From Theory to Practice - It's Time to Guarantee the Capacity of Human Rights Defenders to Act

Paris-Geneva, May 22, 2013. The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for HumanRights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), carried out afact-finding mission in Angola, from April 21 to May 1, 2013, to analyse thecontext in which human rights defenders are operating in the country. Themission delegation met with, amongst others, members of human rights NGOs,journalists, lawyers, artists, along with representatives of nationalauthorities, political parties and foreign diplomatic missions. The first-handtestimonies gathered during the mission and the analysis thereof reveal anenvironment marked by the persistence of hindrances to the ability of humanrights defenders to carry out their activities freely, despite an avowedcommitment from the Angolan authorities to strengthen dialogue and cooperationwith civil society on human rights issues.

10 years after the end of a 30-year longwar which claimed one million lives and left one-third of the populationdisplaced, while Angola is benefiting from a fruitful oil exploitation andgrowing political influence on the regional and international scenes anddespite the recent adoption of legal and institutional reforms to guaranteerespect of fundamental rights and freedoms, multiple human rights challengesare yet to be addressed to laying the foundations of democracy and the rule oflaw in the country. In a socio-political context still marked by the prevalenceof widespread poverty, endemic corruption and marginalisation of theopposition, Angolan human rights defenders are facing different kinds ofobstacles preventing them from monitoring, documenting and denouncing humanrights abuses in a satisfactory manner.

The mission gathered numerous testimoniesfrom human rights defenders, including journalists who are systematicallysubjected to judicial and administrative harassment, threats and various formsof restrictions to their freedom of association, expression and/or assembly, inparticular when they raise “sensitive” concerns on issues such as governance,access to justice, corruption, forced evictions, exploitation of naturalresources or the situation in the Cabinda province. The mission delegation alsocollected information on the evolution of and difficulties faced by the youthmovement that emerged in early 2011, calling for the end of a political systembased on patronage, inequalities and lack of transparency. Structuralimpediments to the work of human rights defenders were also raised during themission. The NGO registration process remains complex, costly and opaque andthe NGO sector is crippled by a lack of human resources and financialsustainability.

Furthermore, according to the informationcollected during the mission, the judiciary is perceived as an institutionsubservient to political direction, influence and pressure, that does noteffectively play its critical role in the defence, protection and enforcementof fundamental rights and freedoms. This bodes ill for the proper and effectiveoperation of human rights defenders.

“Angola is facing tremendoushuman rights challenges which require the involvement of all relevant actors.Human rights activists have a key role to play in the process to strengthendemocracy and the rule of law. Yet, despite the declared willingness of Angolanauthorities to abide by their national and international human rightscommitments, information collected during our mission depicts an environmentmarked by a persistent distrust of dissenting voices, a context we consider tobe detrimental to the building up of a strong and sustainable civil society”, declared Justice Thomas Masuku, whoheaded the mission delegation.

The Observatory will soon release a fullmission report on the situation on human rights defenders in Angola withspecific recommendations to the authorities, aimed at guaranteeing the rightsof human rights defenders in the country.