On March 20, Narciso Chipalavela and Laurindo Chipesse Mário, members of ENDE’s Trade Union (SINTEE) and Abraão Messamessa, member of the Board of the Independent and Free Trade Unions of Angola (CGSILA), were arbitrarily arrested while monitoring a workers’ strike demanding the Angolan government better wages and working conditions. All three trade union leaders were acquitted of charges on March 21. Associação KUTAKESA and Movimento de Defensores dos Direitos Humanos em Angola (Movement of Human Rights Defenders in Angola) condemn the harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary detention of union leaders in Angola. KUTAKESA also addresses the special mechanisms of the United Nations and the African Commission to urge the Angolan government to take concrete measures to prevent the harassment and arbitrary arrests of union members while guaranteeing their right to freedom of expression and right to freedom of assembly and association.

• Appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders.
• Appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association.
• Appeal to the Special Rapporteur of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
• Appeal to Special Rapporteur of the African Commission on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Africa.