Megan Mills
MUN Paper: Angola
02/23/2014
Angola Protections for Indigenous Peoples
The indigenous San peoples of southern Angola, also known as Bushmen, are the
oldest inhabitants of Angola and southern Africa and are mainly located in remote and
inaccessible areas. Many (mainly in Kuando and Kubango provinces) still live as huntergatherers, staying in rudimentary shelters and moving within their ancestral territories, while
others have settled in homesteads where they practise agriculture, surrounded by Bantu
neighbours, or live in urban communities. The population of Angola numbers around 15.5
million people and the San are estimated to account for approximately 0.04 percent of that
figure. The majority of the San reside in Huíla, Kunene and Kuando Kubango provinces in
southern Angola and probably also in Moxico Province in south-western Angola. The exact
numbers and location of all San communities is not known.
The situation of indigenous peoples in Angola is extremely serious. The level of bad
governance, corruption, impunity, violent conflict and poverty is in general very high on the
African continent, and indigenous peoples are among the groups suffering the most. The
indigenous peoples of Angola face many hardships. The main problem faced by the indigenous
peoples is land dispossession, which is caused by establishments of national parks, agriculture
and farming, and natural resource extraction. The land dispossession undermines indigenous
peoples’ livelihood systems, which leads to impoverishment. Legal frameworks promoting and
protecting indigenous peoples’ lands are nearly non-existing.
The San is a small, vulnerable ethnic minority. In Angola, they live in extreme poverty,
often in areas that are not yet cleared of landmines. The illiteracy rate among Angolan San is
very high and, due to lack of infrastructure, lack of birth certificates and discrimination, few Can
children attend schools. The mortality rate of the San is very high due to lack of clinics. Even in
areas where there are private clinics, San families do not have money to pay for medication and
treatments.
Indigenous peoples in Angola have limited access to justice and violations against their
rights. Cases of violations of indigenous peoples’ rights are rarely investigated by the police,
perpetrators are often not brought to justice, judicial systems are too expensive for indigenous
peoples and often ineffective and negatively biased against indigenous peoples In sum
indigenous peoples in Angola suffer from severe neglect, dispossession and human rights
violations, and the general trend is that Angola wished to assimilate them into dominant cultures
and livelihoods. However, the past 10 years have also witnessed a more organized and
mobilized indigenous civil society that is trying to make their voices heard and advocate their
own cause.
The indigenous peoples of Angola are often victims of violent conflicts. These conflicts
are further exacerbated by effects of climate change and increased competition over natural
resources, and they lead to massive suffering, impoverishment and displacements. Indigenous
peoples are also victims of abuses committed by the military and armed militia groups.