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Guarantee the right to nationality by undertaking the following
measures:
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Guarantee free birth registration and ensure that all adults have
access to identity and citizenship documents.
o
Fund mobile teams to conduct birth registration and provide
returnees with identity documentation.
o
Do not restrict the right to nationality by imposing unreasonable
conditions on obtaining identity documentation, such as requiring return to an
individuals place of birth or charging excessive fees.
o
Train local security forces to accept Voluntary Repatriation
Forms, ration cards or other official documents as proof of identity and
nationality from individuals who have not yet obtained Angolan identity
documents.
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Investigate all instances of police and military abuse of returnees and discipline perpetrators appropriately. Investigate attacks on individuals exercising their right to political expression and prosecute perpetrators. Train security forces to respect the rights of women and prosecute all instances of sexual abuse. Provide rehabilitation services to all survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
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In cases of political conflict and violence, encourage UNITA
officials and local authorities to work together to investigate incidents in
efforts such as the UNITA-MPLA joint commission in Huambo.
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Provide the National Institute for Demining with adequate
resources to create a viable national demining capacity. Improved operational
capacity will enable the expansion of humanitarian demining activities to
additional areas. In setting priorities, involve communal and municipal
authorities, traditional leaders, women, teachers, community members and local
NGOs, who are currently active in mine risk education.
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To ensure greater transparency and accountability, the government
should publish a full account of revenues and expenditures in order to
determine allocations for social services and for the protection of human
rights.
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Government offices responsible for social services and human
rights protections should be subject to audits to ensure financial
accountability and should be assessed for effectiveness.
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Provide local and provincial administrations with adequate
resources and training to take over social services and support programs for
returnees, particularly in the health, education and agriculture sectors, when
the international community ceases to provide such assistance. To that end,
the following measures should be undertaken:
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Improve financial transparency and accountability standards to
guarantee that funds for social spending are allocated and distributed
equitably and honestly.
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Monitor the reintegration process of returnees and track the
progress of vulnerable groups (such as female-headed households, the elderly,
the disabled and children).
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Provide community support or social assistance through local
authorities, NGOs, churches and other civil society actors to ensure that these
vulnerable groups receive continued support with the withdrawal of the
international NGOs currently helping them.
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Accelerate the social and economic reintegration of former
combatants by fulfilling national financial commitments and ensuring the
capacity of the Institute for the Socio-Professional Reintegration of
Ex-Combatants to coordinate, implement and monitor the Angolan Demobilization
and Reintegration Program (ADRP). Local administrators and project
facilitators should guarantee that women, children and disabled persons are
included in reintegration projects, and implement community-based projects to
prevent conflict between program beneficiaries and the rest of the community.
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Recognize the documentation of educational and professional
credentials obtained by returning refugees abroad, and prevent local
administrators from discriminating against skilled returnees who could
contribute to the rebuilding of communities.
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Guarantee the proposed Land Law protects the rights of informal
and traditional landholders and provides for community consultation in
developing land use plans to prevent social conflict between residents and
elites who have been and are being given title to large concessions regardless
of whether the land is already occupied. Any new land legislation should also
be accompanied by judicial reform to give residents recourse in cases of land
appropriation, and by a public education campaign on the consequences of the
new land law and how people may protect their rights.
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Consult civil society in the development of the Office of the
Justice Ombudsman and any future national human rights institution, and
guarantee that the Ombudsman has the mission and capacity to protect the human
rights of returnees and former combatants.
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Support UNHCR, OCHA/TCU and the UN Human Rights Office in Angola (the local office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) in
developing a human rights monitoring and protection plan to ensure a continued
international presence in communities of return. Increase funding for
monitoring and protection activities of UNHCR and its implementing partners.
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Continue to fund the World Food Programmes passenger air service
to prevent the isolation of inaccessible communities of return. Collaborate
with the government in rehabilitating, maintaining and demining roads and
bridges to facilitate long-term accessibility to rural areas.
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Continue to fund humanitarian demining efforts, and encourage
international mine action agencies to collaborate with the National
Inter-Sectoral Commission on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance and improve
the capacity of the Angolan National Institute of Demining to carry out
demining operations.
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Ensure that reintegration projects for returnees and former
combatants, particularly the World Bank Angola Demobilization and Reintegration
Program, involve entire communities to prevent resentment and potential
conflict over the distribution of assistance and to encourage reconciliation.
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Insist that the government of Angola provide accurate accounts of
revenues and expenditures, particularly in regard to funding for social,
humanitarian, and human rights projects and programs.
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Require a financial audit and assessment of social, humanitarian,
and human rights programs and the government offices that manage them.
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UNHCR, OCHA/TCU and the UN Human Rights Office in Angola should work together to increase their field presence for monitoring and protection
activities. To that end, the following activities should be undertaken:
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UNHCR should ensure that protection and monitoring activities are
adequately staffed and funded until there is an alternative international
presence to take over such activities.
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The UN Human Rights Office should consider developing a field
presence to sustain protection and monitoring when UNHCR and OCHA cease to
operate outside Luanda.
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Work with the government to begin preparations for monitoring the
run-up to the elections to prevent an increase in vigilantism and political
violence.
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Develop a monitoring and protection strategy together with civil
society and local institutions to build local capacity in these activities.
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The UN Human Rights Office in Angola, OCHA/TCU, UNHCR and their
NGO partners should accelerate human rights training for security forces,
including the police, military and justice officials, and provide capacity
building to government authorities and local NGOs so they can provide human
rights training as well.
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UNHCR should include demining agencies in its coordination
efforts with implementing partners to guarantee demining concerns are taken
into account in developing resettlement plans, and to have accurate information
on the location and severity of mine contamination.
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