Amnesty International calls for protection of Angolan women and children fleeing drought and climate change – JURIST

Amnesty International on Wednesday reported  that Angolan individuals displaced by prolonged drought to Namibia face human rights abuses due to their lack of safe and legal status in the host country.

Amnesty International released a report documenting the consequences of recurrent droughts in Angola and the impacts of drought-induced displacement to Namibia on Angolan women and children. It stated that displaced individuals in Namibia faced serious human rights violations, including arrests, detention, lack of access to essential services such as health care, and deportation, which is contrary to the principle of non-refoulement.

In commenting on the gravity of the circumstances affecting these marginalized people, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, stated:

Namibian authorities must establish a rights-based approach to migration, ensuring that people displaced by drought and other natural disasters can access basic rights, including registration and documentation.

The report detailed that constant droughts in Southern Angola, combined with long-standing structural vulnerabilities, have undermined traditional farming systems in addition to destroying crops and livestock, which has forced people to migrate to Namibia in search of food, water, and essential services. Relatedly, Amnesty International highlighted that Angola’s investment in climate adaptation and drought preparedness remains insufficient due to limited financing, high dependence on donor-supported emergency programmes, and weak institutional capacities.

Consequently, the organization emphasized the need for cooperation and assistance from the international community, especially high-income and high-emitting countries,  which must contribute to providing adequate climate finance to support low-income countries most affected by extreme weather events, such as Angola and Namibia.

When they arrive in Namibia, displaced Angolan citizens have limited ways to regularise their stay in the country and continue to live without official migration status due to inadequate national immigration laws that do not respond to the consequences of climate-induced displacement. Therefore, the rights organisation called on Namibia to comply with its international and regional obligations by providing displaced people with access to legal protection, including registration and documentation required to access vital services. In addition, it called on Namibian authorities to conduct individual assessments before deporting Angolan citizens and to consider the human risks associated with return.

Angola continues to face similar threats due to the effects of El Niño. The consecutive years of drought have forced more than 7000 Angolan nationals, mainly women and children, to flee to Namibia in search of food security and safety. Although many regions across the world have recently experienced unprecedented heat waves, the burden of climate change-driven events remain particularly heavy in Africa, where countries such as Somalia face life-threatening drought.

The UN has previously urged countries to accelerate their actions to mitigate climate actions, with an emphasis on climate finance plans. In 2025, Amnesty International stated that existing climate finance strategies contained many shortcomings that prevented low-income and climate-sensitive states from adequately tackling the worsening impacts of climate change.