The International Conference on Migration in Africa (ICMA) hosted by the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) and the Institute for Social Development at UWC, on 3 December 2014 brought together local, African and international scholars, academics, researchers, practitioners, professionals, policy makers and NGO representatives and funding bodies to discuss issues relating to human mobility in Africa. The topics included south-south migration, the nexus between migration and development, irregular migration and reintegration of returnee migrants.

1. March 2008
Africans on the move:
Angola
Sergio Carciotto, Director
Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA)
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2. Structure of the presentation
 Introduction
 Selected issues
Migration and development
Irregular migration
Returnees
 Migration governance
 Conclusions and areas for further research
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3. Introduction
 Population in Angola has reached over 20 million (urban pop. growth 4%)
 During the conflict (1975-2002) 1 million people were killed and over 4
million were displaced
 Peace was restored in 2002 (Luena Agreement)
 Currently the country is experiencing a rapid economic growth 4% (2014)
 There are several challenges:
 Poverty
 Lack of infrastructures
 Access to water, electricity, health care, education and housing
 Corruption
 Human mobility has rapidly increased due to favourable socio-economic
and political conditions (increase in the number of AS; smuggling by boat)
 One of the major issues is the reintegration of former Angolan refugees
Source: UN DESA, IMF, World Bank
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4. Migration and development
Different migration stakeholders (migrants, sending
and receiving countries)
Two key aspects are remittances and the diaspora
Angola has a large diaspora community
Data on remittances are poor and incomplete
In general data is underestimated (informal channels
used to send migration make difficult to estimate the
size)
Source: ACP Observatory on migration, Finmark Trust
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5. Migration and development
Data on remittances are incomplete and scanty
Top sources of remittances are Portugal and South Africa
30% is of Angolan diaspora is in Portugal; 42% in other European
countries; 4% in Brazil; 3% North America; 5% South Africa; 13% other
African countries; 3% in the rest of the world
In 2010 USD 18 million was remitted to Angola (in South Africa send
between 450 USD and 600 USD per year)
The outflow of remittances for 2012 was estimated at USD 546 million
The cost of sending remittances in Africa is high (i.e. South Africa to
Angola nearly 20% of the amount sent)
In 2013 the outflow of remittances from Angola to Portugal was € 304,328
million; 10% of the total remittances received by Portugal
This trend is a sign of transformation of Angola from migrant-sending to
migrant-receiving country (between 2008 and 2012 12% of the total of
Portuguese migrants moved to Angola or Mozambique)
Source: IOM, World Bank, Finmark Trust 5

6. Remittances:
 Positive Effects:
 Improve basic needs for households
 Source of supplementary income
 Families receiving remittances spend on human capital formation
(education and health care)
 1/3 of transfers are made regularly
 for 24% of the households remittances represent the primary source of
monthly income
 Negative Effects:
 Spent for consumption and not for investments
 Transfer from individual to individual
Source: IOM, Finmark Trust
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7. Brain Drain
 The loss of skills is seen as a negative social effect of migration
 Despite economic growth and economic slowdown in the West, Angola is
still experiencing “brain drain” of highly skilled citizens
 This phenomenon has been on the rise since the end of the civil war in
2002
 The country is recruiting expensive foreign expatriates (i.e. health care
professionals and technicians)
 200,000 Angolans have migrated toward high-income economies (19.5%
are highly skilled)
 Returnees as a source of potential “brain gain”? Lesson learnt
Source: ACP Observatory on migration, UNHCR
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8. Irregular migration
 Political stability, income inequalities between countries and
economic growth have increased migratory movements (in
particular from the DRC to the northern provinces of Angola)
 It is not possible to estimate the number of irregular migrants;
figures are based on rumours and guesswork
 Numerous cross-border movements for trading
 Undocumented migrants are employed in the mining industry as
diamond diggers
 There is no comprehensive migration policy framework to deal
with irregular migrants
 Media often stigmatize “illegal migrants”; they refer to a “silent
invasion”
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9. The return of former Angolan refugees
 Returnees as “agents of development” = brain gain
 Reintegration of former refugees from neighboring countries
(Zambia, DRC, Namibia) over 400,000 return (2003-2012)
 Amongst those refugees residing in South Africa (app. 6000)
very few less than 50 opted for voluntary repatriation
 2nd generations and educated individuals are more willing to
return
 Obstacles: lack of social services, language problems,
acquiring Angolan national identity documents, validating
educational qualifications gained while in exile
Source: UNHCR
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10. Migration Governance
Voluntary repatriation programmes have facilitated the return of a
large number of former refugees from neighbouring countries
 Positive effect: foster development
 Negative effect: put more strain on social services
Migration & development vs. securitization of borders
Urbanization and population pressure
 High rate of urbanization 61% and urban population growth 4%
Human trafficking - in 2014 Angola made steps forward to the
prevention of human trafficking and the protection of human rights:
 The Palermo Protocols to the Convention against Transnational organised
Crime was acceded
 Penal code was amended to prohibit human trafficking
 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance was acceded
Source: UNHCR, UN DESA, UNICEF, UNDP 10

11. Conclusions and areas of further
research
 Angola is experiencing an increase of human mobility propelled by
favourable economic conditions and is turning into a migrant-receiving
countries (increase of remittance outflows)
 No migration policy and lack of comprehensive strategy to deal with human
mobility (i.e. immigration, emigration and internal mobility)
 No reliable data; need for capacity building on data collection and analysis;
need to foster the share of available data to better understand migration
inflows
 No assessment of the impact of migrants on the Angolan economy
 Very little known on remittance outflows
 Impact of the cessation on country of asylum (i.e. South Africa)
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12. Thank you for your kind attention.
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