers in other sectors. The Cuban government may have forced government-affiliated civilian personnel to work in Angola. North Korean nationals working in Angola may be operating under exploitative working conditions and display multiple indicators of forced labor.