Angola

In 2023, Angola hosted over 56,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from the DRC. However, the country struggles with both refugee status determination and documentation for children born to asylum seekers and refugees. Between July 2023 to June 2024 only 946 refugees were registered according to a 2025 UPR submission. When children of foreign parents were registered, they weren’t classified as refugees or given Angolan citizenship. Late birth registration drives called “Be Born a Citizen” (2013-2018) excluded anyone perceived to be a non-citizen. In 2014 UNHCR expressed concern that birth certificate issuance to children born to foreigners, including refugee children, had been suspended until Angola’s new nationality law was approved. In 2015, Angola’s national refugee status determination mechanism was replaced. Children born to refugees or asylum seekers couldn’t be registered until the new system was in place. In 2019, Angola received Human Rights Committee and UPR recommendations to eliminate obstacles to registration for children born to refugees and asylum seekers. A 2019 NGO report said non-registered children born to Congolese refugees were deported with their parents.