Returnees need protection as well as assistance - HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Angolan authorities and the United Nations to do more to assist millions of Angolans returning home after three decades of civil war, saying that failure to do so could threaten peace and undermine hopes of development. In a report, "Struggling Through Peace", the rights group noted that since the peace accord between the government and UNITA was signed more than a year ago, over two million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and some 25 percent of Angolan refugees living abroad had returned to their places of origin. However, the majority of those displaced by war remained in exile, or at transit and temporary resettlement sites. HRW said despite recent legislation for regulating the resettlement process - the Norms for the Resettlement of Internally Displaced Populations - the government had in some cases "induced" or "forced" many IDPs to return to their areas of origin. The report documents several incidents of government authorities allegedly using violence, or the threat of violence, to drive people out of camps where they had been living sometimes for years. "In one case in Bengo province, reported to Human Rights Watch, Angolan police entered a transit camp and burned homes and crops of displaced people living there," the report said. However, in the northern province of Uige, local authorities have allegedly restricted or discouraged the movement of IDPs. Some IDPs interviewed by HRW wished to return to the capital Luanda, but were prevented from doing so, HRW said. The rights group noted that while the government may have concerns about its capacity in Luanda to reintegrate IDPs, it should balance those concerns against the right of the displaced to choose their place of residence. HRW reported that in several areas where IDPs had returned, they had encountered "abysmal conditions" such as food shortages, poor hygiene, lack of infrastructure, and limited access to social services. Moreover, some refugees, who had returned home with their own limited resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, had suffered extortion by officials while crossing borders and checkpoints, HRW said. Of concern was the lack of transit and temporary centres at key entry points in bordering countries. According to the rights group, most of these areas of return were neither safe nor accessible to aid agencies. HRW noted that the bulk of the government's limited resources was used to assist former UNITA soldiers, and to a lesser extent IDPs. The preference was understandable, given the "serious security risk for a government if they (ex-soldiers) are not properly demobilised". "However, by prioritising former combatants, there has been pressure on displaced civilians to evacuate their camps or transit centres so that demobilised soldiers could be housed there. Speeding up returns of civilian displaced persons in order to make room for demobilised soldiers raises concerns about the voluntariness of their subsequent return home," HRW noted. Another serious concern was the lack of adequate security for female IDPs. Women often shared living quarters with former combatants, "many of whom are known for committing violent acts against women and children in the past". This raised serious human rights questions, the advocacy group said. Many of the IDPs interviewed by HRW also had not obtained the necessary identity documents from the government, which hampered access to education, humanitarian aid, medical and social services. In the long term this could prevent many of the displaced from voting or otherwise participating in Angola's political future. HRW called on the government to ensure that women and children received equitable treatment and assistance during the return process, to enable them to freely choose their resettlement locations. The group recommended that where credible allegations of responsibility for abuses against refugees and IDPs existed, appropriate disciplinary action be taken against the soldiers and policemen involved. HRW urged donor countries to provide technical and financial assistance to the Angolan government for creating demobilisation and rehabilitation programmes suited to women and children. It also called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to increase the presence of protection staff at key border crossing points to safeguard returning refugees from violence and extortion.