Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work. Download the full report in English. If you complain we will kill you. In prison, they beat me a lot because they requested me for sex and I refused. They were police agents, immigration officials with different uniforms in black, blue, light green.
They came in groups of three and picked the young women. They beat those who refused with ropes and batons. Expulsions have been carried out in a coordinated effort that involves most branches of the Angolan security forces and increasingly, temporary detention facilities are being used exclusively for migrants. This report documents abuses against these immigrants, based on research conducted by Human Rights Watch during visits to the DRC in , and during previous visits to Angola in Women and girls have been victims of sexual abuse including gang-rape, and of sexual exploitation.
Their children have been forced to witness sexual abuse in custody. Human Rights Watch also found that beatings, torture and degrading and inhumane treatment of migrants were common practices during roundups, transportation to detention facilities and in custody. In addition, Human Rights Watch found that migrants continued to be rounded up and arrested arbitrarily and denied due process by effectively being denied the right to challenge their deportation.
These security officials routinely abused their authority and powers, particularly to sexually exploit migrant women and girls in their custody, and there is lack of effective oversight to prevent such abuses from taking place. Information gathered through interviews with former detainees also suggests that the deprivation of essential items in custody, including food, water, and sanitation facilities, even if not deliberate, increases the vulnerability of migrants, particularly women and girls, to sexual abuse and exploitation, and exposes female inmates to health risks, such as HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Sexual violence, torture, and degrading and inhumane treatment are serious violations of international human rights. Women and girls who are victims of sexual abuse suffer serious physical as well as psychological trauma, along with their children who are forced to witness sexual abuse.
