Namibia: Angolan women and children displaced by drought into Namibia face serious human rights abuses arising from a lack of safe and legal migration pathways for people forced across borders by natural disasters, Amnesty International said in a new report. The report, entitled "The Drier It Gets The Longer You Have To Walk, The Deeper You Have To Dig - The Human Rights Impacts Of Drought-induced Displacement On Angolan Women and Children In Namibia," documents the devastating consequences of recurrent drought in southern Angola and the human rights impacts experienced by those displaced into Namibia, including persistent fear of arrest, detention, and deportation, which in turn influences their daily decisions about whether to seek healthcare and other services.
According to African Press Organization, Namibian authorities must establish a rights-based approach to migration, ensuring that people displaced by drought and other natural disasters can access basic rights, including registration and documentation. Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, emphasized that the protection of already marginalized Angolans who are forced to move to Namibia in search of livelihoods is not just a humanitarian concern but a human rights crisis that demands international solidarity, including legal protection against refoulement.
Between May 2024 and May 2026, Amnesty International interviewed at least 167 people, including displaced people, community leaders, government officials, representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), academics, and members of the UN Country Team. At the time of publication, Namibian government officials had not responded to Amnesty International's request for comment.
Southern Angola, particularly Cunene, Hula, and Namibe provinces, has been among the hardest hit by recurring droughts, exacerbated by El Ni±o. Together with long-standing structural vulnerabilities, these conditions have undermined traditional pastoral and farming systems, eroded people's resilience, and forced them to migrate to Namibia in search of safety, food, water, work, and essential services. Women and children are disproportionately affected, often taking these journeys under great risk.
A young climate activist told Amnesty International that drought-induced displacement is not a simple story of people running from drought but a rational response to collapsing systems. He noted that as conditions worsen, the distances traveled increase, and the efforts to survive become more desperate.
The report notes that Angolans displaced by drought have limited ways to regularize their stay in Namibia, as the current immigration and protection laws do not reflect the realities of climate-driven displacement. This has forced many people into irregular status as they cross the border in search of food, water, grazing land, healthcare, family support, and work following the droughts which destroy crops, livestock, and livelihoods.
In 2026, the Namibian Ministry of Home Affairs immigration control program announced that more than 1,000 Angolan nationals had been returned to Angola after being found in the country without regular immigration status. In June 2025, Amnesty International witnessed Namibian authorities round up about 40 Angolan nationals, including women and children, at a community center in Opuwo and transport them to the Ruacana border without individualized screening or assessment of the risks upon return. This practice raises serious concerns under the prohibition of collective expulsion and the principle of non-refoulement.
The report highlights that Namibia's existing immigration framework does not adequately respond to the circumstances of people displaced across the border by drought. Although Angolan passport holders can enter Namibia visa-free through official border posts for limited periods, this does not provide a right to work, longer-term residence, or a dedicated protection pathway. Many people from drought-affected border communities lack documentation and use informal crossing points. Once in Namibia without regular status, they have few accessible options to regularize their stay, leaving thousands in fear of arrest, detention, and deportation, a fear that shapes daily decisions about whether to seek healthcare and other services.
Amnesty International found that for those already living in northern Namibia, housing, water, and sanitation conditions fell far short of international law and standards. Many families live in makeshift shelters, in severely overcrowded conditions, or entirely without shelter. Undocumented Angolans were charged higher fees in hospitals than Namibian nationals, pushing them to delay treatment until illness became severe.
Amnesty International calls on Namibian authorities to honor their international and regional legal obligations by ensuring that displaced Angolans can access legal protections, including registration and documentation needed to access rights. State authorities must conduct individual assessments before deportations and consider the human risk associated with return.
High-income, historically high-emitting states have heightened obligations in relation to climate action. States that are able to do so must provide international cooperation and assistance, including adequate climate finance, to support countries such as Angola and Namibia in adaptation, drought preparedness, resilience-building, and addressing loss and damage.
Angola's investment in climate adaptation, drought preparedness, and livelihood protection has remained uneven due to limited finance, weak institutional capacity, inadequate climate-monitoring infrastructure, and dependence on donor-supported emergency and resilience programs. Gaps in early warning systems, water infrastructure, veterinary support, and social protection mechanisms have contributed to the erosion of pastoral and subsistence farming systems.
Angolan authorities must take urgent action to honor their legal obligations by implementing safeguards to protect the drought affected through drought preparedness and climate adaptation mechanisms and protect communities at risk of displacement. Between January and July 2021, over 7,000 Angolans, mainly women and children, crossed into northern Namibia due to severe drought and food insecurity in southern Angola. However, the true scale of drought-related displacement over this period is unknown due to the absence of comprehensive reception, registration, or data collection systems.
