Prostitution in Angola is illegal[1][2] and prevalent since the 1990s.[3] Prostitution increased further at the end of the civil war in 2001.[4] Prohibition is not consistently enforced. Many women engage in prostitution due to poverty.[5] It was estimated in 2013 that there were about 33,000 sex workers in the country.[6] Many Namibian women enter the country illegally, often via the border municipality of Curoca, and travel to towns such as Ondjiva, Lubango and Luanda to work as prostitutes.[7]
Prostitution is widespread in the oil-rich Cabinda Province,[4] where many American and other foreign nationals work.[8] Women from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo cross the porous border to earn money in the enclave as prostitutes.[4] Some of the police in the area are corrupt and deport the women if they do not pay the bribes required.[4] The most famous bar/brothel in the enclave is Berlita in Cabinda city's Comandante Jika neighbourhood. It is named after its late owner, a sex worker.[4] Prostitution is also common in the diamond mining areas.[3][9]
The Ministry of Family and Women Promotion (MINFAMU) maintains a women's shelter in the capital, Luanda, that is open to former prostitutes.[5]
Child prostitution is a problem in the country.[3][9][10]
state19
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).