Human trafficking in Angola

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Angola is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced prostitution and forced labor. Internally, trafficking victims are forced to labor in agriculture, construction, domestic servitude, and reportedly in artisanal diamond mines. Angolan women and children more often become victims of internal rather than transnational sex trafficking. Women and children are trafficked to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Namibia, and European nations, primarily Portugal. Traffickers take boys to Namibia for forced labor in cattle herding. Children are also forced to act as couriers in illegal cross-border trade between Namibia and Angola as part of a scheme to skirt import fees. Illegal migrants from the DRC voluntarily enter Angola's diamond-mining districts, where some are later reportedly subjected to forced labor or prostitution in the mining camps.^[1][2][3]

The Government of Angola is making significant efforts to combat trafficking. The government has educated the public about the dangers of trafficking in Angola, amended its Constitution to specifically prohibit human trafficking, and maintained its level of funding for anti-trafficking activities despite a significant drop in national revenue and subsequent cuts to its national budget. The government has taken some proactive steps to prevent human trafficking during an international soccer tournament, identified trafficking victims, trained more counter-trafficking investigators and agents, and increased enforcement at key trafficking border crossings. Trafficking offenders, however, are rarely if ever prosecuted, and services for victims remain minimal.^[1][4] U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017.^[5]