Overview:

• Recognition and registration are amalgamated and the terms are used interchangeably.

• Angola’s stipulation of mandatory registration contravenes the Bielefeldt provision that registration of one’s religious activities should be at the discretion of the group rather than mandated by the state.

• Enforcement of the mandatory registration rule seems to fluctuate with Freedom House reporting that many Pentecostal churches remain unregistered; the stagnation of the registration system since 2004 is demonstrative of the government’s lack of commitment to establishing a dynamic system for both recognition and registration of religion and belief.

• Restrictive requirement for registration such as certain membership quotas and excessive information about group leaders and activities is further demonstration of the Angolan government’s restrictive approach to the religious activity of its citizens.

• The subjective “consistency with the constitution” provision could be widely misused to prohibit non-offending groups.

• According to Freedom House, there are no registered Muslim groups and this community sees numerous institutional hurdles to recognition.

Positive elements:

• Nil.

Recommendations:

• Nil.