Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Angola (Ratification: 1976)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. With regard to measures taken to combat trafficking in persons, the Committee notes that, in its report, the Government refers to: (1) the adoption of Executive Decree No. 179/22 of 1 April 2022 approving the guidelines on the national referral mechanism for protection and assistance for victims of trafficking and the standard operating procedure for the identification and referral of cases of trafficking; (2) the training activities implemented at the national level for this purpose; and (3) the creation of units for the protection of victims of trafficking in every province. The Government adds that the national referral mechanism is based on a set of services including: reception centres, the provision of medical care, medication and psychological support for victims of trafficking, and guaranteed personal and legal protection in collaboration with other relevant institutions. With regard to the implementation of the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons 2020–25, the Government indicates that prevention activities and awareness-raising campaigns have been carried out for judges, national police officers, secondary school students and teachers, as well as members of local human rights committees throughout the country. Moreover, two forums have been held at the national level to discuss border management and migration control in Cunene province, and two cross border forums have been held with Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on migration flows in the context of combating trafficking in persons.

The Committee welcomes the initiatives taken by the Government to combat trafficking in persons. It notes that, according to data from the Interministerial Committee for Combating Human Trafficking, 201 cases of trafficking have been recorded since 2015. To date, 52 cases of trafficking have been tried, resulting in 50 convictions and 2 acquittals, and 97 cases are still under investigation. It also notes that, according to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2023, 44 victims of trafficking were identified, 13 of whom were victims of labour exploitation.

The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in persons. It requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the measures taken under the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons 2020–25, specifying the results achieved and the difficulties identified during the monitoring and evaluation of the Plan; (ii) the activities of Interministerial Committee for Combating Human Trafficking; (iii) the victims of trafficking identified in recent years and the type of protection and assistance provided to victims; and (iv) the number of legal proceedings initiated and the nature of the penalties imposed in cases of trafficking in persons.

Article 2(2)(c). Civic service. The Committee recalls that under section 10 of the General Military Service Act (Act No. 1/93 of 26 March 1993) and section 7 of the Act on national defence and the armed forces (Act No. 2/93 of 26 March 1993), conscientious objectors may perform their compulsory military service in the form of civic service, which must be subject to regulations. In the absence of information from the Government on the adoption of regulations pertaining to this legislation, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate whether civic service has been established and, if so, to provide a copy of any texts adopted in this regard.

Article 2(2)(d). Cases of emergency. Powers of requisition. The Committee recalls that Act No. 33/20 of 17 August 2020 on civil requisitioning allows the State to resort to requisitioning any individuals over the age of 18 to ensure, in particularly serious circumstances, the regular functioning of services or the availability of goods essential to the public interest or to vital sectors of the national economy. Refusal to perform the requested tasks constitutes a crime of disobedience and is subject to disciplinary proceedings, or even criminal proceedings when the refusal comes from a worker or civil servant on strike. Recalling that section 13 of the Act lists the areas in which services and enterprises may be requisitioned, the Committee refers in this regard to its direct request made in 2024 on the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), in which it observes that the Act includes activities that are not solely essential services in the strict sense of the term, such as radio, television and teaching. In the light of these elements and in the absence of new information, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the powers of requisition conferred under Act No. 33/20 on civil requisitioning remain within the limits of the exception to forced labour provided for in Article 2(2)(d) of the Convention, namely that they are strictly limited to circumstances that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the application of Act No. 33/20 in practice, specifying whether this power of requisition has already been exercised and, if so, under what circumstances.

Article 25. Application of effective criminal penalties. In the absence of a reply from the Government, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the awareness-raising activities and training organized to promote the competent authorities’ knowledge and use of the provisions of the Criminal Code adopted in 2020 concerning various practices falling under forced labour (sections 171 and 172 criminalizing coercion and aggravated coercion, section 177 on slavery and section 18.9 on forced prostitution); and (ii) the judicial proceedings initiated and criminal penalties imposed under these provisions.