• Increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, especially sex trafficking and labor trafficking in construction and mining, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
• Institutionalize training for all front-line officials on the NRM and SOPs and for criminal justice practitioners on the law.
• Proactively screen vulnerable individuals – including migrants and refugees – and refer victims to services.
• To prevent forced labor among Cuban workers in Angola, hire any Cuban workers utilizing hiring practices that are in line with domestic and international law, and provide adequate protection to Cuban victims of human trafficking.
• Increase access to shelters and services for adult and child trafficking victims, either directly or in partnership with NGOs or international organizations.
• Fund the Inter-ministerial Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons (Commission) to effectively coordinate and build capacity across the government and implement the NAP.
• Amend Penal Code Article 178 to criminalize all forms of internal sex trafficking.
• Improve nationwide data collection on anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim identification efforts.
• Provide legal identity documents to vulnerable populations to 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 holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable.
• Screen any North Korean workers for signs of trafficking 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 age 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. The revised 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 four human trafficking investigations involving seven suspects (one for sex trafficking, one for labor trafficking, and five for unspecified forms of trafficking) and it continued 30 investigations from prior reporting periods, compared with initiating 10 investigations in the previous reporting period. The government did not initiate any new prosecutions; it continued prosecutions of six alleged traffickers from previous reporting periods. The government convicted three traffickers, with sentences of five to nine years, compared with convicting one 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. Investigations from prior reporting periods of allegedly complicit officials involved in trafficking crimes remained ongoing. The government did not report investigating well-connected individuals allegedly forcing San individuals to work as indentured servants. Some immigration officers lacked understanding of human trafficking or conflated it with migrant smuggling, hindering law enforcement efforts. Observers reported the judicial system was inefficient, officials lacked trafficking expertise, and inconsistent rulings and sentences did not effectively deter traffickers. Police lacked training on investigative techniques.

The government designated an anti-trafficking police unit to investigate trafficking crimes. Observers reported court resources were inadequate to effectively prosecute trafficking crimes. In partnership with NGOs and an international organization, the government trained police officers, prosecutors, judges, and immigration officials on combating human trafficking. The government collaborated with international organizations and the Governments of China, the DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Vietnam to investigate transnational trafficking crimes. It entered into a new anti-trafficking agreement with the Government of Mozambique.

The government slightly increased protection efforts.

The government reported identifying 272 trafficking victims, compared with 44 in the previous reporting period. The government did not report referring any victims to care, compared to 33 victims referred in the previous reporting period.

The government used its SOPs and NRM to identify and refer to care child and adult trafficking victims. According to the SOPs, the Commission and police screened and identified victims and referred them to services. However, observers noted front-line officials did not consistently implement the SOPs to identify trafficking victims. Due to inadequate screening, the government did not take effective measures to prevent the inappropriate penalization of potential victims solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked, and it misidentified some trafficking victims as victims of other crimes, including child abuse. Observers previously reported some victims faced extended waiting periods before being repatriated or reintegrated. In partnership with NGOs and an international organization, the government trained social workers, health workers, religious leaders, and traditional leaders on the NRM and SOPs.

The government lacked adequate protection services to assist trafficking victims, including access to shelter services. The government did not report how many victims it provided services. In all provinces, the government operated vulnerable children’s centers that could assist child trafficking victims with food, shelter, education, and family reunification. Unlike the previous year, the government reported funding two NGO-managed shelters for trafficking victims. It also coordinated with a national network of NGO-operated counseling centers, children’s centers, and women’s safe houses, which trafficking victims could access. The government could provide victims with legal representation, medical care, social workers, and counseling. Observers reported limited shelter options, especially for adults and outside cities, and shelter staff lacked training on trafficking.

The government provided assistance to victim-witnesses in trafficking investigations and prosecutions. The government did not require victims to cooperate with law enforcement to receive care, except for foreign victims to receive immigration benefits beyond 90 days. The law permitted video testimony. The law granted victims legal representation, police protection, healthcare, counseling, and immunity from crimes committed as a result of their trafficking. Victims could file civil suits to receive compensation, and courts could order restitution in trafficking cases. The government collaborated with the Vietnamese government to repatriate trafficking victims.

The government slightly increased efforts to prevent human trafficking.

The Justice Ministry-led Commission coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts and met eight times during the reporting period. The government had a 2020-2025 NAP, which it continued to implement in coordination with international organizations and NGOs. However, the Commission lacked a dedicated budget to combat human trafficking, including NAP activities. The government contributed to an international organization’s program to combat human trafficking. The government created an office to collect data and plan strategically on illegal immigration and trafficking. The government distributed anti-trafficking books and pamphlets and published a new anti-trafficking guide for legal practitioners. The government operated two hotlines for reporting crimes, including trafficking, and it supported a civil society organization to operate a hotline for crimes against children, including trafficking, but it did not report if calls led to identifying trafficking victims.

Systemic corruption among labor officials and lack of resources prevented effective enforcement of labor laws. The government did issue a February 2025 presidential decree prohibiting worker-paid recruitment fees and requiring recruitment agencies to obtain licenses. However, the government did not maintain agreements with other countries to facilitate safe and responsible labor recruitment, which increased migrant workers’ vulnerability to trafficking. The government did not allow foreign workers to change employers without a new work visa.

The government reported conducting labor inspections, training labor inspectors on trafficking, and employing more inspectors during the reporting period; the government did not report whether any inspections resulted in the identification of victims of forced labor. The government launched a strategic plan to issue 20 million identity cards before 2027. The government did not report providing anti-trafficking training to its diplomats or making efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex.

Trafficking affects all communities. This section summarizes government and civil society reporting on the nature and scope of trafficking over the past five years. Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Angola, and traffickers exploit Angolan victims abroad. Traffickers exploit Angolans, including children as young as 12, in forced labor in brick- and gravel-making, domestic service, street vending, construction, agriculture, fishing, and artisanal diamond mining. Girls as young as 12 are sex trafficking victims. Traffickers use children in forced criminal activity, such as petty street crimes and illicit trade to Namibia. Asylum-seeker and refugee children often lack identity documents, which prevents them from accessing education and makes them vulnerable to exploitation. Poverty, unemployment, and inflation have led to rural children moving to Luanda for street work, including begging, shoe shining, car washing, and parking assistance, making them vulnerable to forced labor.

Persistent drought in southwest Angola has caused severe food insecurity and malnutrition, increasing displacement and vulnerability to trafficking. DRC, Nigerian, and Eritrean nationals fraudulently obtain Angolan passports to migrate abroad and are then exploited in forced labor or sex trafficking. Recruiters take Angolan adults and children to Namibia to work in agriculture, herding, construction, mineral extraction, and unlicensed street vending, where traffickers may exploit them in forced labor. Traffickers exploit Angolan women and children in forced labor in domestic service and sex trafficking in Namibia, Portugal, and South Africa. Angolans who migrate to the DRC, Greece, Laos, or Türkiye for work are vulnerable to trafficking.

Trafficking networks recruit Congolese girls as young as 12 for labor and sex trafficking in Angola. Women from China, the DRC, Nigeria, or Vietnam who migrate to Angola for employment are vulnerable to forced labor and sex trafficking. Migrant women engaged in commercial sex in Angola may not have access to their identity documents and may be victims of sex trafficking. Chinese workers on Chinese-owned construction or mining sites often live in compounds with restricted movements, limiting efforts to detect potential forced labor.

According to an investigative report, in 2023 there were 2,056 Cuban regime-affiliated victims of forced labor in Angola – 1,171 medical professionals, 582 teachers, and 303 in unspecified sectors. Reporting indicates the Cuban regime kept most of what the Angolan government paid for each worker, surveilled victims, confiscated their passports, and placed unreasonable restrictions on their association and movement. Some victims reported Cuban regime officials required them to work overtime without pay or to inflate patient numbers to align with contractual obligations.