Human rights news
Amnesty International makes human rights recommendations to Government
Angola was due to be reviewed by the Working Groups of the UN Human Rights Council under its Universal Periodic Review mechanism on 12 February 2010. Angola, like most African countries is a party to the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights. Angola is also a member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
Amnesty International has made recommendations to the Government of Angola as part of the review process. It has also called on those governments participating in the review, especially those in southern Africa, to engage in a meaningful dialogue and make concrete, meaningful and measurable recommendations. A number of the recommendations are given below:
Ratification of human rights treaties
· To incorporate the provisions of international human rights standards into domestic law, including provisions on the right to adequate housing and on the prohibition of torture;
· To reform all laws and regulations in the country, particularly those related to forced evictions and policing, including by bringing them into line with international human rights laws and standards;
· To ratify all outstanding human rights treaties, including the UN Convention against Torture and its optional protocol, the second optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the Convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to war crimes and crimes against humanity and implement them in national law.
Forced evictions
· To stop all forced evictions and to place a moratorium on mass evictions until a comprehensive human rights-based housing policy and a legal framework providing effective remedies are in place;
· To provide immediate assistance, including adequate housing, to those who have been forcibly evicted and who remain homeless, and to adequately compensate all victims of forced evictions;
· To ensure that all people who may be affected by evictions are accorded the legal protections to which they are entitled under international standards, including adequate notice, consultation, due process and assurance of adequate alternative housing;
· To extend, as a matter of urgency, an invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing to visit Angola, to enable her to assist with the development of legislation and policies that comply with international human rights law and standards.
Human rights defenders
· To respect and protect the work of human rights defenders and other members of civil society by ensuring that they are free to carry out their human rights activities without interference, in accordance with international human rights standards and in line with Angola’s voluntary pledges made in the context of its election to the UN Human Rights Council;
· To ensure any action taken to regulate human rights organizations is not politically motivated, but based strictly on legal provisions consistent with international human rights standards.
Freedom of expression and association
· To ensure that no one is arrested for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly;
· To respect, protect and promote the right to freedom of expression of journalists, in particular with regard to the well-established international human rights principle that public officials should tolerate more, rather than less, criticism than private individuals;
· To amend or repeal laws providing punishment for alleged defamation of the head of state or other public officials.