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Mozambique - Initial report of States parties due in 1996: Addendum [2001] UNCRCSPR 9; CRC/C/41/Add.11 (14 May 2001)
UNITED NATIONS
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CRC
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/41/Add.11 14 May
2001
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE
CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER
ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Initial report of States parties due in 1996
MOZAMBIQUE
[21
June 2000]
GE.01-42095 (E)
050701
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
List of abbreviations
6
Introduction 1 - 13 8
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF
IMPLEMENTATION
(arts. 4, 42 and 44.6) 14 - 54 10
II. DEFINITION
OF THE CHILD (art. 1) 55 - 70 19
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 71 -
107 21
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2) 71 -
82 21
B. Best interests of the child (art. 3) 83 -
91 23
C. The right to life, survival and development (art. 6) 92
- 101 25
D. Respect for the views of the child (art. 12) 102 -
107 26
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 108 - 194 27
A. Name and
nationality (art. 7) 108 - 122 27
B. Preservation of identity (art.
8) 123 - 132 30
C. Freedom of expression (art. 13) 133 -
135 31
D. Freedom of thought, conscience and
religion
(art. 14) 136 - 141 32
E. Freedom of association
and peaceful assembly
(art. 15) 142 - 149 33
F. Protection of
privacy (art. 16) 150 - 155 34
G. Access to appropriate information
(art. 17) 156 - 178 35
H. The right not to be subjected to torture or
other cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment
(art. 37 (a)) 179 - 194 39
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND
ALTERNATIVE CARE 195 - 280 43
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
195 - 200 43
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18, paras. 1 and 2)
201 - 207 44
C. Separation from parents (art. 9) 208 -
214 46
D. Family reunification (art. 10) 215 47
E. Illicit
transfer and non-return (art. 11) 216 - 217 47
F. Recovery of
maintenance for the child
(art. 27, para. 4) 218 -
226 47
G. Children deprived of a family environment (art. 20) 227 -
249 49
H. Adoption (art. 21) 250 - 261 53
I. Periodic review
of placement (art. 25) 262 - 268 55
J. Abuse and neglect, including
physical and
psychological recovery and social reintegration
(arts.
19 and 39) 269 - 280 57
VI. BASIC HEALTH AND WELLBEING 281 -
372 59
A. Disabled children (art. 23) 281 - 308 59
B. Health
and medical services (art. 24) 309 - 343 63
C. Social security and
childcare services and facilities
(arts. 26 and 18, para. 3) 344 -
353 71
D. Standard of living (art. 37, paras. 13) 354 -
372 73
VII. EDUCATION, FREE TIME AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES 373 -
502 76
A. Education, vocational training and professional
guidance (art. 28) 373 - 468 76
B. Objectives of education
(art. 29) 469 - 486 96
C. Free time and cultural activities (art. 31)
487 - 502 100
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION
MEASURES 503 - 664 103
A. Children in situations of emergency 503 -
548 103
1. Refugee children (art. 22) 503 -
522 103
2. Children in armed conflicts (art. 38),
including
physical and psychological recovery and
social
reintegration (art. 39) 523 - 548 108
B. Children in
Conflict with the law 549 - 568 113
1. The administration of
juvenile justice (art. 40) 549 - 554 113
2. Treatment of children
deprived of their liberty,
including any form of detention imprisonment
or placement in custodial settings (art. 37 (b),
(c) and (d))
555 - 563 115
3. Sentencing of juveniles, in particular
the
prohibition of capital punishment and life
imprisonment (art.
37 (a)) 564 - 566 117
4. Physical and psychological recovery and
social
reintegration (art. 39) 567 -
568 117
C. Children in situations of exploitation,
including their
physical and psychological recovery and
social
reintegration (art. 39) 569 -
662 118
1. Economic exploitation, including child labour
(art.
32) 569 - 591 118
2. Drug abuse (art. 33) 592 -
622 121
3. Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation (art. 34) 623 -
651 127
4. Sale, trafficking and abduction (art. 35) 652 -
658 132
5. Other forms of exploitation (art. 36) 659 -
662 133
D. Children belonging to a minority or to an
indigenous
group (art. 30) 663 - 664 134
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Tables
Table 1. MICAS current
budget (goods and services) 17
Table 2. Crimes against children in
Maputo town, 19941997 42
Table 3. Children in State children’s
centres/orphanages 19931998 51
Table 4. Street children in sheltered
care 52
Table 5. Infant mortality rates in the 24 years prior to the
DHS - distributed
by fiveyear periods 65
Table 6. Immunization
coverage 1995-1997, children aged 012 months 66
Table
7. Immunization coverage, children aged 012 months 66
Table
8. Children’s health status, 19931997 67
Table 9. Delivery,
antenatal and postnatal consultation coverage 68
Table 10. Projections
of the number of children infected with HIV, 19941999 69
Table
11. Health projects with an impact on children 71
Table 12. Evolution
of the population aged six and seven years and the
respective admission
rates, 19921997 81
Table 13. Population by age and respective EP1
enrolment rates in 1997 82
Table 14. EP1 school performance by province
83
Table 15. Evolution of EP1 graduates and transition rates to EP2
19801997 83
Table 16. Transition rates 19801997 84
Table
17. Evolution of primary education classrooms 19921997 86
Table
18. Categories of primary and secondary teachers - 1997 87
Table
19. Full-time national teaching staff by level of training and
institution,
1996/97 88
Table 20. Structure of teachertraining
courses 91
ABBREVIATIONS
AMODEFA Mozambican Association for the Defence
of the Family
ARPAC Cultural Heritage Archives
ATV Antitetanus
vaccination
CDAY InterSectoral Support Committee for the Development of
Adolescents and
Young People
CERPIJ Child and Youth Psychological
Rehabilitation Centre
CRC Convention on the Rights of the
Child
DEA Department of Adult Education (of MINED)
DHS Demographic and
Health Survey
EIP Expanded Immunization Programme
EP1 and 2 Primary
education, 1st and 2nd level
ESG1 and 2 First and secondcycle general
secondary education
FLRP Family Location and Reunification
Programme
GAPVU Office to Support the Vulnerable Population
HDI Human
Development Index
HDR Human Development Report
IAP Institute for Teacher
Improvement
ILO International Labour Organization
IMAP Primary Teacher
Training Institute
IMP Midlevel Pedagogical Institute
INAS National
Institute for Social Action
INEA National Institute for Literacy and Adult
Education
ISCTEM Higher Institute of Science and Technology of
Mozambique
ISPU Higher Polytechnic and University Institute
ISRI Higher
Institute of International Relations
MCH Mother and Child Health
MCYS
Ministry for Culture, Youth and Sports
MICAS Ministry for the Coordination
of Social Action
MICOA Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental
Action
MINED Ministry of Education
MIP More Individualized
Planning
MISAU/MOH Ministry of Health
MOPH Ministry of Public Works and
Housing
NAR Refugee Support Nucleus
NES National Education System
NFE
Non-Formal Education Programme
NGO Non governmental organization
NIS
National Institute for Statistics
NYC National Youth Council
OGE
General State Budget
PHC Primary Health Care
PRM Police of the Republic
of Mozambique
PROAGRI National Agricultural Development Programme
PRONAR
National Rural Water Programme
RPC Committee for the Preparation of the
Report on the Rights of the Child
SEAS Secretariat of State for Social
Action
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SJAM
Statute on Jurisdictional Assistance for Minors
STD Sexually transmitted
diseases
UEM Eduardo Mondlane University
UNAIDS Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNHCR
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United
Nations Children’s Fund
UC Catholic University
UP Pedagogical
University
WHO World Health Organization
ZIPs Zones of Pedagogical
Influence
Introduction
Mozambique: the country and its people
- The
Republic of Mozambique is located in southern Africa. With a 2,470 km
coastline along the Indian Ocean to the east, the country
shares borders with
Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, and with Zimbabwe,
South Africa and Swaziland to the
west and south. The country covers an area of
some 801,590 km2.
- In
1997 Mozambique had a population of 15.7 million inhabitants - the third largest
population in southern Africa, and predominantly
young. About
45.7 per cent of its inhabitants are under 15 years of age
and less than 3 per cent are over 64. The country has more
women than
men (51 per cent) and the average life expectancy is
46 years.
- The
majority of the Mozambican population lives in rural areas where the main
activity is subsistence agriculture. The most common
religions are
Christianity, Islam, Zion and other traditional African religions. The country
has various ethnic groups resulting
in a wide variety of African languages and
dialects. The country’s official language is Portuguese.
Political and social situation
- Mozambique’s
history in the second half of the century has been marked by violence and social
instability. For centuries a
Portuguese colony, in 1975 Mozambique achieved its
independence following 10 years of liberation struggle led since 1964 by
the Mozambique
Liberation Front (FRELIMO). Immediately after independence, the
country came under attack from the former Southern Rhodesia; this
was followed
by new military aggression and destabilization by the South African apartheid
regime. The last cycle of violence ended
in 1992 after about 16 years of
war between Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance) and the
Government.
- This
last conflict in particular devastated the country’s social fabric,
infrastructure and all spheres of life. The social
effects of the war were
dramatic, with 1 million dead including an estimated 600,000 children.
More than one third of the population
was forced to abandon their homes, seeking
refuge in towns and neighbouring countries. Thousands of citizens were disabled
and many
suffered the effects of starvation and the psychological trauma
associated with the conflict. Vast areas of the country are still
affected by
the mines laid during the war and a substantial portion of economic, health and
education infrastructure still has to
be rehabilitated. At the beginning of the
1990s, Mozambique headed the list of the world’s poorest countries and had
one of
the highest rates of human suffering.
- The
General Peace Agreement between the Government and Renamo put an end to this
episode of violence in 1992. It was followed by
a peace process which enabled
millions of displaced people and refugees to return home, the demobilization of
more than 92,000 soldiers
from the two opposing forces, and the beginning of a
process of reconciliation, reconstruction and democratization. The
country’s
first presidential and legislative elections were held in
October 1994, resulting in the election of Joaquim Chissano as President
of
the Republic and the establishment of Mozambique’s first multi-party
parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
Economic situation
- As
Mozambique is a predominantly agricultural country, the weak development
inherited from the colonial period combined with the impact
of the war and
frequent natural disasters have had a profound effect on the country’s
productive capacity. It became almost
totally dependent on imported consumer
goods. Its 1990 per capita income was estimated to be less than US$ 80,
rising to about US$
127 in 1997 following the introduction of economic
reforms.
- The
structural adjustment programme and the new development strategy’s Five
Year Programme have had a substantial effect on
economic growth, although its
effect in terms of improved living conditions for the population is still
inadequate. At the same
time, with the end of the conflict expenditure on
defence and security was replaced by a heavy foreign debt service burden, which
has delayed much-needed investment in the social area to provide the majority of
Mozambicans, particularly in rural areas, access
to basic health services,
education, drinking water, electricity, housing, employment and well-being. In
1996/97 the incidence of
poverty in the country was still very high (about
69.4 per cent) affecting some 10.9 million people, more than two
thirds of the
population.
- Nevertheless,
the prevalence of peace and the country’s economic performance in recent
years point to a promising future in
the medium and long term. The country has
started to exploit its enormous agricultural, hydroelectric and transport
potential.
Rehabilitated power lines make it possible to export the electricity
produced by the Cahora Bassa dam to Zimbabwe and South Africa,
thereby
taking full advantage of the enormous potential of this undertaking. Other
large development projects such as the Maputo
Corridor, an aluminium smelter and
natural gas exploitation, as well as the privatization of hundreds of State
companies and fiscal
reforms, have enabled the country to increase substantially
the vital foreign exchange revenue needed for the desired improvements
in the
people’s living conditions.
The country and its children
- Immediately
after the independence of Mozambique, the commitment of families and society to
the well-being and future of its children
was reflected in the Declaration of
the Rights of the Mozambican Child, and by ratification of the United Nations
Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child.
- Despite
efforts by the Government and civil society during these difficult years, as
indicated throughout this report, transforming
the precepts in these instruments
into reality through the creation of effective protection mechanisms and
instruments, has not been
satisfactory, owing to multiple factors related to the
emergency situation that persisted until relatively recently.
- Despite
gradual improvements in the well-being and living conditions of children, the
country still has a high infant mortality rate
per 1,000 live births: 135
children die before the age of one, particularly in rural areas where the rate
is 160/1,000. About 40
per cent still do not have access to basic
education, and health service coverage is still insufficient in terms of both
infrastructure
and personnel.
- Consequently,
in the near future Mozambique faces many challenges in order to fully satisfy
the rights of children. While on the
one hand the various government sectors
have an important role in this process, on the other hand there is also a need
for a strong
alliance with civil society to ensure and guarantee that all
children in Mozambique have the right to survival, development, protection
and
participation.
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION (arts. 4, 42 and
44.6)
- Council
of Ministers resolution 19/90 approved ratification of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child without reservation.
It took effect in
the country’s internal legal order following its publication in the
Government Gazette on 23 October 1990.
The ratification instrument
was deposited by the Government of Mozambique in 1994. Prior to this
ratification Mozambique had already
adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the
Child (approved by resolution 23/79).
- Mozambique
played an active role in the consultation process that culminated in the
preparation of the Convention. Prior to ratification
by Mozambique, this
international legal instrument was studied by a number of national institutions
such as the Supreme Court, the
Attorney General’s Office, the Ministries
of Justice, Education and Health and other relevant sectors, which concluded
that
there was no major incompatibility between the domestic legal order and the
precepts of the Convention. It was therefore ratified
without reservation,
despite recognition of the need to improve internal regulations relating to the
rights of the child.
- Immediately
after national independence, and thus even before the conception and entry into
force of the Convention, Mozambique had
already adopted its own Declaration on
the Rights of the Mozambican Child, containing a set of 12 basic rights. The
well-known maxim
of the late President Samora Machel, the first
President of the Republic, “Children are flowers that never wither”,
symbolizes
the care, protection and hope that the Mozambican people feel for
their children.
- The
same year the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted, the Secretariat
of State for Social Action (SEAS) was created.
It replaced the National
Directorate of Social Action under the Ministry of Health, which until then had
been responsible for providing
social assistance. Its objectives had included
promoting the well-being of children. In 1994 the growth in social services
required
the transformation of the Secretariat of State into the Ministry for
the Coordination of Social Action (MICAS). Presidential Decree
3/95 assigned
the following functions to MICAS:
To direct and coordinate all initiatives relating to children;
To organize and guide a system of services able to guarantee action and
support for women, children, the disabled and the elderly;
To provide assistance to children who are orphans, destitute and without
family support;
To provide assistance to pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies living
in poor households;
To prepare legislation on protection, support and the development of
children;
To conduct studies on the various groups of children in difficult
circumstances, in order to make government programmes in this field
more
effective.
- In
order to achieve its mandate on children, MICAS established a Department for the
Child, Women and Family, to disseminate and promote
the rights of the child.
Given its functions and mandate, following Mozambique’s commitment at the
1990 World Summit to implement
the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection
and Development of the Child, MICAS determined that priority should be given to
revising the legislation covering its various areas of intervention, namely: on
the family, women and children, the disabled and
the elderly. Legislation had
to be made more appropriate and adequate to the current needs of Mozambican
society and harmonized
with the various international legal instruments ratified
by the country.
- In
1994 MICAS began a preliminary survey of existing laws, legal norms and decrees
covering minors, in order to identify and compile
the legal documents requiring
reformulation in order to bring them into line with the spirit of the Convention
on the Rights of the
Child. But the project was interrupted shortly after it
began due to lack of funds. It was resumed in early 1998, with assistance
from UNICEF and WHO. The project’s main activities are:
The collection, systematization and compilation of legislation relating to
minors in the pre- and post-independence periods;
A study of this legislation, the identification of gaps, unconstitutional and
illegal aspects, and the preparation of technical-legal
opinions on how to
resolve the problems identified;
Dissemination of current legislation; research and the collection of opinions
on children’s rights in civil society;
Formulation of proposals on norms with immediate effect to permit the
practical application of the norms of the Constitution and the international
conventions signed by Mozambique;
Preparation of a proposal on norms that would permit the promotion and
protection of the rights of the child in
Mozambique.[1]
- Many
of the legal references contained in the analysis in the present document of the
implementation of the Rights of the Child are
based on the collection and
compilation work done under this project, and contributions by the Attorney
General’s Office.
- In
parallel with this exercise, the country is undertaking a comprehensive revision
and reform of important legal codes that will
improve the legislative framework
concerning minors. This process includes the revision of the Constitution, of
the Family and Inheritance Law, and revision of the Civil and Penal Codes. In
addition, new legal dispositions have gradually
been introduced that contribute
to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The following warrant special mention: the Law on the Consumption and
Illegal Traffic of Drugs, the Law Regulating Access by Minors
to Nightclubs and
Prohibiting the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco to Minors under 18 in
Public Places, and the new Press
Law.
- Mozambique’s
acceptance, compliance with and application of the principles contained in the
Charter of the United Nations and
the Charter of the Organization of
African Unity is based on its Constitution (art. 63). In addition to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Mozambique has also subscribed to the
African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child, as well as many other
international legal instruments that will be mentioned in the relevant chapters
in this report. Once ratified and adopted by the country, these instruments
become part of the country’s legal order, although
in cases of conflict
domestic legislation prevails.
- It
will be seen from the analysis of the application of the various articles and
rights of the Convention throughout this report,
that both the Constitution and
various other legal texts and national policies and strategies recognize the
rights specified in the Convention, the provisions
of which can be directly
invoked in court and applied by public authorities.
- The
Social Action Strategy for the Child adopted by the Government in 1998 defines
the priorities and principles for ensuring the
well-being of children under 18
in difficult circumstances, and is intended to guide efforts to eradicate all
social evils harmful
to children - such as being abandoned, violence,
delinquency, social exclusion and destitution. It is based on the principles of
respect for a child’s best interest, non-discrimination, and participation
by the child, the family and society in promoting
the defence of a child’s
rights, in the light of the Constitution, the Declaration of the Rights of the
Mozambican Child, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and
the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. It also recognizes that effective
achievement of the rights of the child requires complementary actions,
a strong
commitment and combined efforts by the State and civil society to protect the
comprehensive development of the child. The
Strategy also seeks to establish a
culture of respect for the rights of the child, recognizing its individual and
collective needs
and committing the family, the State and the various sectors of
society to satisfying the basic needs of the child. The Strategy
thus aims to
help change attitudes in individual, family and institutional practises in order
to protect the destitute child from
illtreatment through sexual abuse and other
forms of violence that inhibit or impede its adequate
development.
- In
1993, even before the adoption of the Strategy, work began on the preparation of
the National Action Plan for the Child, at the
time when the country was
emerging from a long war with all its dramatic consequences for the population
in general and children
in particular. The Plan of Action established the main
postwar activities and targets for children in health, education, water and
sanitation, food security, nutrition and child development in general. The
intention underlying the National Action Plan for the
Child was to create an
instrument that would mobilize and bring together all initiatives by national
and international entities to
address the problems affecting children, thereby
creating conditions for their integral development. However, owing to lack of
funds
and the institutional changes that occurred when the new Government took
office following the 1994 general elections, the preparation
and adoption of the
Plan were interrupted.
- In
1998, following an initiative by a consortium comprising UNICEF, the Save the
Children Alliance and the Community Development Foundation,
a proposal on the
development of an Action Agenda for the Mozambican Child was presented to the
Ministry for the Coordination of
Social Action. The proponents hope that the
agenda will be “an action plan to guide and coordinate the work of
organizations
supporting children so that they can expand and accelerate their
work on the rights of children in Mozambique”. The agenda
envisages an
alliance between Government, civil society and national and foreign
non-governmental organizations. It will be used
as “a guide for advocacy,
social mobilization, and for programming the efforts of organizations and groups
in order to achieve
a set of objectives for Mozambican children over the period
20002010”.
- The
country still has no organized system for gathering data on children and their
basic rights capable of assessing tendencies, priorities
and children’s
needs. Some sectors have mechanisms for identifying indicators and gathering
statistics, in particular in the
Ministries of Education, Health and the
National Institute of Statistics. The Ministry for the Coordination of Social
Action also
has datacollection systems covering the children benefiting from its
programmes, particularly in the provinces. In addition, the
Community
Development Foundation funded a study to identify the need for and viability of
establishing a regular system of global
indicators on children and records of
organizations providing services for children. Following the study,
datacollection and processing
systems covering information from the formal
sector and rural communities were developed. A pilot project was launched at
the end
of 1998 to train community volunteers in data collection in their
villages.
- In
accordance with article 42 of the Convention, a national strategy for
publicizing the rights of the child Convention has been prepared
in order to
inform and encourage children, families, institutions and the public in general
to respect and apply the principles and
precepts of the Convention. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child is still only available in Portuguese,
although some articles
have been translated into local languages for
dissemination among rural communities. For example, in Inhambane the local
Mozambique
Radio station broadcast 18 texts and produced three radio plays
in Portuguese, Xitsua and Bitonga. A video film on the rights of
the child in
the local language, Sena, was produced in Sofala, in the centre of the country.
In Zambezia, 2,000 copies of a brochure
on the Convention, the African Charter
and the Declaration of the Rights of the Mozambican Child were
published.
- Moreover,
even before it was ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child was
already being publicized. In 1990, for example,
10,000 copies of a comic strip
brochure on the rights of the child were produced.
- Over
the last nine years there have been a number of other activities under the
Strategy to publish the Convention and inform public
opinion about its
principles and provisions. The rights of the child are constantly being
disseminated by the media, for both children
and adults, as can be seen in the
chapter on the right of children to information.
- Dissemination
of the rights of the child is the main theme of annual celebrations marking 1
and 16 June, International Children’s
Day and the Day of the African
Child, respectively. Over approximately three weeks (from the last week in May
until 16 June) the
“Children’s
Fortnight” is celebrated. The annual commemorative activities centre
on a specific theme. For example, in 1996 the celebrations
focused on
iodized salt, given the high rate of goitre in some provinces.
- In
1997 the theme was “Child prostitution and sexual abuse of minors”
in response to recommendations by the World Congress
against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm in 1996. In 1998, in the light of
the consequences of landmines
for children, the theme of the celebrations was
“Towards an Africa free of mines”, given the widespread presence of
mines
laid during the war, their effects on the population and on children in
particular, and in response to the international campaign
for the convention on
the elimination of landmines. That convention was ratified by the Government in
May 1998.
- In
1999 the theme was “The child and the environment”. The main events
were organized jointly with the Ministry for the
Coordination of Environmental
Action which held a National Environment Festival in Niassa province on
1 June. Indeed, given the
proximity of International Children’s Day
to 5 June, the International Day of the Environment, celebrations of the
latter have
always focused on children and the environment. There are lectures
and other commemorative, educational and awarenessraising activities
in schools
during the Children’s Fortnight.
- The
central 1 June celebrations take place in a different province each year and are
usually directed by the President of the Republic
who makes an appeal to the
nation to “Put children at the top of the agenda”. That day is
considered a holiday and there
are no lessons. The date is dedicated
exclusively to reflection and promoting the rights of children through cultural,
recreational
and sporting activities focusing on the promotion of their
rights.
- In
1994, Elections on the Rights of the Child were held, involving 180,000
children. The elections were accompanied by publicity
campaigns on the rights
of children in schools and in the media, particularly radio and television. The
rights which obtained the
largest number of votes were:
The
right to study;
The right to family protection;
The right to
housing.
- The
elections constituted a unique moment as they coincided with the country’s
first general democratic elections after many
years of war and suffering. They
were the first experience of directly consulting children about their
aspirations and priorities.
Subsequently, however, plans to address these
aspirations and desires encountered a number of problems. Nevertheless, the
merit
of the elections was the massive participation of children and the
opportunity they provided for the wide dissemination of the rights
of the child
contained in the Convention and in other national and international
documents.
- Debates
and plays are also an important way of disseminating children’s rights,
particularly in schools, urban suburbs and districts.
For example, in Inhambane
province children and adults participated in over 50 debates. The rights of the
child were also disseminated
through drawing and essay competitions on the
subject in schools, childcare centres and youth associations.
- In
order to inform civil servants about the Convention and to train people who work
with or for children, in recent years there have
been seven seminars to
publicize the Convention in seven provinces (Cabo Delgado, Niassa, Tete,
Zambezia, Sofala, Inhambane, and
Maputo City). The seminars were attended by
representatives from the Provincial Directorates of Social Action, Culture Youth
and
Sport, Education, Health, Industry Commerce and Tourism, the Public
Prosecutor’s Office, the Police Command, the media and
NGOs working with
children. The seminars covered the following issues:
The history of human and children’s rights;
Principles and content of the Convention;
The significance of ratification and the commitments assumed;
The role of each institution in implementing the Convention.
Subjects
related to juvenile justice and child rights have been introduced into police
training courses.
- Following
the seminars and as part of the preparation of this report, Nuclei for the
Rights of the Child comprising representatives
of the above-mentioned entities
were created in all provinces and in some districts. In addition, with the same
objective Inhambane
province organized nine district seminars attended by 189
people from a variety of sectors. In Sofala province there were six sector
seminars to build the capacity of officials from the police, justice and the
Public Prosecutor’s Office, a course for journalists
and three for Social
Action staff. In Manica province, in the centre of the country, there were nine
training seminars on children’s
rights for civil servants and NGOs at
province and district level.
- National
and international NGOs have played an important role in funding and organizing
the various awareness and promotion campaigns
on the Convention. For example,
together with MICAS, the Save the Children Alliance and UNICEF have trained
their staff to provide
training on the Rights of the Child. In order to
facilitate training by the entities concerned, training packages have been
prepared
for civil servants, deputies, teachers, educators and NGOs, in order to
influence implementation of the rights of the child. United
Nations agencies
and national and international NGOs have played an important role in conceiving,
funding and implementing numerous
programmes and projects for
children.
- The
preparation of this report provided a unique occasion not only for publicizing
the rights of children but also for reflecting
on the progress achieved in their
implementation. By bringing together many people linked to assistance to
minors, both at central
level and in the provinces and districts, the
preparation of the report became more than just a formal act. It provided
an opportunity
to analyse the laws, policies and programmes implemented since
the Convention was ratified, to evaluate the main principles and mechanisms
adopted and in the process identify gaps and weaknesses that demand greater
interdisciplinary work in addressing the needs of children,
especially children
in the most vulnerable social groups. The information gathered for this
document has laid the foundations for
defining a profile of the Mozambican child
and for the adoption of an action agenda.
- The
central objective of the Government’s Five Year Programme 1994-1999 is to
improve the satisfaction of the fundamental needs
of the people, the most
vulnerable groups in particular. Consequently, through concrete activities in
education, health and employment
the Government aims to reduce absolute poverty
and improve social assistance for specific target groups such as women, the
elderly,
the disabled and children. The government budget is divided into
expenditure for running costs and investment. The current budget
(running
costs) covers the payment of civil servants’ salaries and also expenditure
on electricity, water, fuel, vehicle maintenance
and other material expenditure
(office materials and others). Salaries account for more than 76 per cent of
this expenditure. As
regards the distribution of the budget by sectors, Health
continues to receive the largest proportion, followed by Education, averaging
4.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively. Social Action receives about 0.2
per cent of the current budget. While the Social Action
budget has tended to
remain stable, between 1992 and 1993 the Health and Education budgets rose
sharply and then more or less stabilized
from 1995 onwards. This has been
possible owing to reductions in budget allocations for defence and security,
resulting in increased
allocations for the social sectors.
- As
regards the investment budget, the Education allocations rose substantially in
1992/93 but then declined and stabilized somewhat
in 1995/96; external support
for reconstruction programmes continues to be important. Since 1993 the Health
sector has seen a substantial
rise in investment, with over 80 per cent of the
budget covered by external assistance.
- Budget
allocations for social expenditure for children in Health and Education are
dealt with below in the respective chapters of
this report. There are no data
on expenditure on children in sectors with activities related to protection,
such as the Juvenile
Court, the police and other institutions linked to the
administration of justice for minors. In MICAS, the entity with responsibility
for promoting the well-being of children, a number of specific programmes are
being funded by external assistance and State resources.
In 1998 it ran 18
kindergartens (see details in chapter V.G, below) for 1,697 children and
some 375 pre-schools attended by 18,290
children. Overall, these
institutions have received less than 40 per cent of the budget they require in
order to operate properly.
- The
country has eight orphanages caring for 426 unaccompanied children. There are
also more than 40 projects providing assistance
for children, run in partnership
with national and foreign non-governmental organizations and which account for
most of the external
resources provided to this sector.
- Over
the period 1990-1998 MICAS operating expenditure was less than 0.5 per cent of
the government budget. Table 1 below shows the
evolution of the MICAS budget.
These funds are for salaries of government employees, expenditure on materials
and other current
expenditure. Expenditure on food for children in children’s centres
and orphanages, the promotion and dissemination of the
rights of the child, are
supported by grants from nongovernmental organizations and other civil society
associations.
Table 1: MICAS current budget (goods and services)
(1,000
contos)
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
322.8
|
472.4
|
563.8
|
1 633.8
|
3 841.4
|
3 404.1
|
Source: Directorate of Planning and Cooperation, MICAS.
1998.
- The
investment budget is totally covered by the State. Owing to cyclical factors
related to the democratization process, strong intervention
by NGOs and other
humanitarian organizations working in the social welfare field, the State
reduced the MICAS investment budget to
less than 1 per cent of the total, a
level that remained until 1998. This does not satisfy the real needs of the
sector, as the
minimum requirements for one childcare institution
are 2 million contos per year.
- In
1995, the budgetary requirements for social welfare programmes targeting
specific groups (children, the elderly, the disabled and
absolutely poor
families) in about 60,000 households were estimated at some 34,100 million
contos. Of this amount, 67 per cent corresponded
to payments to poor households
and 19 per cent to absolutely poor households, with 5 per cent for
administrative costs. The cost
of these programmes was supported by the
government budget to the amount of US$ 11.4 million a year. This corresponded
to 2 per
cent of the State budget and was equivalent to 1.5 per cent of the
country’s annual external assistance.
- The
preparation of this report took eight months and was directed by the Ministry
for the Coordination of Social Action. A national
Report Preparatory Committee
(RPC) was established comprising representatives of the following
ministries:
Ministry for the Coordination of Social
Action;
Ministry of Health;
Ministry of
Education;
Ministry of Justice;
Ministry of Planning and
Finance;
Ministry of Home Affairs;
Ministry of
Labour;
Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
Other ministries not
directly involved in the RPC were requested to provide additional information
and opinions on various relevant
issues. These were the Ministry for the
Coordination of Environmental Action, Public Works and Housing, Agriculture and
Fisheries,
Commerce Industry and Tourism, and National Defence. In addition to
these government entities, the Attorney-General’s Office
and the Juvenile
Courts were represented and participated in the RPC. Other invited institutions
were the Institute for Social Action,
the National Institute for the Development
of Education (INDE) and the Nucleus for Support to Refugees. Civil society was
represented
by the Mozambique Red Cross, the Human Rights and Development
Organization, the Community Development Foundation. Save the Children
UK and
UNICEF provided the necessary financial support, representing an alliance of
organizations that included Redd Barna (Norway).
A more restricted group of RPC
members were elected as the editorial nucleus. Its task was to make a deep
analysis, recommend supplementary
actions and select from among the various
contributions which information should be included in the report.
- Multidisciplinary
commissions or committees were established in the
country’s 11 provinces with functions at local level similar to
those of the RPC, guided and coordinated by the Provincial Directorates for
the
Coordination of Social Action. However, in addition to the provincial
representatives of the national RPC members, the provincial
commissions had
stronger participation by the provincial commissions - national and foreign
NGOs, religious confessions and other
social groups. These commissions also had
the job of gathering information and listening to opinions of the various
district and
local stakeholders.
- All
the entities represented on the RPC and the provincial commissions had to gather
and provide information and data on performance
and activities pertaining to
children’s rights in their respective sectors, to analyse the information
provided by other sectors
to which they were related, and to reflect on the
question of CRC implementation in Mozambique. This document is thus a
compilation
of the most relevant aspects of the reports produced in each
province, with district participation, as well as the information provided
and
discussions in the RPC.
- When
the report was in the planning stage, it was intended that the first draft would
be publicized and subject to public analysis.
However, owing to financial
constraints this was not as comprehensive as desired, particularly at provincial
and local levels.
As an alternative, the RPC distributed the first draft
to all the ministries and NGOs involved in the process and subsequently
organized
a national seminar to analyse it.
- The
seminar was attended by 80 representatives of ministries, justice
administration bodies, national and foreign NGOs, and United
Nations agencies.
All the provinces were represented by the Provincial Directors for the
Coordination of Social Action, who were
instructed to present the conclusions
and recommendations of the meeting to their respective provincial governments
and committees,
with the request that they study the report and submit
additional comments.
- Before
the final report was presented to the Council of Ministers it was again
distributed to ministries and other relevant government
and civil society
institutions for final verification. All the contributions received throughout
this process were analysed by the
RPC and taken into account when the report was
revised.
II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD (art.
1)
- In
the Republic of Mozambique children come of age when they are 21. According to
article 122 of the current Civil Code, at that
age the law considers that an
individual has acquired full capacity to exercise his rights, and is responsible
for his own person
and able to own property. As regards the Gexercise of
political rights, article 73 (2) of the Constitution assigns electoral capacity
to citizens over the age of 18, who can vote or be elected, except for those
legally deprived of this
right.
- Under
article 42 of the Penal Code, criminal responsibility is acquired at the age of
16. This means that individuals under this
age cannot be subject to a
punishment that deprives them of their freedom; the only possible punishments
applicable to them are protection,
assistance or educational
measures.
- Criminal
protection measures are established in various other legal statutes, such as the
Civil Code, where article 488 (2) guarantees
civil protection for minors when it
establishes that minors under 16 years old are not criminally liable. In
addition, article 107
of the Penal Code stipulates that a minor under 21 and
over 16 has limited liability and is thus protected against the application
of
major prison sentences of 12 to 16 years. This means that life sentences cannot
be applied to minors, even if they are over 16
years old. The Constitution bans
the death penalty in Mozambique.
- Article
123 of the Civil Code establishes that individuals who have not come of age
cannot undertake legally regulated acts or acts
regulated by and falling under
civil law. This incapacity however can be surmounted by parental power and
guardianship, although
in some cases the law requires prior authorization from
the Juvenile Court.
- In
the medical field, children do not need their parents’ consent to obtain
clinical assistance, as long as this does not imply
surgery. Surgical
intervention for individuals under 18 years of age requires the
written consent of their parents or any other
person responsible for them. The
law recognizes the right of a pregnant minor to visit a mother and child health
centre. Ethical
procedures observed in hospitals determine that the express
authorization of parents or guardians is required for a legal
abortion.
- Given
the impact of the war and its destruction of the school network and the general
structure of the country’s education system,
under the new education
policies it has been decided that mandatory school attendance is an objective to
be achieved gradually.
The Council of Ministers shall determine the rate of
implementation, in the light of the country’s socioeconomic development.
Consequently, there is no rigid determination of ages for mandatory school
attendance. It is however stipulated that the legal
age for admission to basic
primary education is six years. The State tries to encourage the registration
of school-age children
and their continuation throughout the seven classes that
make up basic education.
- Article
41 of the earlier Labour Law (Law 8/85) that was in force between 1985
and 1998 stated that an individual could only be admitted
as a worker if he
was at least 18 years old. There were however special exceptions allowing young
people aged 15 to 18 to be employed
if authorized by their legal
representatives. The same law also required Ministry of Education authorization
in cases where school-age
children were interested in doing remunerated
work.
- Under
the new Labour Law 8/98, published in July 1998, legal capacity to work is now
acquired at the age of 15 years, with the possibility
of minors aged 12 to 15
being allowed to work under special circumstances. The conditions governing the
employment of minors are
presented in detail in the appropriate chapter on work
by minors (see VIII.C.1 infra).
- The
marital age is 18, although boys aged 16 and girls aged 14 can be allowed to
marry if they have the consent of their parents or
guardian, or through
“emancipation”.[2]
The definition of the minimum age for marriage is affected by the traditional
and religious environment that influences many marriages
in the country. In
general, marital age is related to the concepts of child and adult and marriage
can thus take place at ages lower
than those stipulated by law, as described
below.
- As
regards the age when the first sexual relations take place, the 1997 Demographic
and Health Survey found that the median age for
the first sexual relationship
was 15.9 years for women and 18.3 years for men. The same survey found that the
median age for the
first union was 17.1 for women and 22.3 for men. This means
that women begin their sexual experience approximately one year before
getting
married and two and a half years earlier than
men.[3]
- Under
article 2 of the Military Service Law, the duty to do military service and
comply with the resulting military obligations starts
at the age of 18, when
citizens must register under the military
census.[4] This is also the
minimum age for special recruitment, a category which includes voluntary
military service. Actual incorporation
usually takes place in the year the
citizen completes 20 years of age. The law currently in force in Mozambique
thus clearly prohibits
the involvement of individuals under 18 years of age in
military acts.
- Current
legislation does not expressly prohibit the consumption of alcohol and tobacco
by minors. However, Law 3/97 prohibits the
sale of alcoholic beverages and
tobacco to minors under 18. Article 40 of the same law regulates the protection
of children against
the use of drugs, with aggravated penalties when such
substances or preparations are provided to or destined for minors. In general
it is clear that Mozambican society condemns consumption of these substances by
children, even though traditional practices allow
children to consume a small
amount of traditional alcoholic drinks as part of certain religious rituals.
- In
addition to the need to harmonize domestic legislation with international law,
the full observance of children’s rights in
Mozambique requires that a
third aspect be taken into account. This is customary law, cultural and
religious practices and African
tradition in general. During the preparation of
this report, various religious and community leaders had the opportunity to
express
their own opinions and those of the groups they represent with regard to
the definition of the child and the minimum age for various
cultural, religious
and local tradition purposes. The definition of these concepts varies by
region, ethnic group and religious
confession. On the whole, however, the
definitions are somewhat similar.
- The
concept of child is not usually linked to a specific age but is determined by a
set of physical and mental transformations. A
study on the rights and
responsibilities of children in Manica province by the Cultural Heritage
Archives (ARPAC) shows that communities
consider that a child is gradually
integrated into society as an adult through daily and continuous training. It
is felt that children
are not sufficiently mature to participate in
decision-making and that their physical development makes them dependent on the
work
of adults. The study found that children in Manica are distinguished from
adults by the kind of illnesses they get, particularly
infectious diseases such
as chickenpox, measles or other illnesses considered inherent to children. This
means that anyone who no
longer has this kind of health problem is no longer
considered a child.
- Rural
communities usually consider that a girl is no longer a child when she has her
first menstruation. This is when initiation
rites take place or are concluded
and she is ready for married life. In the case of boys, it is their physical
development and ability
to undertake activities that usually correspond to the
work of male adults (hunting, building houses, fishing, agriculture, etc.)
that
determine their aptitude for marriage and to support relatives. One curious
aspect mentioned by Inhambane province is that
sometimes the concept of the
child is related to intellectual capacity or the mental health of an individual.
Consequently, mentally
retarded people are considered children; they are not
given any responsibilities and deserve protection, irrespective of their
age.
- During
the preparation of this report it was found that in Cabo Delgado and Niassa
provinces some rural communities practise initiation
rites on girls even before
their first menstruation, sometimes when they are only seven years old. This
places the children concerned
in situations which could potentially impede their
achievement of some basic rights such as access to education and other aspects
that help build their personality.
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2)
- In
Mozambique the right to equality is an established constitutional principle as
defined in article 66 of the Constitution:
“All citizens are equal before the law, have the same rights and are
subject to the same duties irrespective of colour, race,
sex, ethnic origin,
place of birth, religion, level of education, social position, marital status of
parents or profession.”
In addition, article 67 of the Constitution
unequivocally establishes gender equality when it establishes the equality of
men and women before the law in all areas of political,
economic, social and
cultural life.
- These
constitutional norms clearly mean that minors - male or female - are equal
before the law. They enjoy the same rights as other
citizens, except when
certain ages are required in order to enjoy some rights to the full, such as for
example the right to vote
or be elected, to marry, to have access to certain
places, etc. according to the minimum age requirements reported in the previous
chapter. These exceptions cannot be interpreted as forms of discrimination as
they are influenced by the principle of the child’s
best interest, and
seek to protect the child from negative influences or help the child to benefit
from certain services.
- Non-discrimination
against children is more explicit in article 56 (4) of the Constitution, which
prohibits discrimination against children on the grounds of birth.
- These
constitutional dispositions mean that the international norms ratified by the
country - the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the African Charter of
Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and
Well-being of the Child and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights - are reflected in domestic legislation.
- Prohibition
of discrimination against children is not clearly established in ordinary
legislation. It thus needs to be addressed
by legislators during the current
work on the reformulation of legislation on minors. Indeed, and possibly due to
this legal void,
there are no recorded cases of judicial intervention or the
punishment of people committing offences against the principle of equality
and
non-discrimination.
- The
principle of equality and non-discrimination is, however, reflected in various
codes, including Law 6/92 on the National Education
System (NES). The law
states that the NES is guided by the principle that education is “a right
and duty of all citizens”.
The same law also guarantees basic education
for all citizens and ensures all Mozambicans access to vocational training,
establishing
educational support and complementary measures to promote equality
of opportunity in school access and achievement.
- One
of the current and future priorities of the Government is to gradually eliminate
the disadvantages faced by rural children compared
to access to rights and
services in urban areas (especially education, health, civil registration).
This is to be achieved by expanding
social service networks to the less
developed parts of the country, in particular areas that were heavily affected
by the war. An
interesting example identified in Niassa province during the
preparation of this report was the effort by local authorities to strengthen
the
school network in poor and remote areas inhabited by the Yao people, where the
educational level of their children is very low,
and to make adults aware of the
importance of education.
- There
is no record of systematic or deliberate discrimination against children on the
basis of colour, social or ethnic origin or
for any other reason, including
xenophobia or negative and discriminatory attitudes towards refugee
children.[5] Nevertheless, in
collaboration with NGOs and civil society in general, the Mozambican State is
pursuing an active approach to prevent
or eliminate disparities and negative
attitudes resulting from ignorance, prejudice, and traditional or religious
practices that
might promote discrimination against children. These factors
appear mainly in relation to girls (especially in rural areas), children
with
disabilities, and children belonging to other vulnerable groups such as street
children.
- In
general, during the reflection that took place during the preparation of this
report, participants in all provinces expressed the
concern that girls continue
to be subject to discrimination, both within the family and in society in
general, especially in rural
areas. This discrimination takes various forms,
the most common being: less access to education, exploitation in various kinds
of work, and subjection to premature marriage. A disabled child who is also
female suffers twofold, as children with disabilities
are another group that
suffers discrimination, starting with their own families and their communities.
A study in 1996[6] found that
in some parts of the country parents have negative attitudes towards their
disabled children to the extent that they deny
their right to life at birth and
deny them access to education, given the special conditions required to enable
them to go to school.
- In
the case of girls, Mozambique has subscribed to the Beijing Declaration and
various initiatives are under way as follow-up to the
Fourth World Conference on
Women. These include the Education for Girls Project, implemented by the
Ministry of Education and various
NGOs (described in detail in chapter VII.A),
aimed at eliminating gender disparities in access to education.
- Disabled
children’s access to their rights is also receiving special attention by
Mozambican society. In addition to the formulation
of legislation to defend
their interests, there have been a number of other activities to counter
prejudice against the disabled,
described below in the chapter on disabled
children (chap. VI.A).
- There
have also been awareness-raising and public education campaigns to change
discriminatory attitudes towards street children and
to promote their rights,
especially in areas where this phenomenon is most common, and the Government and
civil society are taking
initiatives to assist these
groups.[7]
B. Best interests of the child (art. 3)
- The
principle of the best interests of the child is not expressly established in the
constitutional text, nor is it directly expressed
in ordinary legislation.
However, it is present in and inherent to the application of various other basic
principles relating to
the rights of the child, such as non-discrimination,
survival and development, and respect for their opinions. All these principles
are relevant to determining what constitutes the best interest of the child,
whether individually in a specific situation, or when
defining the best
interests of children as a group.
- Given
its role, objectives and function in protecting children at risk, the Juvenile
Court is a clear affirmation of the notion “in
the minor’s
interest”, as this institution always takes decisions that are considered
to be for the minor’s benefit,
providing legal protection and defending
his/her rights. In addition, various provisions of the Civil Code and the Penal
Code state
that decisions taken in relation to minors by parents or the
authorities should take into account the interests of the children concerned.
This is shown in detail in various chapters in this report, as for example on
adoption (chap. V.H), or on the accommodation of children
deprived of a family
environment (chap. V.G). Indeed, in court cases involving marital conflict and
the separation of the parents,
a major concern is to safeguard the interests of
the minors involved, so as to guarantee their maximum protection and satisfy
their
emotional and survival needs.
- Some
recent legal codes provide important examples of the principle of respect for
the interests of the child. These include approval
by the Assembly of the
Republic of the law regulating the access by minors to nightclubs and
prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages
and tobacco to minors under 18 in
public places, and the law on the consumption and illegal traffic in drugs,
covered in the relevant
section of this report. An underlying concern in all
these provisions is priority for the protection of minors and their short-,
medium- and long-term interests.
- Concrete
examples of respect for the principle of the best interests of the child are
given in the various parts of this report, covering
different aspects of the
application of rights. For example, the chapter on parental responsibilities
and guidance emphasizes the
role of parents in satisfying the best interests of
dependent minors. In addition, the circumstances under which suspension of
parental
power can be requested, cited in article 1910 of the Civil Code and
article 108 of the Statute on Jurisdictional Assistance to minors,
are
clear examples of the application of this principle.
- In
cases where legislation relating to minors contains omissions, this principle
has formed the basis for court decisions affecting
children. During the
country’s recent emergency situation due to war and natural disasters,
decisions on what to do with the
children affected usually depended on what
constituted their best interests under the circumstances. For example, in many
parts
of the country affected by the conflict, their safety and survival meant
that children had to be evacuated to a safe place even if
this meant their being
temporarily separated from their families. In addition, there is the principle
of placing unaccompanied children
in a family environment rather than in
institutions - the preferred option being families where they have some kind of
kinship link,
or which belong to the same ethnic or linguistic
group.
- The
principle that minors are not criminally liable and the prohibition on
restricting the freedom of minors or their subjection to
degrading penalties or
treatment, described in the relevant chapters, provide other examples of respect
for the principle of the
best interests of the child. Finally, it should be
noted that in the case of refugee children (see chapter VIII.A.1 infra), when
a
person is accompanied by a spouse and dependants he has a certain priority in
being assigned refugee status.
- As
the principle of the best interests of the child is not clearly expressed in
legislation, and as there is no national action plan
for
children,[8] there is no
uniform or systematic acceptance of the importance of this concept at central,
province or local levels. It is sometimes
absent from the definition of
policies that are important for the lives of children, as in case of urban
planning and development,
or housing policies. For example, as there is no
mandatory allocation and conservation of recreational areas for children in
urban
development plans, the number of such places has declined or they are
virtually non-existent in large towns, due to increased construction.
In the
absence of such spaces, roads and pavements become the only places
where children can play, with all the negative consequences
arising from
their exposure to this situation. In all the provinces more than 90 per cent of
cases of people being run down by cars
involve children, precisely because the
principle of the interest of the minor is not reflected in appropriate signals
on public
roads, and there is no appropriate protection mechanism in the most
dangerous and vulnerable places (see V.J infra).
- As
noted in the chapter on General Measures of Implementation, given the
country’s rehabilitation problems and its foreign debt
burden it has not
yet been possible to allocate sufficient budgetary resources to implement the
economic, social and cultural rights
of children in keeping with the principles
of their best interests. This would mean increased resources not only for
education,
health and social action but also in areas such as civil registration
services, the media, the juvenile court, the establishment
of reformatories, as
well as juvenile justice administration bodies in general. Nevertheless, one of
the mechanisms adopted by the
Government to counter the negative effects of the
war and the structural adjustment programme on the most disadvantaged and
vulnerable
groups was the creation of the National Institute for Social Action,
the objectives and functions of which are described in the relevant
chapter
(VI.D).
- The
treatment of children who have been deprived of their families and live in
children’s homes and similar institutions is
another source of concern.
The relevant authorities have not established strict standards for these
institutions, and there is no
regular inspection to check on observance of basic
principles relating to the rights of the children living there. These standards
should establish rules for health, education, safety, number of children per
room/dormitory, food, number of workers per child and
their technical capacity,
as well as observance of all principles relating to the rights of
children.
C. The right to life, survival and development (art.
6)
- In
keeping with the international precepts and instruments adhered to by Mozambique
and mentioned in previous chapters, a child’s
right to life and to grow up
in an environment that guarantees his/her survival and harmonious development at
all levels, compatible
with human dignity, are covered and protected by the
Constitution. Article 70 of the Constitution states that “every citizen
has the right to life, has the right to physical integrity and cannot be subject
to torture or cruel
and inhuman treatment”. This right enjoys absolute
protection, as, for example, in the constitutional prohibition of the death
penalty in the country (art. 70).
- Under
ordinary legislation, the right to life is established in various codes,
including article 70 of the Civil Code which establishes
legal protection from
unlawful offences or threats of offences against citizens. Under article 368 of
the Penal Code homicide is
a crime, even when involuntary, which carries a
prison sentence of one month to two years. These sentences are increased in
cases
when manslaughter arises from an unlawful act and is done in an unlawful
place, time or manner.
- The
law also extends the right to life to intra-uterine life, with a total ban on
attempts to interrupt pregnancy. Consequently,
at any time during gestation and
irrespective of the age of the foetus, its viability or its regular formation,
abortion is a crime
(article 358 of the Penal Code). The penalty for this kind
of crime is two to eight years in prison, and it can be denounced by
any citizen
with knowledge of such. The voluntary interruption of pregnancy can only take
place under strict conditions and in official
hospitals, under certain special
circumstances when other constitutionally established rights are at stake, for
example, when the
life or dignity of the mother is at stake.
- Infanticide,
defined as interrupting the life of an infant during the first eight days after
birth, is punished with 20 to 24 years
in prison, but 2 to 8 years when
perpetrated by the mother (article 356 of the Penal Code). As in the case of
abortion, it is a
public crime that can be denounced by anyone having knowledge
of it.
- Safeguarding
and protecting the life and survival of children are important principles
underlying the National Health System in Mozambique.
In addition, public
education strategies on modern family planning methods have had a positive
effect in reducing clandestine abortions
as a way of avoiding unwanted births.
Nevertheless, as mentioned in the chapter on Health (VI.B infra), clandestine
abortions are
still one of the main causes of maternal mortality, especially
among young mothers.
- Although
they are slowly improving, the country’s mortality indicators continue to
be high, with an estimated gross mortality
rate of 18.6 per 1,000 inhabitants.
The infant mortality rate is estimated to be 134 per 1,000 live births, and
the maternal mortality
rate 1,500 per 100,000
births.[9] AIDS is another
potential cause of mortality; official statistics indicate that about 10 per
cent of child mortality is due to AIDS
(NIS, 1998 c).
- Since
the war and its consequences (starvation, malnutrition, lack of health care,
mines, aggression, etc.) was one of the main causes
of infant mortality between
1976 and 1992, the efforts of Mozambicans to achieve peace is an example of
safeguarding the right of
children to life and survival. Although the
consequences of the war are still being felt, with the end of the armed conflict
infant
mortality rates, which used to be the highest in the world, have been
falling (but are still a source of concern, particularly due
to the impact of
HIV/AIDS).
- The
Government of Mozambique and civil society have been in the forefront of the
international coalition to eradicate anti-personnel
mines. Mozambique has
adhered to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production
and Transfer of AntiPersonnel
Mines and Their Destruction. In May 2000 the
country hosted the First Meeting of the States Parties to the
Convention.
- As
a result of the colonial war and the more recent cycle of violence, it is
estimated that there are about 2 million landmines in
Mozambique. These
weapons continue to kill and mutilate defenceless citizens, women and children
in particular, who live in an environment
of constant terror and tension,
despite the fact that the country is no longer at war. Landmines also affect
the resettlement process
and the return of people to agriculture. According to
the National Campaign Against Mines, an estimated 12,000 people have been
disabled by mines.
- Given
the instability and death caused by these devices, the Government of Mozambique,
civil society and their international partners
have committed themselves to a
coordinated effort to remove and destroy landmines, a prerequisite for ensuring
the survival of children
in severely affected areas. According to official
data[10] 48,000
anti-personnel mines have been located and destroyed. About 10,000 km of road
have been demined as well as 10,000 hectares
of agricultural land and land for
other economic and social activities. Other sources indicate that the demining
effort has located
and destroyed 271 anti-tank mines, 20,000 items of unexploded
ammunition and 26,000 small-calibre
ammunition.[11] Strategies
to help mine victims are reported in detail in the chapter on Disability (VI.A
infra).
D. Respect for the views of the child (art. 12)
- The
question of respect for a child’s views is not established in the
Constitution, nor is it clearly expressed in ordinary legislation. However, it
is current practice to respect this principle when authorities
have to take
decisions affecting a child’s interests. This is the case when children
are given the possibility to express
their views and desires in cases of
adoption, if they are old enough to do so.
- The
principle of listening to the child’s wishes is rigorously observed in
cases of family reunification, or the placement of
children in substitute
families. Decisions are only taken in accordance with the desire expressed by
the minor, or respecting his/her
interests.
- When
appropriate, children have the right to express their views in hearings in the
Juvenile Court or other judicial bodies, and also
in cases involving the
separation of their parents, adoption, or conflicts with the
law.
- The
organizational structure of both public and private schools gives pupils the
possibility to express their opinions both in the
classroom and in other broader
forms of participation. Whenever necessary, schools organize assemblies run by
the school management
(usually led by the school director and the pedagogical
and administrative directors) where the entire school community - including
the
pupils - participate and present their views on aspects of the school’s
organization.
- At
a more restricted level, each class has a class director, a teacher appointed by
the school management, and a class head, a pupil
elected by his/her colleagues.
In periodic class meetings pupils have the opportunity to present their views,
concerns, and even
take certain decisions on questions related to how the class
functions. Finally, there are also regular meetings between the class
director
and parents and guardians, to provide information on the pupil’s school
performance, to plan school activities and
on other relevant
matters.
- Respect
for the right of children to clearly express their views takes concrete form in
the media, as described in the chapter on
the right to information later in this
report. Some media - radio, television and the written press - have special
spaces dedicated
to children and sometimes filled by the children
themselves.
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Name and nationality (art. 7)
- The
right to a name appears indirectly in article 71 (1) of the Constitution, and is
duly recognized and established under ordinary legislation. The Third Right in
the Declaration of the Rights of Mozambican
Children states that “(you,
Child ...) have the right to a name by which your parents, brothers and sisters
and friends will
call you and by which you will be known wherever you are ...
.”
- In
the Civil Code the most important principles are established in article 72 (1)
which gives each citizen the right to use his full
name and to oppose anyone who
uses it unlawfully as identification or for other purposes. Article 1877
establishes the right of
children to use their parents’ surnames except
when limitations are imposed by civil registration laws. Article 1977
establishes
an adopted person’s right to use the surname of his/her
adoptive parents.
- Article
113 establishes the mandatory registration of any birth that takes place in the
country, irrespective of the nationality of
the parents. It must be declared
verbally within 30 days in the registration office, one of its branches, or
in the civil registry
post in the area of birth or of habitual residence. The
country guarantees birth registration and all inherent rights for foreign
children or refugees born in Mozambique.
- Article
127 of the Civil Registration Code is also relevant. This gives the right of
birth registration to children who are abandoned,
insane and destitute. The
right to a name is also protected by article 123, which determines that the
official responsible for registration
can give the child a name, should the
declarer not wish to do so.
- The
Civil Registration services, responsible for registering births, have registry
officers, branches and civil registration posts
in all the provincial and
district capitals and in administrative posts. Some hospitals, such as the
provincial hospitals in Niassa,
Tete and Cabo Delgado, have Civil
Registration representatives to register children and to instruct women
attending antenatal consultations
on the importance of
registration.
- Nevertheless,
despite this network registration coverage is still very limited and inadequate,
particularly in rural areas, with the
result that many citizens are deprived of
this right. In addition, the related statistical systems are also weak which
makes it
difficult to estimate the number of unregistered children.
Unfortunately, this aspect was not covered in the recent General Population
and
Housing Census (1997) so the number of children without access to this right is
still not known.
- During
the preparation of this report other factors associated with the
non-registration of children in the provinces were identified:
(a) Ignorance of the fact that registration is obligatory,
particularly among isolated families living in remote areas;
(b) The
parents’ refusal (usually the father) to recognize paternity of the
child;
(c) Due to inadequate information for parents, reluctance to
register children arising from reservations about the cost or fear of
reprisals
when registration is delayed;
(d) The lack of easily available services
near the place of birth or residence implies heavy transport costs to the
nearest place
of registration;
(e) Cultural, religious or superstitious
prejudice especially in the case of registration of
girls;
(f) Misconceptions about the objectives of registration and
misinformation promoted by political interests, resulting in refusal
to register
children on the grounds that this will facilitate control over the child by the
political party in power, or the child’s
recruitment into the
army.
- Another
reason for delays in registration occurs when parents take time to give a name
to the child, which often depends on achieving
consensus and traditional family
ceremonies. In the southern provinces in particular, there are cases where such
ceremonies and
the registration of the child do not take place within the
established period due to the absence of the father, a migrant worker
in the
town or in South Africa. Another relevant factor is that most Mozambican
families are based on consensual unions, which require
the presence of both
parents at the registration act.
- In
order to address the problem of registration, provincial registration officials,
sometimes in coordination with and supported by
civil society organizations,
organize teams that visit remote rural areas to publicize and raise awareness
about registration. They
try to register as many children as possible and issue
identity cards to children who have reached the appropriate age. This has
had
positive results, particularly the registration of the many children deprived of
this right during the war.
- In
order to encourage people to register births, the Government has determined that
when registration is done within 30 days of birth
people are exempt from paying
the Mt 50,000 fee. In the case of children from families with socio-economic
difficulties, confirmed
by a statement on their poverty by community leaders or
the official’s own evaluation, the fee can be reduced to Mt 5,000.
In the case of children deprived of family protection, registration and the
acquisition of an identity card are free if the process
is handled by Social
Action.
- During
the preparation of this report, the citizens consulted were unanimous in their
opinion that the 30-day deadline for free registration
is too short considering
the various factors that influence the late registration of children. They felt
that it should be extended
from 30 to 90 days.
- As
regards the right to nationality, the Constitution expressly establishes this
basic right in article 11 which establishes the right to be considered
Mozambican if born in Mozambique
for:
(a) children of a father
or mother born in Mozambique;
(b) children of stateless parents, of
unknown or concealed nationality.
- In
addition, article 12 states that individuals born in Mozambique after
independence are Mozambicans except for children with a foreign
father and
mother, either of whom is in Mozambique working for the State to which he or she
belongs. In these cases, the legislation
admits the possibility of these
children being able to acquire Mozambican nationality if they declare that they
want to be Mozambicans
when they are over 18 years of age, or when this is
declared by their legal representatives if they are under that age. However,
this declaration must be made within 90 days after birth or after the interested
party’s 18th birthday, depending on whether
the declaration is made by the
legal representative or the person concerned, respectively.
- In
the case of children born abroad, articles 18 and 19 recognize the right to
Mozambican nationality of children of a Mozambican
father or mother working for
the State overseas, and anyone over 18 years of age who renounces any foreign
nationality to which he
may be entitled, or when this is done by the legal
representatives of a minor.
- As
regards acquired nationality, article 23 establishes the possibility of
Mozambican nationality being given under the Naturalization
Act to the children
of a citizen with acquired nationality as long as they are single and under 18
years of age.
B. Preservation of identity (art. 8)
- Mozambican
legislation recognizes a child’s right to all the elements comprising his
identity: the right to a name, nationality
and family. Since the right to a
name is established, its preservation is also guaranteed and protected under
national legislation.
Respect for the elements comprising his identity is one
of the ways of respecting the best interests of the child.
- The
rules governing the attribution and composition of a name are themselves an
example of the observation of this principle. The
child can use the name of his
parents and the family surname, traditionally crucial elements in the
identification and personality
of an individual. In addition, and despite the
various difficulties in this field, efforts to get newborn children registered
by
facilitating access to civil registration services and through the work of
the mobile registration teams, are another important factor
in preserving the
identity of children.
- Changing
a name is also controlled by law. The rules are quite strict and this is only
allowed in cases where the alteration restores
and strengthens the identity of
the individual (article 125 of the Civil Registration Code). In cases of
adoption, a child’s
surname can only be changed in cases of complete
adoption or when the name of the child is unknown. In the case of orphans and
abandoned
children, every attempt is made to retain the child’s name or
that of his family when known, and the child only receives another
name when all
attempts to identify his real name have failed. In these cases the child is
given a provisional birth registration
which is annulled if confirmation of his
identity appears.
- The
objectives, principles, methodologies and techniques used in locating and
reuniting unaccompanied children during and after the
war illustrate respect for
the principle of preservation of a child’s identity. The process of
documenting children separated
from their families involved recovering and
recording biological information and data on the child’s sociofamily
background
in order to reconstruct an information framework for identifying the
child and locating relatives. Of particular importance in this
process was the
correct annotation of the child’s name, including any nicknames or
traditional names, in addition to information
on parents and
forebears.
- In
the search for relatives, the information and data on the children concerned
were carefully publicized through posters containing
a photograph and
information on the child, through radio announcements or, more importantly, by
involving volunteers from the communities
the child came from, people who knew
the possible whereabouts of relatives. The child’s identification data
were crucial for
selecting temporary host families; priority was given to
biological relatives, extended family members, or substitute families from
the
same ethnic or religious group or from the child’s home
area.
- In
addition to searching for families, the Government was equally concerned about
preserving the identity of the hundreds of thousands
of Mozambican refugee
children in neighbouring countries during the armed conflict. This concern
resulted in refugee populations
being placed in camps that accommodated mainly
people from the same part of the country, or by placing unaccompanied children
with
families from their home areas. Another example was the effort to promote
the basic education of refugee children using Mozambican
curricula, materials
and teachers, and by encouraging cultural activities and other traditional rites
which, despite their long absence
from the country, enabled these children to
preserve their identity and their sense of nationality (or even to acquire it,
in the
case of children born in the camps). This made an important contribution
to their social reintegration after their return to Mozambique.
- As
described in the chapter on name and nationality (IV.A supra) both the
constitutional principles and ordinary legislation are quite clear on the
preservation of nationality. Birth registration
facilities were established for
refugee children born abroad, and simple mechanisms were established for
transferring documentation.
As regards original nationality, article 19 of the
Constitution states that “the children of a Mozambican father and mother
are Mozambicans, even when born abroad, as long as they expressly
renounce any
nationality they may have, when over 18 years of age or, in the case of
minors, when this is done by their legal
representatives”.
- The
various principles and procedures mentioned throughout this report reflect the
numerous efforts to preserve identity in the various
contexts of the
country’s life. There are many examples of family ties being restored,
thereby strengthening the child’s
culture and history and even his
emotional links with his environment. All these aspects warrant special
attention, especially in
the basic and secondary education
curricula.
- Unfortunately,
there are still situations that prejudice a child’s right to preserve his
identity, in particular children living
in institutions allegedly dedicated to
caring for them. It is common practice for children admitted to the SOS
villages in Tete
and Maputo to have their Christian names or surnames changed.
They are given names by their surrogate mother, sometimes a surname.
During a
visit to an SOS village by a MICAS team in June 1999, an official of the
institution confirmed that when children are admitted
to the village they are
considered “adopted” (without any legal procedure) and the employee
hired to watch over children
living in the same house becomes their
“mother”. The “father” is the director of the village.
The child
lives under these conditions until he reaches 16 years of age, when he
is transferred to a so-called “youth house” in
the village and
receives a monthly allowance of Mt 506,000 to pay for his expenses. During
the visit it was confirmed that 11 young
people from Tete had been
transferred to Maputo to continue their studies.
- The
institution discourages contacts between the children and their families and
communities of origin, in order to “preserve
their new personality”.
When relatives come to reclaim a child, his reintegration depends on the
SOS village’s assessment
of the socioeconomic condition of the family. As
a result, between 1995 and 1999 only two children were returned to their
families.
In other words, the institution does not seek out relatives in order
to reunite children with their families.
C. Freedom of expression (art. 13)
- Freedom
of expression is established in article 74 of the Constitution, which
establishes the right of all citizens to freedom of expression and the right to
information. Paragraph 2 of the same article
defines the components of freedom
of expression, which include the possibility of disseminating one’s
beliefs by any means
and exercise of the right to information, including the
right to seek, receive and transmit information and ideas. The same article
establishes constitutional guarantees prohibiting limitations on these rights
through censorship.
- These
constitutional guarantees transfer into domestic legislation the principles of
freedom of expression contained in international
legislation, such as the
African Charter of Human and People’s Rights, the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights,
and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare
of the Child.
- These
same rights are also protected under ordinary legislation. Law 18/91
of 10 August - the Law on Freedom of the Press - article
3,
clause 1, states that the right to information means the faculty of each citizen
to inform about and be informed of relevant national
and international facts and
opinions, and the right to disseminate information, opinions and ideas through
the press. There are
no restrictions on the full enjoyment of this right in the
Republic of Mozambique.
D. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art.
14)
- The
Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
for all citizens - thus also children. Article 78 of the Constitution
establishes the freedom of citizens to practise or not to practise a
religion.
- This
right is regulated in ordinary legislation through Law 4/71 of 21 August - the
Law regulating the Foundations of Religious Freedom.
In particular, the
principles in Foundations I to V include recognition by the State of guarantees
of religious freedom for people
and adequate legal protection (Foundation I) and
the right of each person to have or not to have a religion, to change a
religious
confession or abandon it, and to act or not in conformity with the
requirements of the religion to which a person belongs. The principles
established in Foundation III of this law give citizens the right to
express their convictions and to disseminate their religious
doctrine through
the spoken word, in writing, or by other means of communication and to practise
the religious rites pertaining to
the belief in private or in
public.
- The
Law also guarantees the right not to be obliged to declare whether a person
professes a religion or not or which religion he professes,
other than the case
of a confidential statistical survey ordered by law. The Law also prohibits
persecution and the denial of a
right to or exemption from a duty due to the
religious convictions of citizens. It determines that there will be no
discrimination
on the basis of religion in access to public posts or the award
of any official honour or dignity (Foundation IV).
- Foundation
V of Law 4/71 recognizes the right of people to come together for communal
religious practices, or for other specific purposes
of religious life, without
requiring any official authorization or the provision of information to civil
authorities. Such meetings
benefit from these prerogatives when organized by
recognized religious confessions.
- Finally,
the legislation forbids invoking religious freedom to carry out acts that are
incompatible with the life, physical integrity
or dignity of people, good
manners, the fundamental principles of constitutional order or the interests of
sovereignty.
- Religious
subjects are not part of the official school curriculum in Mozambique. They
may, however, be taught freely in churches,
mosques (Muslim schools) or in
private schools run by religious confessions.
E. Freedom of association and peaceful assembly (art.
15)
- Freedom
of association and peaceful assembly is expressly established in articles 75
and 76 of the Constitution, which establish the rights of all citizens to
freedom of assembly in accordance with the law, and freedom of association.
Social
organizations and associations are permitted to pursue their objectives,
establish institutions to achieve their specific objectives,
and to hold assets
for carrying out their activities in accordance with the law.
- The
right to free assembly is regulated by ordinary legislation under article 3 of
Law 8/91, which gives citizens over 18 who enjoy
full civil rights the
right freely to establish associations.
- In
the case of citizens under 18 years of age, the same law guarantees freedom of
association in the establishment of youth organizations
as long as their
management structure comprises members over 18. Exercising this right, children
and young people who have achieved
a level of maturity that enables them to
express their views have spontaneously organized youth associations in various
parts of
the country, or have encouraged other entities and adult associations,
in schools, residential areas, religious groups, etc. so as
to promote active
participation in social life.
- The
right to assembly, also expressly established in the Constitution, is regulated
in Law 9/91 whose article 3 establishes the freedom of all citizens to
exercise their right to assembly and to peaceful
and free demonstration. The
same article establishes that demonstrators do not require any legal
authorization, and prohibits citizens
from being forced to take part in any
assembly or demonstration.
- It
is clear from this law that there are no restrictions on the freedom of children
to hold peaceful demonstrations or to participate
in them, as long as they are
organized in accordance with the law and in situations that do not harm their
best interests. In accordance
with the principle of non-discrimination,
disabled children, for example, have participated in various events where they
have expressed
their views and opinions. In January 1999, for example, there
was a peaceful demonstration by children with hearing difficulties
in the
streets of Maputo town. It was supported by an association of parents and
friends of deaf children and the procession through
public places received
special protection.
- As
regards the right and duty of all citizens to participate in expanding and
consolidating democracy at all levels of society and
the State, established in
article 73 of the Constitution, the law enables citizens over 18 to vote and be
elected. Given the definition of a minor in Mozambican legislation, one can
conclude
from this constitutional norm that minors over 18 have the right to
elect and be elected.
- The
right of minors over 18 to participate in the country’s political life
also means that under article 77 of the Constitution, they have the right to
establish or participate in political parties, a faculty derived from the
freedom of citizens to associate
around the same political ideas. Article 2 of
this law establishes the principle of the voluntary adherence of a citizen to a
party.
- There
is also the right to trade union association, established in article 90 of the
Constitution, under which workers are free to organize themselves in
professional associations or trade unions. This right is regulated in ordinary
legislation through Law 23/91 which gives citizens the freedom to establish
trade union associations, to join them voluntarily and
to carry out trade union
activities in workplaces. Given that this question should be considered
together with the working age described
in the appropriate section (see VIII.C.1
infra), the right of trade union association also covers minors with
capacity to work.
F. Protection of privacy (art. 16)
- It
has already been mentioned that article 71 of the Constitution gives all
citizens the right to honour, a good name, the defence of his public image and
protection of his privacy. As these rights
are not specifically established in
ordinary legislation there is a need for careful reflection by civil society on
the establishment
of parameters for parental responsibility and the right of
children to privacy.
- Family
and tradition still tend to consider children as objects of care, attention and
protection. There is still insufficient recognition
of the fact that children
are subjects with rights. This results in adult interference in the private
lives of children, especially
with regard to decisions about their lives. One
of the most clear examples of this interference is the exclusive parental
decision
to subject children to initiation rites or to decide about marriage, of
rural girls in particular.
- One
matter of concern identified during the preparation of this report was the
difficulty in ensuring privacy in institutions caring
for children -
children’s centres, orphanages and centres for street children. The
physical layout of the buildings (dormitories,
bathrooms, dining halls), the
rigid (or anarchistic) control systems or the overcrowding in these
establishments constitute a serious
infringement of the principle of privacy in
a child’s life. As there is no special law protecting minors in this
respect,
there are no parameters for demanding minimum areas and private space
per person, or covering the strict observance of physical
capacity.
- Given
the inadequate human and material resources, the circumstances and treatment of
children who break the law also produce situations
that violate their right to
privacy, as described in the chapter on this subject. This involves detention,
the conditions in which
interrogation takes place and, in some cases, media
coverage and publicity in cases involving minors.
- During
the recent conflict there were a number of examples of the media ignoring the
rights of children. The absence of a professional
code of ethics, particularly
within some entities assisting children affected by the war and within the
media, led many NGOs to subject
child war victims being assisted by their
projects to excessive attention by donor representatives or the media,
especially the foreign
media. They sometimes organized fund-raising trips to
places where children were encouraged to constantly recount the most painful
episodes in their lives in international forums and in front of television
cameras.[12] In 1987/88
child war victims living in a centre on the outskirts of Maputo (the Lhanguene
hostel) became a focus of attention for
the media from all parts of the world.
Their stories were later reported in a sensationalist way that violated
confidentiality and
the children’s right to privacy in their intimate
lives. Today some shelters for street children continue to act in this
way.
- It
should, however, be noted that there have been improvements in the media’s
respect for the privacy of children, due to action
by human rights organizations
and commitments by journalists and their institutions to respect the ethics and
behavioural principles
of their profession, as described in the next
chapter.
G. Access to appropriate information (art. 17)
- The
right to information is established in the Constitution, in a generic form. In
clauses 1 and 2 of article 74 it is stated that all citizens have the right to
freedom of expression, freedom
of the press and the right to
information.
- The
Constitution also permits private, State or cooperative entities to own media.
The public media comprise the press, radio, the official news
agency, national
television, and other companies and institutions established to serve the public
interest in this field, namely
promoting citizens’ nationwide access to
information that reflects the diversity of ideas and opinions in a balanced way
and
develops the use of national languages.
- In
the radio and television field, the law determines that the public sector should
conceive and produce balanced programming that
takes into account the diverse
interests and preferences of its audience (which includes children), promote
communication for development,
produce and broadcast national events, and
promote culture and creativity, such that they account for an increasing amount
of broadcasting
time.
- The
independence of the media, press freedom, the right to party political
broadcasts and the right of reply, as well as journalists’
respect for
professional ethics, are guaranteed by the Higher Social Communication Council,
established by Law 18/91 of 10 August
- the Law on Press Freedom. This includes
the right to information, the faculty of each citizen to inform and be informed
about
relevant national and international facts and opinions, and the right of
each citizen to disseminate information, views and ideas
through the
press.
- Although
the press law does not specifically regulate the right of children to
information, its definition of the objectives of the
press promotes the interest
of children, especially with regard to the expected contribution of the press in
the following fields,
among others (art. 4):
The promotion of democracy and social justice;
Scientific, economic, social and cultural development;
Raising the level of citizens’ social, educational and cultural
awareness;
Educating citizens about their rights and duties;
The promotion of dialogue between public powers and citizens; and
The promotion of dialogue between the cultures of the world.
- It
is clear that the above objectives make the media, and in particular the public
sector, responsible for ensuring that children
have access to information and
material from various sources and in particular information that promotes their
well-being and development.
- These
objectives also support the child’s right to freedom of expression and
maximum development. The media have been encouraged
to publish positive
material that benefits children and the public in general and that helps achieve
the objectives of other social
sectors such as education, health and social
action. Unfortunately, except for the radio (which is not easily heard in
remote parts
of the country) children’s access to the media is still
difficult, given the cost of the main newspapers and the limited television
coverage.
- The
examples given below show how, to the extent possible, the main public media
have promoted the participation rights of children,
reflecting their points of
view, and have broadcast information and social and cultural materials of
interest to children.
- Radio
Mozambique (RM), the country’s main radio station, is currently the only
medium that covers the whole country, either
through its national station or
through provincial stations (one in each province) and local broadcasts in some
towns. Radio Mozambique
has been broadcasting regular programmes for children
for 21 years. In some cases the programmes have been produced and presented
by
the children themselves, with the right to free expression and initiative. The
children listening to the programmes can participate
by correspondence or by
telephone or can even be present in the studio when programmes are broadcast
live. RM’s children’s
programmes usually target children aged 4 to
14. The main children’s programmes broadcast during the week are as
follows:
“The World We Live In”, a programme with various topics about the
world’s inhabitants, countries, items of interest
and varied music for
children, broadcast for 20 minutes from Mondays to Fridays;
The “Happy Wheel” musical programme dedicated to exchanging
children’s programmes with stations in other countries,
such as radio
Angola for example;
“Our Pre-School”, a programme broadcast every second Tuesday for
pre-school children, that includes tapes of visits to
crèches and
kindergartens, conversations with children and educators, and music for
children;
“Hip-hip Hurrah, Let Us Learn”, also for pre-school children,
where they learn through plays, games, handicrafts, and
reading.
“Children’s bla-bla-bla”, every two weeks, dedicated to the
history and geography of the country; it includes “trips”
to the
provinces and a child is invited to be a guest in the studio;
“A Story for You”, a programme with radio plays or
children’s stories, every Wednesday;
“Our Competition”, broadcast once a month on Thursdays and
dedicated to radio competitions by correspondence;
“Our Break”, every Friday, a mainly recreational programme on the
last school day in the week, and including music, proposals
on lyrics for songs,
games, cooking, etc.;
“Our Flowers”, broadcast for 20 minutes every Saturday, with
messages and dedications by small listeners to their friends,
relatives,
parents, etc.;
“Weekly Express”, a magazine programme for young people with news
from and about children, subjects of interest and direct
competitions by
telephone.
- These
programmes, which are predominantly educational and recreational, are produced
by Radio Mozambique, in some cases with support
from UNICEF and other public
institutions, associations and the private sector. When it provides news on
children, RM always tries
to follow its editorial statutes, which require
respect for ethical aspects and the rights of children, especially their right
to
privacy and protection against stigmatization and the influence of values
harmful to their personality.
- However,
research by Radio Mozambique in Maputo, Sofala, Manica and Zambezia provinces
revealed that some children do not have access
to radios. Parents and guardians
take great care with their radios and keep them out of reach of children. They
prefer to listen
to football games and other programmes that are of no interest
to children. In addition, the high cost of batteries also limits
children’s access to them, particularly children in poorer
families.
- Other
difficulties faced by RM in producing these programmes and fulfilling its role
of giving children access to information include
lack of technical advice by
psychologists, methodological specialists, social assistants and other
professionals who could improve
the quality of their programmes. They also have
material and equipment difficulties, financial problems and difficulty in
training
children to work on broadcasts. In order to address these problems,
there are plans to acquire material and technical resources
for restructuring
children’s programmes, the preparation of a policy in this area and
strengthening exchanges of programmes,
music and news with other
Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola and Portugal).
- Created
in 1980 to prepare young people for a career in journalism, the curriculum of
the school of journalism contains modules on
how to handle subjects
relating to children. A special project in this area is being developed,
entitled “The One-and-a-Half-Inch
Journalism Workshop”. Children
aged 8 to 13 will participate in the programme and learn to write texts and make
drawings that
interpret their rights, duties, knowledge and feelings. These
training activities for children will be provided in two short courses
a year,
of 30 days each, during the school holidays, initially in Maputo. There will
subsequently be a viability study in Beira
and Nampula to identify the
possibility of similar workshops in those towns in the centre and north of the
country. By the year
2000 it is expected that 180 children will have been
trained and 60 young finalist journalists will have improved their
skills in
the courses.
- In
addition to its information function, the Institute for Social Communication
(ISC) plays an important role in public education
and the mobilization of
communities, particularly on issues related to improving the living conditions
of the population, and children
in particular, in rural and peri-urban areas.
The channels used by the ISC are community radios, a television programme called
“Channel
Zero” and a children’s newspaper called “Voice
of the Child”.
- The
community radio in Xai Xai has created a weekly 30-minute children’s
programme called “Voice of the Child”,
that has been broadcast
regularly since 1997. The subjects are presented by children and the programme
is sponsored by private business
interests. Another community radio entitled
“Licungo” broadcasts in Mocuba, Zambezia Province, and has a weekly
youth
programme called “Mobile Youth Antenna”.
- With
UNICEF support the Institute has started a project in rural areas to create and
organize collective radio listening centres,
equipped with radios, cables, solar
energy and electricity. These radios will benefit audience centres in schools,
health centres
and peasant associations in rural communities. As already
mentioned, ISC also has a weekly television programme called “Channel
Zero”. In December each year one of its topics is children, produced with
UNICEF support. In Niassa Province the local branch
of the Institute publishes
a monthly 16-page children’s newspaper.
- Mozambique
Television (TVM) is another very important medium for broadcasting the rights of
children and has daily or weekly children’s
programmes. TVM’s
children’s programmes are essentially educational and recreational and are
usually broadcast immediately
after the opening of the daily broadcast. One
important activity by TVM has been to promote television debates and reports on
topical
issues in the lives of children, inviting the relevant authorities and
members of civil society to comment on them. Initially TVM
only broadcast from
its headquarters in Maputo town, but it is trying to gradually expand its
coverage to the whole country. It
has already opened branches in various
provincial capitals. Some time this year the TVM signal will be transmitted by
satellite,
thus enabling its broadcasts to be received in real time throughout
the country and abroad.
- In
addition to TVM, Maputo also has two private television stations and RTP-Africa
(also in some provincial capitals), with retransmission
throughout the country
in collaboration with TVM. Through special contracts, the public viewer can
also have access to private international
television packages transmitted by
satellite. In addition, in 1999 a cable television system was launched in
Maputo town, and there
are plans for its subsequent expansion to other parts of
the country.
- The
media’s performance in disseminating the Convention on the Rights of the
Child is still inadequate, as this requires the
involvement of and coordination
with the entities responsible for this task. It has thus not been done in a
systematic and spontaneous
way. Nevertheless, the media have played an
important role in denouncing and exposing violations of children’s
rights.
- Despite
legal measures to protect children, through the law regulating the activities of
the press and regulations on the sale of
pornographic material (Law 6/99),
negative messages continue to be transmitted, particularly through cinema,
television and some
printed matter. Their content could be harmful to the
mental and moral development of children. Indeed, during the consultations
while preparing this report parents in all provinces expressed their concern at
the growing pernicious role of some media, particularly
television and cinema
(video cassettes), in promoting negative values through the presentation of
sexual promiscuity, pornography,
drug consumption, violence and juvenile
delinquency. In all provinces, it was recommended that laws and codes of
ethical conduct
to prevent the media from performing this negative role should
be strengthened.
- The
publication and distribution of books and children’s access to them are
still insignificant. This does not help the development
of reading habits among
children. On the one hand, there are very few books written by national
authors, and on the other hand,
the few books that do exist are not easily
accessible to children, especially outside the towns. Children’s
libraries are
equally scarce and most primary schools do not have libraries or
sufficient books for pupils to consult and read. However, it is
worth
mentioning that a series of small books have been published aimed at educating
children on topics related to their lives, for
example, on the rights of
children, the danger of mines, health, environment, etc. Most of these
publications have been supported
by institutions such as UNICEF, the Bernard Van
Leer Foundation, and other bodies as part of government cooperation
programmes.
- The
country’s poverty and underdevelopment prevent its children from taking
advantage of the positive effects of modern technology,
notably the rapid
dissemination of information and knowledge which increases the media’s
potential for education and development.
Only a very small percentage of
children have access to television and other audio-visual resources, and even
these are restricted
to urban areas. Even so, the variety of stations and
television programmes and the free transmission of programmes already raise
concerns about the objectives and content of some negative information
transmitted to children. More sophisticated means such as
the Internet,
recently introduced in some towns, are also inaccessible to children both at
home and at school.
- In
addition to the provisions of the above-mentioned laws, there is a need for more
appropriate directives to protect children against
information and material
harmful to their wellbeing and development, as well as the preparation of
ethical principles of conduct
(voluntary, not necessarily binding) that would
prevent the media from performing this negative role.
H. The right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment (art. 37 (a))
- The
right of children to protection against torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment is established in paragraph 4
of article 56 of the
Constitution which states that children cannot be discriminated against for
reasons of birth, nor be subject to ill-treatment. In addition, article
78 of
the Constitution also establishes that every citizen has the right to life and
physical integrity, and cannot be subjected to torture or cruel or
inhuman
treatment.
- These
two legal provisions mean that as a citizen, the Mozambican child has double
constitutional protection, firstly arising from
the specific provision on the
protection of minors in article 56, and secondly by benefiting from the
right of all citizens to protection
against illtreatment, including protection
of life, physical integrity, and protection against torture and cruel or inhuman
treatment,
established in article 70.
- The
Declaration on the Rights of the Mozambican Child clearly states in the second
part of the 11th Right, that “[You, the child]
have the right to not be
subjected to violence and ill treatment”.
- Under
ordinary legislation protection of minors against ill-treatment begins with
legislation on protection in the home. Of particular
importance, for example,
is article 108 of the Statutes on Jurisdictional Assistance for Minors which
establishes the possibility
of partial or total limitation on the exercise of
parental authority in cases where parents seriously ill-treat their children
(line
c) or when the parents have been sentenced as the perpetrators of or
accomplices in crimes against their children, or are repeat
offenders in crimes
against minors (line f).
- Punishment
of abuse and violence by people outside the family environment is covered by the
general provisions of the Penal Code on
civil crimes against third parties.
This aspect is one of the weak points of current legislation on minors, as the
strong and unequivocal
protection guaranteed by the Constitution is not
reflected with sufficient emphasis. However, given the legal provisions
relating to the fact that minors are not criminally
liable, the fact that these
citizens cannot be deprived of their liberty automatically excludes the
possibility of their being subjected
to generalized ill-treatment in
prison.
- The
National Social Action Policy adopted by Council of Ministers resolution 12/98
establishes the principle of integrated and multisectoral
programmes to help
protect child victims of family violence and the creation of mechanisms to
prevent and provide advice on this
phenomenon, such as a legal service and
juvenile justice.
- Despite
the constitutional prohibition, the laws and the awareness campaigns described
below, minors are still being subjected to
abuse and cruel treatment. The most
common cases arise when people mistreat children suspected of stealing.
Although declining,
there continue to be isolated cases of policemen who are
unaware of the norms governing the rights of children and use aggression
to
persuade minors to confess to the crimes of which they are accused. These
children are eventually released due to the norms on
the criminal non-liability
of children and the absence of alternative forms to detention.
- The
most serious cases, however, arise from the tendency of people to take justice
into their own hands. Aware that minors are not
criminally liable, they
mistreat and beat children suspected of robbery or other illegal acts. This
phenomenon occurs principally
among street children and adolescent drug addicts,
who are frequently beaten up when caught in the act or in possession of stolen
goods.
- In
recent years one issue that has been a source of concern for Mozambican
authorities has been the ill-treatment of Mozambican emigrants
who cross the
border to South Africa illegally, where they are detained in inhuman conditions
and then repatriated by the South African
police. Figures gathered by the
Mozambican immigration authorities show that many of these citizens are young
people and adolescents
and that every week more than 1,000 are repatriated to
the Ressano Garcia (Maputo Province) border post in an inhuman and brutal
way -
in crowded carriages, after episodes that include beatings, detention, and the
theft of their few possessions and valuables.
As this compulsive repatriation
is done without any proper
coordination with the Mozambican authorities, it results in the illegal
emigrants merely being deposited in Mozambique without any
conditions or
services to assist those who are sick or wounded, and those who need help to
return home.
- There
have also been many cases of abuse and cruel treatment of children by members of
their families or by other citizens, sometimes
resulting in death, intervention
by the police and judicial authorities and punishment of the perpetrators. One
case that shocked
public opinion in March 1999 was a minor shot to death by a
senior official of the country’s Administrative Court. The same
year, a
citizen was accused of murdering and quartering his young niece. Several years
ago in Maxaquene suburb on the outskirts
of Maputo, a family kept a minor
chained to a tree, alleging that he behaved badly. Children and women are
victims of domestic violence,
beaten by their fathers with a variety of
instruments such as belts, sticks and sharp instruments. This phenomenon is
confirmed
by the many children who abandon their homes and prefer to live in the
street because of violence by their stepfathers or stepmothers.
- Children
are also frequently treated cruelly and abused in shelters for minors, despite
the contradiction between such acts and the
vocation of these institutions.
Given the legal void on the inspection role of the State, the real dimension of
this problem is
unknown. Statements by street children who have fled private
shelters and denunciations by Social Action workers and the media point
to the
existence of these practices and the urgent need for effective mechanisms for
verifying the situation and punishing those
concerned.
- The
following example shocked public opinion in February 1998, and although it may
be an isolated case it provides a good example
of the vulnerability of children
in some centres where, as in this case, ill-treatment can reach levels of
violence, cruelty and
inhumanity that are incompatible with the child protection
activity claimed by these institutions. In the SOS village in Maputo,
an
institution dedicated to sheltering and protecting orphans and abandoned
children, a six-year-old child was suspected of having
stolen apples from one of
the houses in the village where he lived with other children. He was subjected
to an atrocious punishment
by his surrogate mother. She shut the child in a
room, deprived him of meals and then tied both his hands in newspaper and set
fire
to it. This was witnessed by another “mother” who remained
impassive during these macabre events, and by other children
who lived in the
same house. The child was traumatized and physically disabled. The management
of the village brought a court case
against the mothers and expelled them from
the centre. But the authorities took no action to make the institution itself
accountable.[13]
- In
another shelter for children named “Street School” on the outskirts
of Maputo town, in 1997, at the request of the
head of the institution, one
of the children was filmed by television cameras and shown on television for
allegedly having stolen
from the centre.
- Starting
this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs intends to gather statistics on crimes
against minors throughout the country. Meanwhile,
Maputo town has been a
pioneer in recording such events and its statistics on crimes against children
during the period 1994-1997
are as
follows:
CRC/C/41/Add.11
page 42
Table 2. Crimes against children in Maputo town,
1994-1997
Age groups
|
0-11
|
12-14
|
15-17
|
Subtotal
|
Year
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1994-1997
|
Type of crime
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Homicide
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
1
|
|
|
4
|
7
|
2
|
7
|
23
|
Frustrated homicide
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
4
|
1
|
|
2
|
9
|
Manslaughter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
2
|
Qualified deliberate bodily harm
|
1
|
|
1
|
1
|
9
|
7
|
5
|
5
|
56
|
42
|
41
|
72
|
240
|
Simple deliberate bodily harm
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
12
|
6
|
11
|
15
|
52
|
56
|
85
|
94
|
333
|
Threats
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
12
|
16
|
14
|
25
|
73
|
Rape
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
1
|
|
|
25
|
13
|
12
|
|
56
|
Kidnapping
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
7
|
3
|
|
12
|
Defamation
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
5
|
9
|
Slander
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
3
|
7
|
Libel
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
|
3
|
Total
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
31
|
16
|
18
|
24
|
158
|
147
|
159
|
208
|
767
|
Source: Report by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Crimes
against minors have increased since 1994. The most frequent are wilful bodily
harm (75 per cent), especially among adolescents,
followed by threats, rape,
homicide and kidnapping.
- The
situation in the other provincial capitals is equally alarming. For example,
data from Inhambane Province indicate that between
1994 and 1998 there were 386
recorded cases of violence against minors aged from 0 to 18 years - 38
homicides, 10 frustrated homicides,
284 cases of simple and qualified
bodily harm, 11 threats and 43 rapes. The authors of these crimes were sent for
trial and the
majority were found guilty. Although the victims received
physical treatment, there are no programmes for the psychological treatment
and
rehabilitation of victims and their families except for some educational radio
programmes.
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
- The
Constitution establishes the context for the application of the precepts on
parental guidance stipulated in article 5 of the Convention. It is
the family,
constitutionally established as the basic cell of society (art. 55 (1)) that is
responsible for the harmonious growth
of the child through education and by
transmitting moral and social values. Article 56 of the Constitution makes the
State responsible for ensuring the comprehensive education of the child,
together with the family.
- In
pursuance of this and other objectives of the family, the Constitution also
establishes that the State recognizes and the law protects the institution of
marriage (art. 55 (2)) resulting in the primary
obligation of parents to provide
guidance for their child. It should also be noted that under the current reform
of the Family and
Inheritance Law (see para. 21 supra) there is a recommendation
on the reformulation of the institution of the family and filiation,
as a legal
void has been identified with regard to the relevance and legal status of the
family as an institution in its own right.
The same applies to the institution
of filiation which it is felt marginalizes the other members of the family in
relation to the
child and denies them any responsibility for
him/her.[14]
- In
Mozambican society, responsibility for guiding children begins in the parental
home, although it is not limited to this sphere.
Indeed, the task of providing
guidance transcends the nuclear family. Depending on the traditional family
structure to which the
child belongs, it is assumed by the members of the
extended family and by the wider circle of the community to which the family
belongs.
For example, in patrilineal communities the father or his oldest
brother - usually the person whose name has been given to the child
- or the
grandfather and paternal uncles (by order of importance, depending on the
presence or absence of the members of the extended
family) are responsible for
guiding male children and teaching them about life. In matrilineal societies
this is usually the responsibility
of the maternal uncle. In either case,
guidance includes the transmission of cultural and social values, work skills
for men (building
houses, hunting, certain agricultural tasks, etc.) and
initiation rites.
- Guidance
for girls is similar in the two kinds of society. On the whole, mothers and
aunts are responsible for transmitting moral
and social values in a learning
process that involves children in activities traditionally carried out by women
(housework, preparing
food, agriculture, collecting water, etc.) as well as
activities that prepare them for married life, initiation rites in
particular.
- Due
to the above-mentioned legal vacuum and the absence of adequate control
mechanisms, parents and other family members frequently
do not fulfil their
obligation to guide the minors under their responsibility. Indeed, the
deterioration of moral and social values
and the family’s fragile
fulfilment of its role have frequently been identified as the main factors
underlying social problems
affecting children and adolescents, particularly in
large urban centres - running away from home and from school, alcohol
and drug
consumption, juvenile delinquency, sexual promiscuity, juvenile
pregnancy and child prostitution, among many others.
- The
country still has no official family counselling services or education
programmes for parents. However, some civil society organizations
such as
churches, but in particular the Mozambican Association for the Development of
the Family (AMODEFA), organize various kinds
of education and counselling
programmes for young parents, children and adolescents on pertinent aspects of
family life.
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18, paras. 1 and 2)
- Parents’
responsibilities towards their children are established indirectly in the
Constitution, through the precepts of articles 55 and 56 already mentioned in
the previous section on parental guidance. However, there is a
vacuum with
regard to recognition of consensual marital unions that do not constitute
official marriages, and the role of members
of the extended family who
traditionally have certain responsibilities for educating and supporting minor
relatives.
- However,
these aspects are clearly stated in the spirit and letter of the various
relevant international instruments adhered to by
Mozambique, which should thus
prevail, with national legislation being adapted accordingly. For example,
article 16 of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women establishes that as parents they have the same rights and
responsibilities
towards their children, irrespective of their marital status.
In all instances the interests of the children are of paramount importance.
Similarly, clause 1 of article 20 of the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child establishes the primary responsibility
of parents and
others responsible for the child, for the child’s upbringing and
development.
- The
institution of parental power in Mozambique contains a number of filial rights,
a minor’s rights in relation to his parents.
For example, article 1879 of
the Civil Code establishes the general framework of parental responsibilities by
stating that both
parents have equal competence in bringing up, educating,
defending and feeding their “non-emancipated” minor children.
As
regards the division of responsibilities, article 1881 specifically assigns the
father responsibility for providing food for
his children, and for guiding their
education and instruction. The same article establishes the father’s
responsibility for
moral support in keeping with the
condition, gender and age of the child and in defending and representing him.
Article 1882 specifically states that the responsibility
of the mother is to
watch over the physical and moral integrity of the child.
- Under
clause 2 of article 1879 of the Civil Code, these parental responsibilities,
including the obligation to represent their children
and administer their
possessions, are imposed by law in the context of parental power. In addition,
the above-mentioned article
1880 of the Civil Code prevents parents from
renouncing the exercise of parental rights. This states that parents cannot
renounce
their parental rights or any of the special rights that this confers,
without prejudice to the Code’s provisions on adoption
and the
guardianship of minors.
- When
parents do not perform their mandatory duties towards their underage children
seriously and continuously, the law admits the
possibility of parental rights
being withdrawn. The situations under which this can happen are indicated in
article 1910 of the
Civil Code. This prohibits the exercise of parental rights
by anyone who has been definitively convicted of a crime for which the
law
requires suspension of parental rights, anyone disqualified and prevented on the
grounds of psychiatric anomalies, and anyone
who is absent, as long as a
provisional guardian is appointed.
- Article
108 of the Statute of Jurisdictional Assistance to Minors establishes protection
for children and respect for the principle
of their best interests, in
partnership with parental responsibilities, under circumstances where partial or
total disqualification
may be required:
(a) When parents
consistently fail in their duty to defend and educate their children, thereby
causing them moral or material harm;
(b) When the children are in
serious moral danger, due to the moral, physical or economic inability of
parents to fulfil their duties
of defence and education;
(c) When the
parents seriously mistreat their children, deprive them of food and the
essential requirements of daily life or subject
them to work that endangers
their life or their moral or physical health;
(d) When parents encourage
their children in crime or corrupt habits;
(e) When parents or the
spouse of one of them is recognized as demonstrating immoral or scandalous
behaviour;
(f) When parents have been convicted as the authors,
accomplices or concealers of crimes committed against their children or as
repeat
offenders of crimes against minors;
(g) When parents subject
their children to social relations with people to whom any of the circumstances
mentioned in (c) and (e)
above apply;
(h) When parents demonstrate
their inability to administer the possessions of their children.
- Under
current legislation on minors, the above parental responsibilities also apply to
guardians and adoptive parents. As guardians
are legally prevented from
practising certain legal acts, in order to do so article 1938 of the Civil Code
requires that they obtain
prior authorization from the Juvenile Court. As
regards responsibility for administering property, article 192 states that a
minor’s
property administration system will be established in cases where
parents have been excluded, inhibited or suspended from administering
the
property, or when the competent entity for appointing the guardian entrusts the
administration of the minor’s property,
totally or partially, to another
person.
C. Separation from parents (art. 9)
- The
Constitution does not expressly guarantee that a child will not be separated
from his/her parents. However, indirectly this right is inherent
to the
principle stated in the abovementioned clause 2 of article 56, in that the
family is made responsible for the harmonious upbringing
of the child. The
guarantee of not being separated is thus contemplated in the context of the
right to a family. The principle
established in the third right in the
Declaration of the Rights of the Mozambican Child is relevant
here:
“You have the right to live in a family. You have the right to a name
by which you are called by your parents, brothers and
sisters and friends and by
which you are known wherever you may be. When you have no family, you have the
right to live in a family
that loves you like its own child.”
- Under
ordinary legislation, the principle of the non-separation of the child from its
parents is covered by the legislation on parental
responsibilities analysed in
the previous section. It should be emphasized that the law considers the
deliberate denial of a minor’s
right to his family a
crime.
- The
Penal Code establishes a penalty of two to eight years in prison for individuals
who, through violence or fraud, take a child
under seven from his home or the
place where he is located, even when authorized by those responsible for
bringing up or caring for
the child (art. 342). When this same act is
committed against other individuals under 21 (it will be recalled that in
Mozambique
minors only come of age at 21), article 343 provides for major prison
sentences. These sentences apply to anyone who forces a minor
through violence,
or persuades him/her through fraud, to leave the house of his parents or
guardians, or those responsible for looking
after him, or to abandon the place
where he is living.
- Under
article 344, concealing or exchanging minors or leading them astray is also
subject to a major prison sentence of two to eight
years. Such sentences are
increased to 16 to 20 years in prison if the offenders refuse to return the
child or to indicate where
the child is to be found. The legislation also
stipulates a major prison sentence of two to eight years in cases where the
individual
who is the guardian of a minor refuses to present him to those with
the legal right to claim him, or to justify his disappearance.
- As
regards the best interests of the child, Mozambican society attributes
considerable importance to maintaining and strengthening
marital unions, whether
formal, religious, traditional, or merely de facto unions. Consequently, when
handling divorce or separation
cases, the philosophy of the relevant courts, and
also of religious confessions and traditional structures, is to seek
reconciliation
and to recommend marriage counselling for the parties concerned,
particularly when they have under-age children.
- Despite
prevention and reconciliation measures, the number of separation and divorce
cases continues to rise, principally in large
urban centres, due to marital
conflicts of various kinds. The existence of children living in the street or
in the many private
shelters, especially in Maputo town, is due mainly to
marital conflicts resulting in the separation of the parents. This makes the
children extremely vulnerable. It has already been mentioned that many street
children were forced to abandon their homes due to
incompatibility and
ill-treatment by stepparents. During the preparation of this report, no legal
institution pronounced on or presented
evidence of people responsible for
children leaving home having been prosecuted.
- In
rural areas, where the vast majority of the Mozambican population lives,
families are more solid and stable, despite their many
survival difficulties.
This solidity is explained by the strength of the traditional and religious
systems that support and guide
the social conduct of these families. As
mentioned in the section on children affected by the armed conflict, it is
estimated that
the war that ended in 1992 resulted in some 250,000 children
being made orphans and separated from their families. (UNICEF,
1989).
D. Family reunification (art. 10)
- Among
the constitutional guarantees of asylum, article 64 of the Constitution states
that asylum can also be granted “in defence of human rights”. It is
thus inferred that a request to enter or
leave the country on grounds of family
reunification, made on behalf of a child or its parents, will be handled with
appropriate
humanity and diligence.
E. Illicit transfer and non-return (art. 11)
- There
are no records of bilateral agreements to prevent the illegal transfer and
non-return of children in the country.
- Parents
must make a declaration when a passport is requested for a child. In addition,
children are only allowed to leave or enter
the country when accompanied by one
of their parents or with the express notarized authorization of one of their
parents. But these
mechanisms are not sufficiently strong to prevent the
illegal transfer or non-return of minors. Indeed, during the preparation of
this report there were various references to conflicts involving separated
couples, where one of the spouses left the country with
the children without the
knowledge or consent of the other parent.
F. Recovery of maintenance for the child (art. 27, para.
4)
- General
principles on the right of children to maintenance are contained in various
internal legal documents. The Declaration on
the Rights of the Mozambican Child
states in its Fourth Right that “In order to grow up strong and healthy,
you have the right
to be fed, sheltered and educated by your
family”.
- Clause
1 of article 1879 of the Civil Code states that both parents are responsible for
looking after “unemancipated”
under-age children in order to defend,
educate and feed them. The definition of maintenance is provided in article
2003:
“1. Maintenance is understood as all that is indispensable for
sustenance, housing and clothing.
“2. Maintenance also includes the instruction and education of the
beneficiary when that person is a minor.”
- Article
2020 details the maintenance obligations between parents and children by
establishing reciprocal maintenance rights between
descendants and forebears.
In addition to parents, clause 1 of article 2009 indicates in general terms
other people who are obliged
to provide maintenance. It cites siblings and
uncles as having obligations towards children when the beneficiaries are not
over
17 years of age. Finally, articles 2022 and 2023 of the Civil Code
indicate reciprocal maintenance rights between siblings, and
state that
uncles/aunts are obliged to provide maintenance for
nephews/nieces.
- Adoptive
parents and guardians are bound by law to the same maintenance conditions as
natural parents and other relatives. In the
case of adoptive parents the
obligation stands irrespective of whether the adoption is full or
restricted.[15] Similarly,
in the case of guardianship, under clause 1 of article 1935 of the Civil Code
the guardian has the obligation to provide
maintenance for the minor on exactly
the same terms as natural parents.
- Law
2053 on family abandonment establishes important principles to dissuade people
from not complying with their duty to provide maintenance
for minors. Clause 1
of article 1 states that if people legally bound to provide maintenance to a
minor, and able to do so, do not
comply with this obligation for more than 60
days, this results in a non-redeemable correctional prison sentence of up to six
months.
The law also punishes anyone who alienates or conceals his income or
any other resource with the intent of creating conditions for
non-compliance
with maintenance obligations towards minors under his/her
responsibility.
- Clause
1 of article 2 states that parents, guardians or those responsible for minors,
who do not provide them with the regular economic
and moral support they are
able to provide, thereby exposing the minors to moral danger, are subject to a
non-redeemable correctional
prison sentence of up to one year. Article 3 of the
same law adds that the spouse who abandons the family home for more than six
months and seriously violates the duty to support and assist the other spouse,
or duties inherent to parental power, is subject to
a non-redeemable
correctional prison sentence of up to two years.
- As
regards general principles, article 74 of Law 8/98, the current Labour Law, is
of particular importance. This establishes the
right to protection by employers
for working mothers, parents and guardians in the performance of their social
function of maintaining,
educating and caring for the health of their children,
without prejudice to their professional performance. Given their reproductive
function, working mothers are also guaranteed special rights related to
motherhood and their bond with their infants.
- In
addition to the general principles mentioned so far, there are also special
principles covering specific periods in a person’s
life, namely, the
antenatal and postnatal periods. As regards the antenatal period, article 1907
of the Civil Code states that from
the date of his legal recognition, the father
is obliged to provide maintenance for the mother and his illegitimate child
during
her pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life, without
prejudice to any compensation to which she may be legally entitled.
In
addition, the Labour Law guarantees economic maintenance for a working mother
during pregnancy and after birth (she cannot be
fired without just cause during
pregnancy and for up to one year after the birth of the child).
- As
regards the postnatal period, the Civil Code (art. 1907) obliges the future
father to provide maintenance for the mother and the
child born outside marriage
during its first year, in order to guarantee the survival of the child. The
Labour Law guarantees that
during pregnancy and following the birth, the working
mother has the right to interrupt her daily work to nurse the child for two
half-hour periods up to a maximum of one year, without loss of salary. Finally,
the child food supplement[1]
provides a subsidy equivalent to 75 per cent of the retail price of milk and
cereal for children whose mothers cannot nurse them,
who have insufficient
breast milk or have twins. This benefit also applies to children without a
mother or abandoned children, children
who are unable to suckle due to
psycho-motor deficiencies or disablement, children with low weight, marasmus,
kwashiakor or with
any other paediatric pathology, and with clinical indications
that a food supplement is necessary.
G. Children deprived of a family environment (art. 20)
- The
Constitution does not expressly establish protection for children deprived of a
family environment, although it could be stated that this right
is inherent in
the principle established in article 56, clause 2, which states that the family
is responsible for the harmonious
growth of the child. The Declaration on the
Rights of the Mozambican Child, however, clearly establishes this protection in
the
Third Right: “... when you do not have a family, you have the right
to live in a family that loves you like its own
child”.
- The
Penal Code indirectly recognizes the role of the State in guaranteeing
alternative care for children without a family environment
when it establishes
that they should be cared for “in public establishments destined to
receive these children” (arts.
347, 348).
- In
defence of the principle of respect for the best interests of the child, since
the 1980s there has existed a directive that children
deprived of a family
environment should not be placed in institutions. This was subsequently
incorporated into the current Social
Action Policy. This principle discourages
placing a child in an institution, unless absolutely necessary. As an
alternative, the
first option should be to place unaccompanied children and
children separated from their relatives in a family environment that can
guarantee the development of their personality and emotional security, and
stimulate the maintenance of affective links and their
cultural identity. In
order of priority, options should begin with the extended family, followed by
members of the same community
(ethnic, religious, cultural) and other substitute
families, always seeking to ensure the existence of affinity with the child.
Here, the selection of families who speak the same language as the child is of
particular importance.
- This
traditional principle also derives from the country’s cultural practices,
and the concept of “family” whereby
every child is a member of a
collective - the biological extended, ethnic, religious or even the spiritual
family. This provides
protection and special assistance for a child who is
temporarily or definitively deprived of his family environment or when in his
own interest he cannot remain in that environment, especially during times of
crisis, such as those that have affected the country
in recent years, with war
and a cycle of natural disasters.
- So-called
“substitute families” spontaneously sheltered and protected
thousands of children in war zones, and in camps
for displaced people and
refugees. Even today many children separated from their families during the
war[17] continue to live
under the protection of these families while the family reunification process
continues apace.
- The
State’s responsibility to protect this group of children also includes
institutional care, although always as the final
option, only adopted when all
other possibilities of identifying substitute families have been exhausted.
This approach is particularly
relevant given the economic difficulties faced by
children’s centres and orphanages, which rarely have the capacity to house
large numbers of children, or the substantial resources needed for their correct
operation. At the most difficult moments, State
institutions were called on
merely to provide temporary shelter for children awaiting family reunification;
the number of permanent
residences is quite small.
- At
the moment eight provinces each have a State orphanage, termed a
children’s centre. Admission to these institutions is limited
to the 0-10
age group, although in some cases there is the exceptional presence of children
aged 15 or more.[1] The
Ministry for the Coordination of Social Action, the entity responsible for these
institutions, has made efforts to improve the
quality of its staff and services.
There have been regular training courses for workers in children’s centres
on subjects such
as planning methodology, pre-school child care methodology,
caring for the disabled child, and the administration and management
of social
units, for the directors and administrative heads.
- However,
as already mentioned, the resources available for these institutions are
insufficient. The orphanages operate with government
funds that are
insufficient to cover all their food, health, clothing, water, electricity and
school material requirements. A report
by the former
SEAS[19] estimated that the
average daily financial allocation was only Mt97 per child. Consequently, there
were frequent food shortages
and poor hygiene and cleaning, resulting in
infectious diseases.
- This
situation has not changed, except in the case of centres that benefit from
partnership agreements with international institutions,
such as the 1 May centre
in Maputo town, and one in Matola. Given its severe budget fragility, MICAS has
begun an analysis of the
service quality provided in its children’s
centres and possible alternatives for ensuring their
sustainability.
- One
of the conclusions of this process is that a first step towards reversing the
situation should be the resumption of family reunification
efforts and the
reintegration of the children in their own families. According to available
data, from 1993 to 1997 the children’s
centres cared for 1,675 children.
The numbers have gradually fallen each year, from an average of 59 children per
centre to an average
of 35 (see the table below). This reduction was the result
of the experimental introduction in 1994 of a more individual planning
methodology in centres in Manica, Tete and Maputo provinces, gradually extended
to the others. The methodology made it possible
to get to know each child in
more detail, and thus obtain indicators of appropriate alternatives for the
child’s family reintegration.
The table below shows the number of
children being cared for in Social Action children’s centres
throughout the country over
the period 1993-1998:
Table 3: Children in State children’s
centres/orphanages 1993-1998
Year
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
No. of centres
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
No. of children
|
532
|
306
|
242
|
306
|
287
|
183
|
- Paradoxically,
when the end of the war enabled community life gradually to return to normal,
many private institutions stopped observing
the non-institutionalization
principle, and their centres proliferated in all the towns and in some
districts. Supposedly dedicated
to street children (a type of care limited to
the large urban centres), with the end of the war and the rise in national and
foreign
bodies interested in this work, the centres gradually spread to rural
areas.
- From
fewer than 10 State children’s centres during the war, each of which never
housed more than 30 children and only on a temporary
basis, there are now more
than 55 shelters, most of which belong to and are run by religious and
non-governmental organizations as
described below. The absence of clear
legislation on the MICAS inspection role, and the shortage of human and material
resources
and inspectors, prevents verification of the legitimacy and quality of
the services provided in these institutions.
- This
generalized institutionalization of children is a destabilizing element in the
abovementioned community practices, as it attracts
children from vulnerable
families in the hope of better living
conditions.[20] It also
undermines government policies and strategies. As can be seen below, the number
of children seeking placement in State
orphanages has grown dramatically since
1993.
- One
group currently the target of institutional care is the so-called street
children. The combined effects of the large war-induced
urban influx since the
late 1980s and the subsequent rise in the cost of living in large towns have
increased substantially the number
of extremely poor and vulnerable families,
not only in suburban areas but even within urban centres. Children are the main
victims
of this situation, and for many children from such families the streets
provide the only survival alternative.
- Although
the end of the war resulted in many people returning to their home areas, the
situation in towns became more complex, with
a rise in the number of children on
the street, due to the combined effects of the decline in social values and the
difficult socio-economic
context. As already mentioned, the Government’s
philosophy on care for children is based on the principle of
non-institutionalization,
with shelters considered a last resort, while efforts
are made to contact their relatives and achieve their reintegration into their
families.
- Assistance
for the so-called “street child”, defined by the Ministry for the
Coordination of Social Action as “the
child that is completely cut off
from his family, who has made the street his habitat, place of leisure and
work”, is mainly
provided by shelters run by national and foreign NGOs and
religious congregations. Other institutions or private entities opt to
provide
services for these children within the environment, that is, in the street, in
an attempt to satisfy their immediate food,
health, clothing and even
recreational needs.
- Due
to the precarious nature of life in the open air, the problems faced by this
group of minors is no different from that observed
in other third world poor
countries. They are subjected to hunger, sexual abuse, aggression,
exploitation, lack of access to education,
consumption of drugs and other toxic
products, STDs - in other words all the evils resulting from the vulnerability
of their living
conditions. MICAS currently has a register of 55 shelters
subdivided as follows:
Table 4: Street children in sheltered care
Province
|
No. of centres
|
Children sheltered
|
Total
|
Boys
|
Girls
|
Maputo City
|
19
|
1 097
|
335
|
1 432
|
Maputo Province
|
15
|
1 572
|
202
|
1 774
|
Inhambane
|
1
|
46
|
0
|
46
|
Sofala
|
4
|
429
|
0
|
429
|
Manica
|
3
|
250
|
0
|
250
|
Tete
|
1
|
57
|
9
|
66
|
Zambezia
|
3
|
400
|
|
400
|
Nampula
|
2
|
41
|
5
|
46
|
Total
|
48
|
3 892
|
|
4 443
|
Source: MICAS, 1999.
- It
is interesting to note that three provinces - Gaza, Niassa and Cabo Delgado -
have no shelters. This is due to reluctance on the
part of local authorities to
authorize this kind of institution, because the number of street children is
quite small and these centres
act as magnets, attracting children in vulnerable
families. The data available do not indicate how long the children remain in
these
centres, nor the criteria and mechanisms for identifying alternative ways
of life after they have been in care. There is also no
information on the
number of children who do not receive assistance.
- The
daily programme in these institutions gives priority to education and literacy
work for the children; most have their own schools
recognized by the Ministry of
Education. These schools provide mainly the basic primary level (EP1 and EP2).
In addition to education,
and in order to provide alternatives to formal
education, the centres provide training in pre-professional and extra-curricular
activities,
mainly carpentry, metal work, mechanics, tin work, shoe repair,
tailoring, sewing, book binding, keeping small animals, secretarial
skills,
hairdressing, and the management of small informal businesses. Over the last
three years about 900 adolescent beneficiaries
of these activities have been
integrated into employment activities and now lead an independent life.
- Given
the rehabilitation nature of this kind of care, the large number of shelters for
street children does not appear to have had
the desired effect of reducing or
eliminating the causes of the problem. Indeed, there are very few preventive
initiatives among
families and communities, and very few centres have strategies
that focus on reconciliation and supporting the family reintegration
of the
children in their care. In addition, some children eventually return to the
street, either because they are unable to adapt
to the institutional system or
because of the poor assistance they receive there.
247. The absence of a legal framework to regulate the work of NGOs and to
establish criteria for involvement is an impediment to
intervention by MICAS,
either in terms of technical assistance or
inspection.[2] This makes it
difficult to assess the quality of the care provided and, in particular, the
observance of the rights of the children
sheltered there, namely,
nondiscrimination, best interests, respect for their views and protection from
exploitation and abuse.
- Another
widespread phenomenon in all towns is the thousands of children who spend part
of the day on the street performing a variety
of activities that contribute to
their family’s income due to their families’ precarious social and
economic circumstances.
Some children are encouraged by relatives to seek
survival alternatives on the street, doing a variety of paid jobs such as
carrying
baskets for people shopping in markets, gardening and washing cars,
selling various kinds of articles, collecting fares on small
taxi-buses, etc.
When they cannot get paid work some children turn to stealing or simple
delinquency, and become an easy target
for exploitation and manipulation by
adult gangs.
- The
number of children on the streets is larger than the number of street children.
Initiatives targeting this group have been varied
but of limited impact due to
the size and complexity of the problem. Initiatives usually have a preventive
perspective, with programmes
implemented in the urban peripheral areas where the
children come from, offering education, vocational training and income producing
alternatives.
H. Adoption (art. 21)
- Adoption
(and also guardianship) constitutes a guarantee of the right to a family, duly
protected in legislation on children who are
destitute or in an orphanage.
Adoption is regulated by articles 1979 to 2002 of the Civil Code, which
stipulate the conditions under
which adoption can take place, emphasizing the
principle of the best interests of the child when determining whether adoption
represents
“real advantages for the adoptee”.
- In
addition, article 1921 of the same code establishes that minors whose parents
have died or who have been deprived of parental power
must have a guardian,
whose responsibilities end, when the child comes of age, is emancipated or
adopted, or when the impediment
to the parents parental power
ends.
- Children
subject to adoption must be orphans and abandoned, without any known relatives
and when all efforts to locate them and achieve
family reunification have been
exhausted. The general requirements for adoption confirm the law’s
concern to ensure respect
for the best interests of the child and his views, as
demonstrated by the following examples:
Adoption can only take place
when it has real advantages for the adoptee;
The adopting parents must have been married for more than five years, and be
of proven maturity, social behaviour and respectability,
and thus able to offer
guarantees to the adoptee;
The adopting parents must also possess physical and material conditions to
educate and support the minor;
The adoptee must be under 14 years of age. If over 14 and under 21, he/she
must be emancipated and live under the responsibility
of the adopting parents,
or be the child of one of the spouses;
Adoption only takes place if the adoptee aged over 14 agrees, except in cases
where the child is mentally retarded.
- Domestic
legislation recognizes two kinds of adoption; restricted and full. In the case
of full adoption, the law always considers
the adoptee to be the biological
child. Article 1979 of the Civil Code states that under full adoption the
adoptee acquires the
status of son/daughter and is considered as such for all
legal purposes. Restricted adoption recognizes that the adoptee has the
same
filial rights as biological children. Article 1987 states that restricted
adoption only gives the adoptee and the adopting
parents the rights and duties
established by law.
- The
Juvenile Court decides on adoption, and when such a court does not exist, the
decision is taken by the District Court. Council
of Ministers Decree 5/89 gives
Social Action the responsibility of preparing the case file, evaluating the
moral and socioeconomic
situation of the interested parties, integrating the
child into the family for a probation period, monitoring the situation and the
preparing of a report for the Court.
- Consequently,
the adoption process usually begins in the Provincial Directorate of Social
Action which gathers and records all the
relevant basic information through
interviews with the interested parties. It also gathers information from the
places of residence
and employment and makes home visits to talk to the
household about all aspects of the proposed adoption. If approved, the
adaptation
process between the child and the interested parties begins with the
subsequent inclusion of the child in the family for a provisional
period, a
minimum of three months, duly monitored by Social Action through frequent home
visits.
- The
Court decision is thus based on the report and opinion of Social Action. The
adoption is only decreed when it is felt that the
probation phase has been
successfully completed, with the child adapting well to the interested parties
and vice versa, and all the
child’s due rights are
guaranteed.
- The
Republic of Mozambique has not signed the May 1993 Hague Convention on
Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry
Adoption.
Except for article 63, stating that only adoption by Mozambican citizens is
authorized, domestic legislation does not
expressly cover international
adoption. However, given the nature of Mozambican legislation, adoption
requests by foreigners are
analysed on a case-by-case basis, always guided by
the principles of respect for the best interests of the child, which in this
case
means protecting and preserving the child’s cultural identity and
guaranteeing his/her healthy and harmonious development.
- International
adoption is thus only authorized in exceptional cases when all possibilities of
including the child in a Mozambican
family have been exhausted, or if the
foreign family is permanently resident in Mozambique. In such cases, the
appropriate structures
of the adopting parents’ country are requested to
provide all relevant information and all their motives are carefully
investigated
so as to prevent the adoption from providing material profit or any
other form of exploitation for the people concerned.
- Children
subject to international adoption enjoy the same guarantees and norms as in
national adoption; they enjoy all the rights
due to children and the adopting
parents have the responsibilities inherent to parental power, duly regulated by
law. Curiously,
data provided by the Maputo City Juvenile Court - the only one
in the country - indicate that there have been more requests for international
than national adoption, as demonstrated by the figures on cases it handled
between 1990 and 1998:
45 cases of adoption by nationals, of which 40 were full adoptions and 5
restricted;
45 cases of adoption by foreigners, of which 44 were full adoption and only 1
was restricted.
- The
institution of adoption does, however, raise a socio-legal problem. During work
on the revision of the Family Law, the report
by the Ministry of Justice Law
Reform Commission raised the issue of adoption being completely foreign to the
notion of the family
held by most Mozambicans. For example, the inclusion of an
adopted child in a family whose mythical universe and clan structure
is
different from that of the family from which the adoptee comes, could introduce
a foreign element to its organizational structure,
unsettling its
foundations.
- In
the same document the Commission suggests the introduction of a new institution,
the substitute family, which could encompass cases
where unaccompanied children
are sheltered in families, or cases where there is a natural family but it
cannot assume responsibility
for the child, which is thus not in a position to
be adopted. The acceptance of children in substitute families has always been
a
natural and spontaneous manifestation of human solidarity between different
elements in the community. These families’ acceptance
of children who
have been temporarily or definitively deprived of their biological families,
especially in times of social crisis,
has been the main solution for the
thousands of unaccompanied children mentioned in the chapter on the impact of
the war (see VIII.A.2,
infra). Thousands of families continue to shelter these
children even though there has been no clarification of the legal status
of
their relationship.
I. Periodic review of placement (art. 25)
- In
order to ensure that caring for children in institutions is really the final
option, the Ministry for the Coordination of Social
Action periodically analyses
the family situation of children in centres and prepares plans in the light of
their individual needs.
These include the
search for their families and family reunification, education, health, and
other needs relevant to the life of the child. The introduction
of this
“More Individualized Planning” (MIP) methodology requires training
workers to deal with the individual needs
of these children.
- In
order to prepare children for reunification and integration into their
biological, substitute or adoptive families, staff from
Social Action and the
welfare institutions make periodic visits to support the child and family as
they adapt to a future life together.
Whenever possible, these activities
continue after the child has joined the family. Help is provided for the
child’s integration
into school, access to other relevant services and,
when possible, material support in the form of clothing, food, utensils or
school
materials in order to attenuate the impact of the child’s arrival
when the family is poor.
- Unfortunately,
there are no strong links between the courts and the social services to monitor
families and adopted children, nor
is there an organized system of visits to
substitute families to assess how the children’s rights are being
respected and to
resolve conflicts which might naturally arise during the
child’s adaptation to the family and community. This is due to Social
Action’s limited staff and resources. Its network of services is limited
to provincial capitals and some districts with an
average of one officer for an
entire district.
- In
1996, with UNICEF support, a project to assist children with war experience
began in 17 districts in the seven most war affected
provinces - Maputo,
Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala, Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado. It involved
regular home visits and the identification
of alternative solutions for the
children’s problems within communities.
- After
children have been adopted, there are monitoring visits to help the two parties
adapt to each other. One of the questions raised
is the truth about adoption,
as one of the difficulties in adoption is the parents’ reluctance to
inform the children about
their origins. Families are advised to tell the child
about his/her history as soon as possible in order to ensure that the child
is
aware of his/her identity. Until adoption is authorized by the Court, there are
monthly visits and after the adoption has been
legalized there are quarterly or
semestrial visits over about a year depending on the needs of the child and the
family. There are
occasional meetings with the adoptive parents to discuss
questions relating to the process and to exchange experiences on various
aspects
of the adoption.
- On
the whole, limited human and financial resources have hampered the monitoring of
children reunited with their families or placed
in substitute families. Even in
cases where there were specific projects, it was not possible to monitor the
children regularly
because the projects either did not last very long, or the
funding was interrupted during the process, as in the case of the project
to
assist children with war experiences.
- Another
issue that has had a negative influence on monitoring children is that a number
of organizations that had been supporting
the reunification of children left the
country or changed their area of activity after the General Peace Agreement,
because they
felt that the emergency period had finished.
J. Abuse and neglect, including physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration (arts. 19 and 39)
- To
some extent the right to protection against being abandoned is safeguarded in
the country’s fundamental law which states
in paragraph 5 of article 56
that “The State and society protect the orphan and the destitute
child”.
- In
ordinary legislation, article 3 of Law 2053 of 22 March 1952 stipulates a
correctional prison sentence of up to two years for the
spouse who abandons the
marital home for more than six months and violates his/her duty to support and
help the other spouse or neglects
the duties inherent to parental
power.
- This
subject is also addressed by various articles in the Penal Code. Article 343
establishes imprisonment, without prejudice to
a more severe prison sentence,
for those who oblige through violence, or encourage through fraud anyone under
the age of 21 to leave
the house of his parents or guardians or those
responsible for caring for him, or to abandon the places where they have
determined
he should be. If the minor is under 17 years of age, the sentence is
increased to the maximum prison sentence.
- Article
345 states that anyone who exposes or abandons a child under seven in any place
other than a public establishment intended
to receive such children shall be
sentenced to the corresponding prison sentence and fine. If the child is left
in an abandoned
place the sentence is two to eight years in
prison.
- This
legal provision gives special protection to minors against abandonment by their
biological parents. Paragraph 2 states that
if the crime is committed by the
legitimate father or mother, or the guardian or person responsible for bringing
up or educating
the minor, the sentence will be aggravated with the maximum
fine. As regards the child’s right to life, this article also
states that
if exposure or abandonment endangers the life of the minor or results in injury
or death, the sentence will be eight
years in prison (para. 3).
- Article
347 states that anyone responsible for bringing up or educating a minor under
seven years of age who places that minor in
a public establishment, or gives the
minor to another person without the consent of the person who gave him that
responsibility,
will be sentenced to one year and one month in prison and a
corresponding fine. And article 348 states that legitimate parents who
have the
means to support their children but fraudulently place them in a public
establishment for abandoned children will be sentenced
to a prison term of one
year and one month.
- Other
citizens are not free of the duty to protect a minor from being abandoned.
Article 346 of the code in question establishes
a prison sentence of from
one month to two years for anyone who finds a newly born abandoned child, or
finds an abandoned minor under
seven, but does not inform the nearest
administrative authority.
- The
right to protection against being abandoned is also established in article 4,
paragraph 3 (a), of Presidential Decree 3/95 establishing
Social
Action’s responsibilities towards children, more specifically its
responsibility for providing assistance to orphans,
abandoned children and
children without family care.
- Protection
against abandonment is also covered in the Social Action Strategy on the Child.
The Strategy states that civil society
will be encouraged to help satisfy the
basic needs (para. 3 (b)) of orphans/abandoned children. Activities in this
area will be
directed at the following:
Adapting the family location and reunification programme to the current needs
of the country;
Individual needs and interests;
Ensuring that children living in children’s homes and similar
institutions benefit from social relations with the community;
Activities that help the institution become self-reliant;
Developing public education programmes to make the family and society aware
of the orphan and abandoned child issue.
- Cases
of abandoned children occur mainly in large towns, due to the precarious
economic situation of families or an undesired pregnancy.
The main victims are
thus children who have been rejected or children with conflicts in the home (as
explained in chapter V.G.,
on children deprived of a family environment).
Another, although less frequent, category is abandoned newborn babies in
maternity
clinics, hospitals, or even in public places. When abandonment is
confirmed and denounced, appropriate legal measures are taken.
However, the
opinion of the contributors to this report was that a set of strategies are
needed to prevent children from being abandoned,
combined with aggravated
sentences for offenders in order to discourage this crime.
- The
right to protection against negligent treatment is not clearly expressed
although it is covered by general norms on the right
to life, protection,
survival, not to be subjected to abuse and mistreatment and, in the context of
parental responsibilities, covered
in the relevant chapters in this document.
During the preparation of this report, it was concluded that there is a need to
establish
objective legislation to deal with this issue, as well as public
education strategies to counter attitudes resulting in child neglect
both within
the family and in the public space, in schools and in other institutions that
care for children.
- Reports
from various parts of the country cite frequent cases of children being the
victims of accidents arising from negligence by
those responsible for protecting
them: the family, society and the State itself. For example, accidents in the
home make up a substantial
portion of cases handled in the first aid posts,
accidents that could have been avoided if there had been adequate care and
supervision
of the child. The most common consequences are burns, cuts,
contusions, and sometimes broken bones and other more serious injuries,
some of
which culminate in the child’s death. In Maputo town, for example, in
June 1999 four children died from suffocation
after a fire broke out in the room
where they were sleeping, and which was also used as a store for large amounts
of synthetic products
for sale. There was no adult in the house at the time.
Another example comes from Gaza province where, because many schools are
located
alongside the main national highway, children on their way to school or on their
way home are frequently knocked down by
cars, sometimes resulting in death.
Cases of children being run down comprise a substantial proportion of daily road
accident victims
throughout the country.
VI. BASIC HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
A. Disabled children (art. 23)
- The
right of the disabled to special care is established in article 95 of the
Constitution, which states that “All citizens have the right to assistance
in the event of disability and old age”. When determining
this right, the
legislator did not set any age limit, so it also covers minors. Clause 2 of the
same article also commits the State
to promoting and creating conditions for the
enjoyment of this right.
- In
addition, article 68 of the Constitution also recognizes the principles of
nondiscrimination and equality of rights, when it states that “disabled
citizens enjoy fully
the rights established in the Constitution and have the
same duties, except where disability prevents them from exercising or fulfilling
these rights and duties”. This
right is not only addressed by the
Constitution and international conventions, but also receives special treatment
in various codes, in particular the following.
- In
accordance with the international principles and provisions adhered to by the
Mozambican State, Council of Ministers resolution
19/90, article 23.3,
establishes the right of disabled children to free access to education,
training, health care, rehabilitation,
preparation for work and recreational
activities, and to benefit from these services in a way that ensures, to the
extent possible,
their social integration and individual development, including
cultural and spiritual.
- In
addition, Law 6/71 lays the foundations for ensuring rehabilitation for the
disabled and their subsequent social integration, by
helping the person to adapt
to his disability, providing him with the possibility of personal, functional,
professional and vocational
development and helping him to readapt to his
previous activity or to choose and learn a new profession appropriate to his
disability,
accompanying him until his complete integration in his family,
professional and social environment.
- Article
29 of Law 6/92 gives disabled children the right to special instruction and
defines the way in which this education should
take place (in principle in
special classes in normal schools). It also reaffirms the right of children
with serious multiple disabilities
or who are seriously mentally retarded to
receive an education adapted to their capacities through outofschool teaching.
Finally,
clause 3 of this article establishes the right to training at all
levels of education and vocational training, which permits the
integration of
disabled children into school, society and working life.
- In
the health field, the responsibilities of provincial health services (the
National Health Service) include:
(a) Keeping track of the
disabled;
(b) In collaboration with other services and entities, to
organize medical, vocational and special education and rehabilitation
services;
(c) To promote the admission and treatment of the disabled in
appropriate hospital or treatment establishments, as out- or
in-patients.
- Law
8/98, the Labour Law, contains a number of principles that assist the disabled
person. Article 77 establishes principles relating
to the promotion of
employment in compatible jobs or tasks for citizens whose working capacity has
been altered, and disabled people.
Article 78 establishes the possibility
of legal diplomas or employment regulations introducing special measures to
promote and protect
employment and activities by workers who have limited work
capacity, adjusted to their aptitudes and in accordance with the capacity
of the
company.
- Work
on the adaptation of laws relevant to disabilities has included a survey of all
the country’s legislation on the disabled.
It covered education, health,
transport, labour, defence, and finance. There have since been consultations
with various institutions
to analyse existing laws and discuss the necessary
modifications in order to ensure implementation of the survey’s
findings.
- Council
of Ministers resolution 20/99 approved the Policy on the Disabled Person.
National NGOs working in the disability field participated
in the formulation of
policy. The creation of a national committee for the disabled has been
proposed.
- The
National Social Action Policy approved by Council of Ministers resolution 12/98
states that one of the specific objectives of
Social Action is to promote the
integration of disabled people into the labour market and in other
income-generating activities.
Priorities for Social Action also include
assistance to the disabled to help them overcome the physical and social
barriers arising
from their situation and, because they are subjected to social
discrimination that prevents or limits their active participation
in the
country’s social, economic and cultural life, on an equal footing with
others.
- One
of the Government’s instruments in this respect is the Community-Based
Care programme (CBC) introduced in 1993 to promote
equality of opportunity and
the better utilization of resources within communities by building the capacity
of disabled people and
their families. The programme implements social
integration activities for pre-school and school-age disabled children and
undertakes
the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation of disabled people,
combined with educational activities to change negative attitudes
towards the
disabled. The CBC programme operates in all provincial capitals and in some
districts, in coordination with parents
and disabled children’s
associations. The expansion of the programme has identified 5,210 disabled
people, 323 of whom were
children attending school; 158 community activists have
been trained to help implement the programme.
- The
Mentally Disabled Programme, applied in Maputo town on an experimental basis, is
a government initiative to get pre-school mentally
retarded children into
kindergartens. Thirteen children have been admitted to three children’s
centres (Nhelete, Amizade and
Jardim das Flores) and 134 people from NGOs and
churches, social workers and parents have been trained in helping children with
this
kind of problem. Simultaneously, as mentioned in the chapter on education,
Maputo has a special EP1 primary school able to receive
90 mentally retarded
children.
- In
1993 MICAS introduced its programme for the deaf. It is developing a sign
language programme. The programme tries to gather and
systematize the most
common signs used to communicate by hearing-impaired Mozambicans, with a view to
producing a dictionary and
a compilation of signs that can be used as an
instrument for communication and teaching in schools for the deaf and to
complement
lip-reading. The first volume of the dictionary, containing 300
words, has been published.
- Three
sign language interpreters have been trained and courses prepared to train
teachers how to use sign language to teach hearing-impaired
children. Sixteen
teachers in the country’s two schools for the deaf have participated in
these courses. In addition, deaf
women in Maputo have been trained in sewing.
Groups of young deaf people have attended seminars on planning and managing
small projects
in Maputo, Zambezia and Sofala provinces and 42 deaf people in
Maputo are participating in an adult education programme teaching
Portuguese and
mathematics.
- MICAS
also provides technical assistance and monitors activities in two schools for
the deaf in Maputo and Beira, with 70 and 35 children
respectively. In Maputo
the programme also covers a further 74 children in Chamanculo and Malhangalene
suburbs, in the Central Hospital
(speech therapy) and in the Resource Centre,
developing communication activities and preschool education using sign language.
Zambezia,
Inhambane, Nampula, Tete and Gaza provinces have five classes for deaf
children with a total of 91 children. In addition, 118 deaf
people have been
identified in the provinces of Gaza, Inhambane, Tete, Maputo and Zambezia where
32 educators are helping 147 children
in 11 rehabilitation
centres.
- An
association of relatives and friends of the deaf was recently created in Maputo.
It is currently establishing and consolidating
provincial
branches.
- These
activities notwithstanding, given the number of people with hearing problems
their impact is still far from satisfactory. Nevertheless,
new horizons have
been opened for the beneficiary children - access to education and the ability
to communicate, enabling them to
be selfreliant, to support themselves and to
perform better in society.
- There
is a programme that runs a centre for visually impaired children in Marracuene
district, currently serving 11 children. In
addition to serving its particular
target group, the centre also extends its services to people with other
disabilities (physical-motor
and others). The country’s only Institute
for the Blind is located in the town of Beira and has a capacity of
80 pupils, 60
of whom are boarding pupils. However, due to its limited
resources it only serves some 70 pupils per year.
- The
Provincial Directorate for Social Action has integrated 13 blind children into
two normal EP1 schools in Chimoio. In addition,
there are two craft
cooperatives, each with 30 members, in Sofala province (Manga and Dondo).
Social and economic integration of
the visually impaired has also resulted in
the creation of two other craft cooperatives in Beira with a total of 60
members, all
of them blind, making furniture, carpets and
brushes.
- In
order to change attitudes towards disabled children and influence journalists on
the dissemination of positive information on disabled
children, the National
Journalists Union has trained 45 journalists in the north, centre and south of
the country on communicating
about children with disabilities.
- As
regards the Institutional Support Programme, between 1995 and 1998 transit
centres for the disabled served 3,046 people and trained
52 district heads in
information systems, referral and transport. Various foreign NGOs and the
community participate in these programmes.
The community’s positive
attitude is demonstrated by its acceptance and collaboration in running these
programmes. For example,
children with a variety of disabilities have been
integrated into schools thanks to changing attitudes on the part of teachers,
families
and communities.
- The
impact of landmines on the rural Mozambican population and particularly on women
and children has already been mentioned in the
chapter on the right to life.
According to data provided by the National Demining Commission, it is estimated
that mines have disabled
some 12,000 people, although the precise number of
children killed and disabled by these devices is unknown.
- In
addition to demining activities and the destruction of these devices, a number
of other multidisciplinary social initiatives have
been coordinated and
implemented in the context of a strategic framework for assisting victims of
mines and trauma. These actions
involve the National Demining Commission, the
Ministries of Social Action, Education, Labour and Health, as well as a network
of
national and international partners. The strategy includes intersectoral
activities on prevention and awareness-raising, information
surveillance and
medical assistance, psychosocial rehabilitation and professional
integration.
- Various
education projects to prevent mine accidents were carried out in 1999.
Some 446,848 people have benefited from mine awareness
programmes, 1,110
“village committees” have been formed, and there have been 2,684
awareness meetings. Participants
have included 1,914 teachers, as well as
cultural groups that have presented 399 plays on prevention and awareness for
specific target
groups.
- In
the information surveillance and medical assistance field, there are plans to
establish epidemiological databases on mine victims
in order to define,
implement and evaluate programmes to prevent mine accidents. Depending on the
availability of funds, it is also
planned to establish pre-hospital care
services, transport for mine victims, and emergency, x-ray and blood services in
health units
with surgical facilities.
- The
“Care against Pain” programme, which trains health staff in the
provision of quality care, is preparing 40 doctors
to train trainers in
cooperation with the Medical Faculty of Eduardo Mondlane University. Another
important component of assistance
to mine victims is the provision of six
transit centres. In 1998, 1,800 people received assistance in these centres and
in four
rehabilitation wards. Physiotherapy services were provided to 12,706
people and the country’s nine orthopaedic centres fitted
3,636 patients,
319 of whom were mine victims, with prosthetic devices.
- Psychosocial
rehabilitation is provided through special programmes run by the Ministry of
Health in coordination with the Ministry
of Education, the coalition group
“All Against Violence” and various national NGOs. In 1998, 2,551
victims of war and
violence received various kinds of treatment, 140 activists
and 33 teachers were trained and nuclei established in 12 schools. MICAS
data on social reintegration indicate that 4,000 disabled people were assisted
in 1988, 30 per cent of whom were mine victims, and
450 disabled children were
integrated into normal schools. Professional reintegration, providing
employment promotion and job training
for the disabled, will be provided through
a National Integrated Social Action, Employment and Youth Programme. Finally,
the National
Institute for Social Action provided financial assistance (minimum
wage) to 2,000 vulnerable disabled; 40 per cent of the funds for
this activity
were provided from the government budget.
- Despite
these encouraging results, achieved with the technical and financial
participation of various international cooperation partners,
the Government
estimates that it still needs more than US$ 1.5 billion to remove and
destroy the mines that are still spread throughout
the country.
B. Health and medical services (art. 24)
- The
right to health is established in articles 54 and 94 of the Constitution, which
clearly express the right of all citizens to medical and health assistance, and
their duty to defend and promote health.
The principle established in the
Eighth Right of the Declaration of the Rights of the Mozambican Child
states:
“You have the right to protection for your health, to live in a healthy
environment, to have good food and to be taught how
to defend yourself against
illness (...) When you are ill, you have the right to be treated with every
affection and love ...”
- This
same right is also regulated in various legal documents, in particular Law 2/77
which establishes important measures to realize
the right to health, some of
which are still valid. The law states that some health services for the citizen
are free, and these
principles are reiterated in article 5 of Ministerial Decree
38/87 of 4 March.
- Free
services include all prophylactic activities, complementary diagnostic
examinations, injections, dressings, and basic drugs and
treatment, when
prescribed during a consultation. Minors under 18 are exempt from the treatment
fee (Law 4/87, art. 5, para. 1 (e)).
These principles facilitate
children’s right to access health services. For example, since the
establishment of Primary Health
Care in Mozambique in 1978, preventive care for
children aged 0-4 under the National Health Service has been free.
Preventive care
includes immunization, growth monitoring, as well as treatment
for malnutrition and care for the disabled.
- Resolution
4/95 of 11 July approving the Health Sector Policy for 1995-1999 states that the
objective of this policy is the promotion,
preservation and improvement of the
community’s health, complementing and in collaboration with efforts by
other sectors.
These objectives are achieved by reducing the morbidity,
mortality and suffering of the population, especially those in high-risk
groups
such as women, children, displaced people, returnees and the
elderly.
- The
Health Sector Policy also gives priority to preserving and improving the health
of women and children through the Mother and Child
Health Programme, the
Expanded Immunization Programme, and School Health Programmes, and by helping to
improve people’s nutritional
status, children in particular, including the
prevention and treatment of micro-nutrient deficiencies. The health policy is
guided
by the following principles:
Maximizing benefits in the use of available resources;
Justice in the distribution of resources and equity in access to health care
between the various regions and social groups in the
country;
Freedom of the user to choose his health-care provider;
Coexistence between the public and private sectors, with clearly defined
responsibilities.
- Nationwide
coverage, determined by monitoring children aged 0-4, was 37.8 per cent during
the period in question. The highest levels
were achieved in Manica province,
with 56.2 per cent, and Inhambane, with 51.9 per cent. The lowest
levels were in Sofala and Zambezia
provinces, with 21 per cent and 29.5 per cent
respectively.
- According
to monthly and annual hospital statistics in the Maputo Central Hospital and
other hospitals throughout the country, the
main causes of death in children in
the first 28 days of life are asphyxiation, premature birth, respiratory
difficulties and asepsis,
closely associated with the mother’s state of
health and assistance during birth. In the case of children under five, the
main causes of death are acute respiratory infections, malaria, diarrhoea,
malnutrition and measles.
- The
most reliable data on the infant mortality rate have been provided by the recent
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the results
of which are presented below.
This information is organized and analysed for five-year periods prior to the
DHS.
- During
the five to nine years preceding the DHS, 1987–1992, there was a sharp
rise in infant, child and under-five mortality
due to a variety of cyclical
factors, mainly the war and various natural disasters, as illustrated in the
following table.
Table 5. Infant mortality rates in the 24 years prior to the DHS -
distributed by five-year periods
Five-year periods prior to the DHS
|
Infant Mortality Rate
|
Neonatal (030 days)
|
Post-natal (111 months)
|
Infant (011 months)
|
Child (1259 months)
|
Underfive (059 months)
|
0-4 years
|
55.3
|
78.6
|
133.9
|
75.7
|
199.4
|
5-9 years
|
59.8
|
103.8
|
163.6
|
94.1
|
242.4
|
10-14 years
|
58.9
|
79.8
|
138.7
|
77.9
|
205.8
|
15-19 years
|
45.1
|
87.1
|
132.2
|
73.0
|
195.5
|
20-24 years
|
88.4
|
75.5
|
163.9
|
103.3
|
250.3
|
Source: DHS, final version.
- Ever
since the first years of independence, the Ministry of Health has had a national
system of preventive health care for children
under 5 and curative care for
children aged 0-7. This assistance is provided through the paediatric services
in all hospitals and
health centres. The limited target group (0-7 years) for
medical or general clinical care by paediatric services is due to the
country’s
limited human and material resources.
- In
the preventive care field, the healthy child consultation for children aged 0-5
has been created in all health units, from the
peripheral health post to the
type I health centre, in rural and urban areas. This consultation monitors
aspects of the child’s
physical, psychomotor and neurological
development.
- Curative
care is provided for children transferred from the healthy child consultation
due to signs of changes in their development
or health, or sick children who
come directly from home to the health unit. The consultations providing
curative care are triage,
paediatric medical consultation and other specialist
paediatric consultations. No payment is required for children transferred from
the healthy child consultation, for children with any kind of disability or
those with acute or chronic malnutrition.
- In
addition to these activities targeting children, in 1995 a number of
subprogrammes were created in order to achieve a more coherent
strategy for
caring for the sick child, by acting on the main diseases that contribute to
child mortality. The strategy includes
subprogrammes on diarrhoeal diseases,
acute respiratory infections and malaria. Simultaneously, another more
comprehensive and integrated
approach to the sick child is being introduced, so
that no important pathology is missed while the child is being observed. This
approach is called integrated attention to infant diseases.
- Mozambique
has adopted the immunization calendar approved by WHO. Under this calendar, by
the time a child is 12 months it should
have concluded its immunization cycle.
At the moment 90 per cent of the activities of the Expanded Immunization
Programme serve
children. Official statistics in the Report on the
Implementation of the Economic and Social Plan for 1997 show the evolution of
immunization coverage for children aged 0-12 months over the period
1995-1997.
Table 6. Immunization coverage 1995-1997, children aged 0-12
months
Component
|
Coverage
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
Evolution
|
BCG
|
77%
|
82%
|
84%
|
7%
|
DTP/AP 3rd dose
|
57%
|
59%
|
63%
|
6%
|
Measles
|
66%
|
67%
|
70%
|
4%
|
Tetanus - 2nd dose
|
34%
|
35%
|
35%
|
1%
|
Source: Report on Implementation of the Economic and Social Plan
of 1997.
- The
data in the above table show that over the period 1995-1997 there was a sharp
rise in coverage rates for the child components
of the Immunization Programme.
Using information contained in the immunization card or provided by the mother,
the 1997 Demographic
and Health Survey found the following situation with regard
to the immunization of children under 12
months:[22]
Table 7. Immunization coverage, children aged 0-12 months (according to
DHS)
|
Percentage of immunized children
|
BCG
|
DTP
|
Polio
|
Measles
|
1st dose
|
3rd dose
|
1st dose
|
3rd dose
|
Percentage of immunized children up to 12 months
|
78%
|
75%
|
58%
|
76%
|
54%
|
55%
|
Source: Demographic and Health Survey.
- As
low birth weight is influenced by the mother’s state of health, it is
difficult to improve. There has been a slight reduction
in the stunting rate in
recent years, illustrated by some improvements in the growth rates of children.
The above sources found
that stunting rates are higher in rural than in urban
areas, probably due to food insecurity and the consequences of the war and
drought that affected most of the population for many years.
Table 8. Children’s health status, 1993-1997
Health status
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
Low birth weight
|
13.4%
|
13.5%
|
13%
|
12.6%
|
12.1%
|
Stunting rate
|
12.8%
|
10.8%
|
11.1%
|
10.5%
|
9.7%
|
Source: Report on Implementation of the Government Programme,
1995-1997.
- Health
education is one of the priorities of the National Health Policy. It is carried
out in health units and by mobile immunization
teams that visit the most distant
and inaccessible areas. The media are an important partner for the Ministry of
Health in educating
and disseminating information on public health, both through
special campaigns and publicity and through news coverage. Health education
targets all segments of society, including parents and children, and special
emphasis is placed on health care for the mother, child
and adolescents. More
specifically, the target groups for health education are:
Women of fertile age attending antenatal, delivery, post-natal and family
planning consultations;
Guardians (mothers, parents, grandparents) of under-fives;
School-age children;
Adolescents and young people in school and youth associations where
reproductive health issues are discussed;
Workers, on the prevention of accidents and on mother and child health;
The population in general on the prevention of epidemics, the early treatment
of the most common diseases and other issues of a preventive
nature.
- The
policy on the distribution of primary and general health services gives top
priority to expanding health services in such a way
that they reach the majority
of the population, with priority for groups at special risk, which include
children in the poorer geographical
areas. The main strategy of Primary Health
Care (PHC) is to provide quality and sustainable care. The sector also aims to
improve
the quality of the services (preventive and curative) provided to the
population, in particular children under five and adolescents
of both sexes and
in rural and urban areas, irrespective of their social and ethnic
origin.
- In
1997 the country’s health network comprised 43 hospitals. The provinces
of Nampula, Sofala and Maputo town had the largest
number of hospitals, six and
five respectively, while Manica province only had one. In 1997 the country had
277 health centres and
734 health posts. During the period 1995-1997
people’s access to health services rose, in rural areas in particular, due
to
efforts to expand health infrastructure through:
The construction and rehabilitation of 300 health centres and posts;
The transformation of 11 health centres into rural hospitals;
The rehabilitation of three central hospitals;
The rehabilitation of seven provincial hospitals;
The construction of a new General Hospital in Nacala.
- The
available indicators show a substantial rise in mother and child health
activities. The DHS found that the proportion of women
who had received
antenatal care was 96 per cent in urban areas and 65 per cent in rural areas.
Almost all the women in Maputo town
(99 per cent) had received antenatal care,
51 per cent in Zambezia and 45 per cent in Sofala as shown by the table
below:
Table 9. Delivery, antenatal and post-natal consultation coverage (children
aged 0-11 months and 0-4 years)
Indicator
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
Births
|
26%
|
29%
|
28%
|
30%
|
31%
|
Antenatal
|
57%
|
63%
|
65%
|
73%
|
78%
|
Post-natal
|
22%
|
26%
|
28%
|
31%
|
32%
|
Consultations 011 months
|
75%
|
83%
|
85%
|
97%
|
98%
|
Consultations 04 years
|
29%
|
32%
|
33%
|
42%
|
40%
|
Source: Report on the Implementation of the Government
Programme, 1995-1997.
- Anti-tetanus
vaccination coverage (ATV) varies according to the socio-economic status of
women - 92 per cent of urban women received
ATV compared to 61 per cent of rural
women. There were also regional variations with 96 per cent coverage in Maputo
town, 49 per
cent in Zambezia and 43 per cent in Sofala. The proportion of
assisted births is 82 per cent in urban areas and only 33 per cent
in rural
areas. It is considerably higher (86 per cent) in Maputo town than in Zambezia
and Nampula (25 per cent).
- Adolescent
pregnancy is a phenomenon requiring attention and monitoring by national health
authorities. Of the various factors contributing
to pregnancy at an early age,
a girl’s lack of education is particularly important. In order to deal
with the problems arising
from this kind of pregnancy and other adolescent
reproductive health problems, in 1997 the Ministry of Health introduced a new
sub-component
to its Mother and Child Health programme (MCH), the
“Adolescent and Youth Programme”. The 1997 DHS found that many of
the adolescents aged 15 to 19 who were interviewed had already been
pregnant once:
7.5 per cent of those aged 15;
19.6 per cent of those aged 16;
43.5 per cent of those aged 17;
63 per cent of those aged 18;
66.7 per cent of those aged 19.
It was also found that there was a
higher incidence of adolescent pregnancy in rural areas, particularly in
Nampula, Cabo Delgado
and Zambezia provinces, followed by Manica and
Sofala.
- Epidemiological
studies conducted in 1997 found that there is a 40 per cent risk of children in
Mozambique being infected with HIV
by their mothers during pregnancy, at birth,
or even through their mother’s milk. HIV prevalence among pregnant women
varies
considerably:
The South, 5 per cent;
The Centre, 20 per cent;
The North, 9 per cent.
- Given
the high fertility rates in Mozambique (5.7), HIV infection will gradually rise.
The following table contains estimates of the
number of children infected
between 1994 and 1999 and shows the alarming progress of infection levels in
recent years:
Table 10. Projections of the number of children infected with
HIV, 1994-1999[23]
Cases
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
New cases
|
17 950
|
21 667
|
25 408
|
29 050
|
32 487
|
35 628
|
Cumulative cases
|
64 559
|
86 226
|
111 634
|
140 683
|
173 171
|
208 799
|
- In
response to this pandemic, the authorities have decentralized the AIDS/SDT
programme and activities have been extended to the most
distant peripheral
levels. Simultaneously, the programme has been integrated into the Mother and
Child Health and Family Planning
programmes. The approach to the AIDS problem
has become multisectoral, involving various ministries and government sectors
and supported
by a wide variety of partners, including national and foreign NGOs
and United Nations agencies (UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO).
- In
1999 the MOH included in its programme activities related to preventing
motherfoetus or mother-baby transmission. These activities
include the
dissemination of information about the problem and the education of mothers and
health personnel.
- Food
security in Mozambique is understood as physical and economic access by all
families to adequate food that satisfies their nutrition
needs so that people
can have an active and healthy life. As more than 80 per cent of the Mozambican
population is rural, agriculture
is the most important activity for the economy
and the source of food security. Agricultural production takes place in two
main
sectors: commercial and family. Agriculture is practised by more than 90
per cent of women, who represent more than 60 per cent
of the agricultural
labour force. The important role of women in agriculture is
obvious.
- In
1992 information on nutrition showed an average of 50 per cent chronic
malnutrition and 10 per cent acute malnutrition. At the
time these averages
were the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Since then many factors have helped
improve families’ access to
food - peace, the expansion of cultivated
land, relatively favourable rainfall over the last five years, policy changes
that have
gradually altered the market structure, and the rehabilitation and
improvement of the transport and communication infrastructure.
- Maize
imports fell from 563,000 tonnes in 1992 to 14,000 tonnes in 1996. During the
same period, following the conclusion of the
emergency programme, the number of
people receiving food aid fell from 3.8 million to 154,000. More than 80 per
cent of energy needs
are currently provided by maize, cassava, sorghum, millet,
beans and groundnuts.
- Current
consumption of animal proteins is very low. It is difficult to assess access to
and use of animal proteins although some
indicators point to a slight
improvement at national level. Although the incidence of chronic malnutrition
has fallen, it is still
quite high. Acute malnutrition has fallen substantially
due to the improved food security situation, better use of food and/or better
access to health services. According to the 1996/97 Household
Survey,[24] about 62 per cent
of the urban and 71 per cent of the rural population live in absolute poverty,
and probably have difficulty in
gaining access to food, resulting in severe food
shortages.
- According
to the above-mentioned surveys (HS and DHS), the provinces with the highest
rates of chronic malnutrition are Niassa, Tete,
Manica, Cabo Delgado and Sofala.
Both surveys show higher percentages in urban areas. This may be due to lack of
food because of
low purchasing power, poor sanitation, the greater prevalence of
infectious diseases, diarrhoea, etc. The provinces with high rates
of acute
malnutrition (over 10 per cent) are Cabo Delgado, Tete and Sofala (DHS) and
Nampula (HS).
- The
proportion of children with acute malnutrition is highest in the first 6-24
months, the recognized high-risk nutrition group,
due to the late introduction
of supplementary foods, nutritionally inadequate supplementary foods, increased
risk of diarrhoea, etc.
- The
National Health System is financed from the government budget. However, many
external funds also contribute to the operation
of the system, some of which are
directly managed by donor agencies while others are integrated into the sectoral
budget and managed
by the public finance authorities.
- Sectoral
budgets do not include specific lines for children as a target group.
Nevertheless, the MOH central budget allocations for
the Expanded Immunization
Programme and the Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases/Acute Respiratory Infection
programme clearly benefit
mainly children. Funds are also allocated to
provincial and central hospitals but cannot be quantified because the budget
lines
are not classified in this way. Similarly, some programmes serving this
group are covered by funds managed directly by the donor
agencies and such
information is not very accessible.
- The
health sector gives priority to expanding the peripheral health network,
technical professional training, the development of Mother
and Child Health
programmes and the fight against the major endemic diseases. Investments under
Mother and Child Health programmes
are aimed at transforming health posts into
health centres with a maternity ward. The table below shows the proportion of
investment
expenditure on projects directly benefiting children during the
period 1996-1998. Total expenditure for this group was 2.2 per cent
of planned
investments for the health sector.
Table 11. Health projects with an impact on children (million
contos)
Period
|
EIP
|
MCH
|
Construction/ rehabilitation maternity wards
|
Total
|
Total investment
|
1996-1998
|
11 017.9
|
30 769.2
|
1 378.1
|
43 165.2
|
1 958 397.7
|
% health investment
|
0.5
|
1.5
|
0.2
|
2.2
|
100
|
Source: Three-Year Public Investment Plan.
C. Social security and child-care services and facilities
(arts. 26 and 18, para. 3)
- The
right to social security is to some extent established in the Constitution.
Article 56 notes that the State and society protect orphans and needy children.
Article 95 recognizes the rights of all citizens
to assistance in the event of
incapacity and old age, and guarantees State promotion and encouragement for the
establishment of conditions
for enjoying this right. These principles conform
with article 24 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights
which states that everyone, without any kind of discrimination, has the right to
protection as a minor by the family, society and
the State.
- These
rights are only partially covered in ordinary legislation. The current social
security system only applies to workers. There
is no non-contributory system
for people who are unemployed and needy. This naturally means that large
sectors are excluded from
the benefits of social security
schemes.
- The
rights of workers are recognized and protected in a variety of legal texts. The
Labour Law, for example, refers to the workers’
right to social security,
in accordance with the financial conditions and possibilities of the national
economy. The objectives
of the social security system (art. 183) include
guaranteeing material subsistence and social stability for workers when they
have
no capacity or a reduced capacity to work and in old age, and the
survival of their families in the event of death. Under article 184 the
various categories of beneficiaries of the social security
system include
relatives dependent on the workers concerned, including children.
- The
social security system covers sickness, a death subsidy, and retirement,
disability and survival pensions. The law establishing
the Social Security
System (5/89) reflects the aspects of the Labour Law already mentioned. The law
recognizes the right of a pensioner’s
survivors to a subsidy in the event
of his/her death if all requirements have been met at the time of
death.
- Direct
social security benefits for children are only possible if they are workers of
legal age, although under article 28 of this
legal text, minors in domestic
employment or working as seasonal or occasional workers are not covered by the
social security system.
This constrains their right to social security even
when they are workers.
- Under
article 12, minors who were dependent on a deceased person who held a retirement
or disability pension are considered his/her
surviving heirs and can thus
benefit from the pension. However, paragraph 4 of this article states that when
orphans reach 18 years
they lose the right to the survivors’ pensions
unless they are enrolled in a middle-level or higher education course, with
the
required academic performance, in which case they continue to receive the
pension until age 21 or 24, respectively. There is
no age limit if they have
total incapacity to work.
- The
order of priority for death subsidy payments is the surviving spouse when there
is no de facto separation, with allowances calculated
according to the number of
minors supported by the deceased, which are always paid to the respective
mothers or guardians. When
there is no surviving spouse but the deceased was
supporting minors, the subsidy is divided equally among the minors and paid to
the respective guardians (art. 18).
- The
General Statutes of Civil Servants establish a number of principles: minors
over 18 can exercise functions in the State apparatus
and have access to the
civil service. They also include social security measures that cover the
under-age children of civil servants.
On the death of a civil servant with a
right to a pension, or one already retired with a pension, according to article
258 his/her
heirs can receive a survivor’s pension if they so request.
The same benefit is granted to the heirs of old-age and disability
pensioners in
the armed forces.
- For
this purpose, heirs are considered to be single children, including adopted
children, under 18 years of age or up to 22 and 25
years of age when they are
middle-level or university students or equivalent, and those with a total or
permanent disability that
prevents them from working, as well as unborn
children. Grandchildren are also included if they meet the abovementioned
conditions
or are orphans. A child whose father has died and whose mother is
unable to support him, or children whose mother has died and whose
father has a
permanent and total disability preventing him from working, are also covered, as
are children whose parents’ whereabouts
are unknown and who do not support
them.
- Decree
21/96 of 11 June regulating the provision of medical assistance and drugs to
civil servants covers not only civil servants
but also the members of their
household. Article 3 states that children and stepchildren under 18 or who are
middle-level or university
students up to the ages of 22 and 25, respectively,
are considered members of the household.
D. Standard of living (art. 37, paras. 1-3)
- Mozambique
is a country with a low level of human development. In 1994/95,
Mozambique’s Human Development Index (HDI) was estimated
to be 0.281,
about 3.4 times lower than Canada, the country with the highest HDI in the
world.[25] Mozambique has
the lowest HDI in southern Africa. It corresponds to a GDP per capita that rose
from under US$ 80 (the lowest in
the world) in 1990 to about US$ 127 in
1997.[26]
- These
HDI figures demonstrate that the Mozambican population is poor. According to
the cited National Human Development Report (NHDR
1998) poverty, defined as
“the absence of conditions for a long life, education and an acceptable
standard of living”,
affects the majority of the Mozambican population, 66
per cent of whom have a monthly income equal to or less than Mt 225,500
(about
US$ 20). On the basis of the average national prices in April 1997, the
1998 HDR states that the national poverty line, adjusted
for the varying cost of
living in different parts of the country, was Mt 5,433 per person/day
(equivalent to about half a dollar
at that time).
- The
incidence of poverty was 69.4 per cent; in other words, in 1996/97 more than
two thirds of the Mozambican population, or 10.9
million people, were
living in absolute poverty. The poverty gap index - measuring the depth of
poverty - was high (29.3 per cent),
as was the squared poverty index of 15.6 per
cent.
- Poor
households in Mozambique have approximately twice as many dependants, mainly
children, than non-poor households even though both
types of household have on
average the same number of productive adults. Poor households have a higher
prevalence of girls under
16 with a first child, and these families have more
children and start having children at an earlier
age.[27]
- According
to the 1997 Population and Housing Census, that year Mozambique had a population
of 16.1 million. The population is young;
in 1997 45 per cent were under 15
years of age. The 1997 Demographic and Health Survey found that only 6.5
per cent of the population
had access to electricity, 25 per cent of the urban
population and only 2 per cent of the rural population. As regards water and
sanitation, only 20 per cent of the population had access to clean water, 49 per
cent of households obtained their water from public
wells, 30 per cent from
surface water and 20 per cent had piped water. However, access to piped water
is not even, benefiting 70
per cent of the urban population but only 8 per cent
of the rural population.
- Under
the Public Works and Housing component of the Government’s Five-Year
Programme[28] there has been
some progress in attempts to improve housing conditions, water and roads.
Implementation of the new National Water
Policy is having an impact, albeit as
yet a modest one, in increasing water coverage in urban, suburban and rural
areas. The National
Rural Water Supply Programme (PRONAR) is the main action
strategy in this field and focuses on the
rehabilitation and construction of new boreholes, wells and small water
supply systems. At the same time a community education programme
has been
developed to ensure the maintenance of clean water sources by the rural
population.
- It
is estimated that only 3 per cent of households have
sanitation.[29] The Low-Cost
Sanitation Programme manufactures and sells slabs for the construction of
improved latrines, the basis of the programme.
In collaboration with the
National Social Action Institute, 812 simple latrines and 356 complete latrines
were distributed free
and the construction of a further 29,191 improved
latrines was planned for 1999.
- In
the housing field, the Housing Development Fund provides credit for housing and
distributes plots of land to encourage own construction.
In 1998 about 1
million dollars were spent on basic urbanization in the peripheral areas of
towns, and over the last three years
the Housing Development Fund has provided
loans for house construction totalling 50 million contos. These loans have
benefited 1,370
families in all the provincial capitals. In addition, since the
early 1990s a total of 37,874 State-owned dwellings have been sold
to
tenants, 66.7 per cent of all eligible
dwellings.
- At
the time of independence, Mozambique inherited from colonialism very poor rural
basic education and health services even by sub-Saharan
African
standards.[30] As the vast
majority of the population lives in rural areas, agriculture is their main means
of support, providing resources for
food, health and the education of
children.
- After
independence there were efforts to develop agriculture, reinforced by new
strategies following the introduction of the structural
adjustment programme,
with a variety of effects on rural life. On the whole, however, there were
substantial improvements in access
to education and health services and the
rural economy grew. However, insecurity and destruction during the recent war
reversed
this process, which the Government intends to alter with the new land
policies and agricultural and rural development policies.
- The
National Agricultural Development Programme (PROAGRI) is one of the main
strategies in this respect. Focusing on the family sector,
the main
beneficiary, PROAGRI has the following objectives:
To reduce poverty;
Food security;
Job creation; and
Improving the balance of payments.
- As
a complement to the Government’s economic and social measures under the
structural adjustment programme, Council of Ministers
resolution 2/90 of 26 June
1990 established the Office to Support the Vulnerable Population (GAPVU). This
was subsequently revoked
by Council of Ministers Decree-Law 16/93 of 25 August
1993.
- GAPVU
was established to implement the Government’s Food Subsidy Programme, a
programme to transfer funds in order to minimize
the economic difficulties faced
by the urban population. GAPVU was a supplementary measure during the war
period to meet the immediate
needs of social groups whose income was
insufficient for their survival. The target group beneficiaries considered the
most needy
at that time were:
Families with children under five with nutrition problems associated with
social risk factors;
Families with pregnant women with nutritional problems, associated with
social risk factors;
The disabled of both sexes;
Female-headed households with more than five children and no household member
of an economically active age;
Families where the household head suffered from chronic illness.
- The
Office operated as a unit with administrative and financial autonomy, initially
linked to the Ministry of Planning and Finance.
From May 1991 until its
abolition in 1997, it operated under the Ministry for the Coordination of Social
Action. Six years after
the programme began, there was a need to assess its
impact and merit. It was found that despite the rehabilitation of national
productive
capacity, absolute poverty still prevailed in rural areas, since all
the eligible target groups were in urban areas. This was a
socially unjust
situation and there was a need to extend this and other poverty reduction social
programmes to rural areas.
- Council
of Ministers Decree 28/97 of 10 September 1997 replaced GAPVU with the National
Institute for Social Action (INAS) under the
Ministry for the Coordination of
Social Action. Its objectives are:
(a) To provide direct
social and economic assistance or any other assistance considered necessary to
the most needy individuals or
groups unable to satisfy their basic needs by
themselves;
(b) To implement programmes of direct assistance for the
target groups in coordination with government Social Action institutions
and
NGOs working in this field;
(c) To promote people’s self-esteem,
dignity and motivation to use their individual or group capacities to develop
and change
their socio-economic situation.
- INAS
intends to expand its activities, preferably to rural areas, and involve other
target groups not covered by the former GAPVU
- those able to work - in
productive and incomegenerating projects and activities. INAS thus has the
social role of “seeking
to dignify the human being, helping to reveal his
capacity to be useful to himself and the society of which he is part”.
This
strategy complies with the Social Action Policy approved by Council of
Ministers resolution 12/98 of 9 April.
- Pursuit
of the INAS objectives observes the two following
principles:
(a) Direct economic support for beneficiaries who
are permanently unable to work;
(b) Providing economic, material and/or
sociocultural resources for beneficiaries who are able to work in the form of
social investments
to stimulate their self reliance and development.
- The
groups considered apt for work include the mothers or guardians of children with
nutrition problems associated with social risk
factors. People considered inapt
for work include pregnant women with nutrition problems associated with social
risk factors. This
latter group is considered a special group within this
beneficiary category, as the incapacity for work is temporary (only during
pregnancy) and the person can subsequently be included in the other
category.
- Poverty
reduction is thus a fundamental condition for the full satisfaction of
children’s rights. According to the DHS the
incidence of poverty in the
provincial capitals fell from 72.6 per cent in 1992/93 to 65.2 per cent in
1996/97. Based on the country’s
economic growth during the period, the
DHS raises the possibility that if income inequalities did not increase, there
might have
been modest poverty reduction gains equivalent to a rise in the
standard of living at the same rate as real per capita GDP growth.
However,
this seems highly unlikely, as in fact income inequalities have increased
substantially.
VII. EDUCATION, FREE TIME AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A. Education, vocational training and professional guidance
(art. 28)
- In
the Republic of Mozambique, according to article 92 of the Constitution
education is the right and duty of every citizen. It also declares that the
State shall promote greater and equal access to the
enjoyment of this right by
all citizens. The general strategy of education is also established
constitutionally under article 52,
which advocates a strategy that aims at
national unity, at wiping out illiteracy, at mastering science and technology,
and at providing
citizens with moral and civic values.
- It
is intended that this right should be expressed in equal opportunities for all
Mozambicans to gain access to the various types
and levels of education. The
State allows the participation of other entities in education, including
community, business and private
bodies, national and foreign non-governmental
organizations, and cooperatives. Public education is secular. The right to
education
is established through the National Education System, the essential
principles of which are contained in Law 6/92 of 6 May. This
law covers three
areas of education: pre-school education, school education, and out-of-school
education.
- Pre-school
education takes place in crèches and playgrounds for children under six
years of age. It complements or supplements
family education, with which it
cooperates closely. It is incumbent upon the Ministry of Education (MINED),
together with the Health
and Social
Welfare Ministries, to lay down the general norms for pre-school education,
to support and monitor compliance with them, and to define
criteria and norms
for the opening, operation and closure of pre-school education establishments.
Attendance at pre-school education
is voluntary. Through MICAS, the strategy of
“community pre-schools” was developed and implemented during the
years
of conflict. This is based on community care for children of pre-school
age by adults chosen from among their own communities, who
receive basic
training by technical staff from MICAS and from NGOs.
- School
education consists of three separate categories: general education, technical
and professional education, and higher education.
School education also
includes special forms such as special education, vocational education, adult
education, distance learning
and teacher training.
- The
fundamental goal of basic education is to provide basic training in the areas of
communication, mathematics, the natural and social
sciences, and physical,
aesthetic and cultural education. Basic education includes the first seven
grades, which are divided into
two levels: firstlevel primary education (EP1),
covering grades 1 to 5, and second level primary education (EP2), covering
grades
6 and 7.
- In
1997, 1,745,000 pupils, of whom 41 per cent were girls, attended EP1.
The gross admission rate that year was about 80 per cent,
while the
gross enrolment rate was 67 per cent. About 154,000 pupils attended
EP2, and girls accounted for 40 per cent of this total.
Primary
education was served by a network of 5,689 first-level schools and 336
secondlevel ones.
- After
concluding basic education, young people may enter secondary education, which
lasts for five years. Secondary education seeks
to consolidate and expand the
pupils’ knowledge in mathematics, natural and social sciences, and
culture, aesthetics and physical
education. The secondary level of general
education consists of five grades, divided into two
cycles:
First-cycle general secondary education (ESG1), from
8th to 10th grades;
Second-cycle general secondary education (ESG2),
11th and 12th grades.
- About
45,200 pupils attended the first cycle of secondary education in 1997,
40 per cent of whom were girls. The same year, there
were 6,343
pupils in the second cycle, 36 per cent of whom were girls. General
secondary education was served by 63 schools for
the first cycle, and 12 for the
second cycle.
- Although
they are being phased out with the creation of the IMAP (Primary Teacher
Training Institutes), the Mid-level Pedagogic Institutes
(IMPs) are still
functioning. They provide initial training for secondlevel primary school
teachers (6th and 7th grades). At this
level, there is also teacher training in
specialist practical skills (technical and professional education). Entry
requirements
at this level are 10th grade (first cycle of general education) or
the equivalent, and the courses last for two years.
- Technical
and professional education is the main instrument for the professional training
of the qualified labour force necessary
for the country’s economic and
social development. It consists of the following levels:
Elementary, which pupils enter after completing EP1;
Basic, which pupils enter after completing EP2 or the elementary level;
Mid-level, which pupils enter after completing ESG1 or the basic level.
In 1996/97 there were only 253 pupils in two elementary technical
schools, 9 per cent of them girls. Basic level contained a total
of
13,152 pupils, of whom only 29 per cent were girls, distributed across
23 schools. Mid-level technical training consisted of
eight institutes with
2,600 students, of whom about 18 per cent were girls.
- Higher
education provides highlevel training for technicians and specialists in the
various scientific fields necessary for the development
of the country. Higher
education is aimed at those graduating from the 12th grade of general education
or equivalent, and takes
place in universities, higher institutes, higher
schools and academies. In 1996/97, there were 7,000 students enrolled in six
higher
education establishments, three of which are privately
owned.
- Special
education is education for children and young people with physical and mental
disabilities, or who are difficult to deal with
in schools. MINED is in charge
of special education, in coordination with the Ministries of Health and Social
Welfare. It is incumbent
on MINED to establish norms, to support and inspect
compliance with them, and to define the criteria for the opening, operation and
closure of special education establishments.
- There
are currently four public special schools. Two are for pupils with hearing
impairments (one in Beira and the other in Maputo),
one is for the visually
impaired (Beira), and one for the mentally disabled (Maputo). Two other
integrated education public schools
for the blind and partially sighted are
located in Beira - one teaching secondlevel primary education and the other
general secondary
education. These special education institutions, which have a
total capacity of 404 pupils, are far from sufficient to meet the
needs of the
increasing number of children and young people who seek places
there.
- Under
the education policy (MINED, 94), the main strategic lines for the development
of special education include the creation of
opportunities for children with
special educational needs, through the following measures.
− Promoting integration by informing normal schools and communities about
the integrated special education programme and mobilizing
them to support
it;
− Training itinerant support teachers;
− Supplying educational materials and equipment and designing flexible
study plans for children with special educational needs.
In
order to implement this strategy, the pilot phase of the project
“Inclusive Schools” is under way. Its objective is
to develop the
basic education school network so that it can receive all children and young
people, including those who are disabled
and who have learning
difficulties.
- Teacher
training for general and technical/professional education takes place in
specialist institutions and is structured into three
levels:
(a) Basic: for first-level primary education; this
takes place in Primary Teacher Training Centres. The entry requirements are
7th
grade, that is, secondlevel primary education. This model is gradually being
abolished, and being replaced by the creation and
expansion of IMAPs, which are
mid-level teacher training institutions covering all primary education, from 1st
to 7th grades. At
the moment there are IMAPs in the cities of Beira, Maputo,
Matola and Quelimane. The Chibututuine and Angonia IMAPs should shortly
start
functioning;
(b) Mid-level: the Mid-Level Pedagogic Institutes (IMPs)
are also being phased out following the creation of the IMAPs. They deal
with
the initial training of teachers for secondlevel primary education (6th and 7th
grades). This level also includes teacher training
for technical and
professional education specialist subjects. Entry requirements are 10th grade
(first cycle of general education)
or equivalent, and the courses last for two
years;
(c) Higher: this trains teachers for all levels of education.
Entry requirements are 12th grade of general education or equivalent.
- Adult
education is organized for people who are no longer the normal age for attending
general and technical-professional education.
This form of schooling is also
aimed at people who did not have the opportunity to attend school when they were
younger, or who
dropped out. Hence the reference to it in this report. Access
to this form of education is available to individuals from the age
of 15 for
primary level, and from the age of 18 for secondary education. It provides the
same diplomas and certificates as regular
education. The forms of access, study
plans and methods have their own specific modalities that take into account the
age of the
target groups, their experience of life, and their
knowledge.
- In
1997 enrolment in the EP2 and first-cycle general secondary education night
courses corresponded to 11 per cent and 32 per cent,
respectively, of the numbers enrolled for day courses. The number of students
in the second cycle of adult education corresponded
to 42 per cent of
the students attending day courses.
- Distance
learning using new information and communication technologies is not just a
complement to regular education, but also an
alternative form of school
education. Courses using distance learning methods began in 1996, and in an
initial phase comprised in-service
training for 3,000 category “E”
primary teachers. A viability study is under way with a view to establishing
distance
learning (via radio, TV and the Internet) to promote permanent,
life-long education for young people and adults at post-primary,
secondary and
higher levels.
- As
regards out-of-school education, the literacy activities that form part of this
kind of education are organized into three-year
courses, after which students
complete the level equivalent to 5th grade (EP1). In 1980 the number of
participants in literacy activities
reached a record figure of more than
415,000. Later, however, the numbers fell sharply mainly due to the devastating
effects of
the war, the excessively formal nature of the programmes, and the use
of Portuguese as the medium of instruction (when many adults
are unable to
understand and communicate in Portuguese).
- Given
the very high level of illiteracy in the country, the National Education Policy
establishes that the expansion of primary education
will be complemented by the
development of functional literacy programmes centred on the active
participation of communities and
the commitment of local authorities. Young
people, adults, women and girls are the priority targets of these programmes.
New scenarios
are being designed with a view to reducing illiteracy among the
adult population. Activities include the
following:
(a) Functional Literacy courses in Mozambican
languages and in Portuguese, aimed at strengthening cultural identity and
heritage.
Most of these literacy courses are bilingual: they start by
initiating students in mother tongue literacy, and then gradually focus
on the
official language, Portuguese;
(b) Training of literacy trainers to
promote literacy and adult education. The National Institute for Literacy and
Adult Education
(INEA) in Manga, Sofala province, has been preparing trainers
and adult educators to work at provincial level. In 1997, 61 trainers
from
Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia provinces attended refresher course
there;
(c) A Bachelor’s course in Adult Education to train INEA
trainers and other Adult Education staff ran from March 1994 to March
1998. So
far, 17 of the 23 students have graduated. Of these, only 2 are women. The
course was run jointly by the Pedagogical
University of Maputo and the Swedish
University of Linkoping, with funds provided by SIDA;
(d) Out-of-School
Youth Literacy Programme in Maputo, Inhambane, Manica and Tete provinces and
Maputo City, supervised by the MINED
Department of Adult Education (DEA). As
there is rising demand in the districts covered, the number of educators does
not cover
the needs.
- In
all the provinces and in a wide variety of situations, several Mozambican and
foreign NGOs are undertaking literacy activities
for children and youth without
access to formal education. In the Zambezia district of Milange alone, 21,210
young people are enrolled
and are assisted by religious communities. These
organizations have requested MINED to provide teaching materials, because the
existing
material has run out and needs revising. The DEA is working to gather
information and assess needs in order to prepare appropriate
materials (books
and manuals). One of the main tasks of the DEA in 1998 was the revision and
publication of formal literacy materials
in Portuguese.
- Admission
and transition rates are important indicators of access, participation and the
effectiveness of the primary education system,
as they reflect the supply
capacity of the education services. They indicate access to 1st grade by
school-age children and their
transition to the next level. In Mozambique, the
official age for admission to 1st grade was set at seven years in 1993, but this
was subsequently altered to six years when the law on the National Education
System was amended in 1992.
- Since
the end of the war in Mozambique in 1992, the gross admission rate at six years
of age has risen considerably. In 1992, the
national gross admission rate was
59.4 per cent, and in 1998 was an estimated
81.3 per cent - a rise of 20 per cent in just five
years.
This figure is encouraging and suggests that it will be possible to reach
86 per cent in the year 2000. Despite this positive
growth, there are
striking variations between the provinces. There are provinces such as Manica
(122 per cent), Maputo (106 per
cent) and Tete
(95 per cent) with rates above the national average, while others such
as Sofala (58.4 per cent), Maputo city (61.6
per cent) and
Gaza (65.1 per cent) have figures that are below the national average,
as shown in the table below.
- The
number of children entering 1st grade in the year in which they complete the
admission age is manifestly low. However a significant
number of older children
are enrolled in the same grade. On the one hand, this is due to the inability
of the school network to
accommodate all the children who should enter 1st grade
each year. Given the limited capacity of the school network and the limited
material conditions for teaching and learning, at this point in time the
Government’s position is that the introduction of
compulsory schooling
should be programmed gradually in line with available material and
organizational capacity, in order to ensure
that it is implemented
effectively.
- On
the other hand, a no less strong reason is that many citizens have not yet
realized that the 1st grade admission age has been lowered.
They think that it
is still seven years. There is thus a need for more publicity on the law on the
National Education System, with
particular emphasis on the entry age
question.
Table 12. Evolution of the population aged six and seven years
and the respective admission rates, 1992-1997
|
Population 7 years old
|
Admitted
|
Admission rate
|
Population 6 years old
|
Admitted
|
Admission rate
|
1982
|
372 245
|
142 004
|
38%
|
|
|
|
1985
|
396 722
|
164 872
|
42%
|
|
|
|
1990
|
435 816
|
153 925
|
35%
|
|
|
|
1994
|
486 685
|
155 074
|
32%
|
502 481
|
49 871
|
10%
|
1995
|
509 177
|
176 054
|
35%
|
522 456
|
57 247
|
11%
|
1996
|
539 458
|
171 556
|
32%
|
539 458
|
66 426
|
12%
|
1997
|
555 794
|
189 741
|
34%
|
555 794
|
80 535
|
15%
|
- The
evolution of the admission rate is influenced by the country’s high
population growth rate. The average annual growth rate
of the population aged
6-18 years is estimated at 3.7 per cent. This is higher than the
average annual growth rate of the country’s
total population, an estimated
2.8 per cent. This means that the schoolage stratum of the population
is growing more rapidly than
the population as a whole, and more than the
expansion of the school network and other teaching and learning
conditions.
- In
addition to promoting broader and more equitable access, a further important
mission of the educational system is to create conditions
to ensure that, once
they are in the system, pupils can attend and finish the level in a period not
far removed from the theoretical
period. Under Law 6/92, the theoretical age
for attending EP1 is from 6 to 10. The educational system has been working to
bring
school attendance into line with the ages envisaged in the law by
gradually reducing the number of late entries to 1st grade.
- The
enrolment rate has developed in a manner similar to that of the gross admission
rate. In 1993, the EP1 gross enrolment rate was
53.8 per cent, rising
to an estimated 71 per cent in 1998 - a rise of 15 per cent
in just five years. This makes it possible to
envisage that the rate of
79 per cent programmed for the year 2000 will be achieved. There is
considerable variation in the gross
enrolment rate between provinces. Provinces
such as Maputo city (93.6 per cent), Maputo province
(104 per cent) and Manica (92.6
per cent) are above the
national average, whereas provinces such as Niassa (54.6 per cent) and
Sofala (55.2 per cent) are below the
national average
Table 13. Population by age and respective EP1 enrolment
rates in 1997
Age
|
No. enrolled
|
% enrolled
|
No. in total population
|
6
|
57 247
|
11.0%
|
522 456
|
7
|
176 054
|
34.6%
|
509 177
|
8
|
199 035
|
40.3%
|
493 478
|
9
|
188 356
|
38.8%
|
485 236
|
10
|
212 737
|
44.4%
|
478 899
|
11
|
172 050
|
36.7%
|
469 045
|
12
|
176 011
|
38.8%
|
453 644
|
- The
data in the above table shows how the population attending EP1 is out of step
with the age group for this level, due to the combined
effects of late entry,
repetition and dropout. The distribution of EP1 pupils by age in 1997 shows
that the model age is 10, which
once again shows the effort required to obtain
school attendance by children of EP1 age.
- Available
information on the participation of girls in primary education indicates that
the problem is not so much access to 1st grade,
where girls comprise
45 per cent of all pupils, but the heavy losses on the journey to 5th
grade. As a result, drop out and failure
mean that girls comprise only
39 per cent of EP1 graduates. This situation requires reflection on
how to ensure effective learning
and thus better school pass
rates.
- The
following table shows important regional differences in the number of pupils who
make it through the various grades, and those
who graduate from 5th grade, out
of every 1,000 pupils who enter 1st grade. These “survivors” are
obtained by applying
the school pass rates for each grade in 1996/97 to a group
of 1,000 pupils who, for the purposes of this analysis, are assumed to
have
entered 1st grade. As can be seen from the table, there are indeed very large
regional differences in success at school, measured
in terms of the number of
students who neither drop out nor repeat years. The combined effect of dropout
and repetition rates over
several years is very low retention
levels.
Table 14. EP1 school performance by province
Nº
|
Province
|
1st grade
|
2nd grade
|
3rd grade
|
4th grade
|
5th grade
|
Graduates
|
1
|
Sofala
|
1.000
|
619
|
417
|
270
|
187
|
127
|
2
|
Inhambane
|
1.000
|
626
|
409
|
250
|
167
|
103
|
3
|
Tete
|
1.000
|
577
|
360
|
209
|
137
|
86
|
4
|
Maputo City
|
1.000
|
614
|
380
|
212
|
128
|
76
|
5
|
Manica
|
1.000
|
562
|
333
|
202
|
124
|
72
|
6
|
Maputo
|
1.000
|
575
|
336
|
171
|
97
|
58
|
7
|
Gaza
|
1.000
|
543
|
315
|
171
|
101
|
53
|
8
|
Nampula
|
1.000
|
514
|
287
|
151
|
86
|
48
|
9
|
Niassa
|
1.000
|
480
|
255
|
131
|
73
|
41
|
10
|
Zambezia
|
1.000
|
494
|
263
|
130
|
73
|
37
|
11
|
C. Delgado
|
1.000
|
475
|
247
|
125
|
68
|
36
|
|
Total
|
1.000
|
553
|
327
|
184
|
113
|
67
|
- After
a period in which the EP1/EP2 transition rate oscillated around
70 per cent (19821987), from the early 1990s it dropped slightly
to
66.2 per cent in 1993/94. However, from 1994/95 onwards not only was
a 70 per cent rate achieved, but it has continued to rise
and reached
78.5 per cent in 1996/97.
- In
absolute terms, the number of EP1 graduates who pass to EP2 has not fallen, but
the overall number of graduates from 5th grade
has risen substantially each
year. At the same time, however, there has not been a significant rise in the
capacity of EP2 to absorb
them. A shortage of teachers and in particular lack
of space mean that about 29 per cent of the children who conclude
first-level
primary education are unable to continue their
studies.
Table 15. Evolution of EP1 graduates and transition rates to
EP2 1980-1997
School year
|
Graduates
|
Nº entering EP2
|
Transition rate
|
1980/81
|
82 689
|
36 402
|
44.0%
|
1984/85
|
72 743
|
52 432
|
72.1%
|
1989/90
|
76 047
|
52 815
|
69.5%
|
1993/94
|
74 061
|
49 037
|
66.2%
|
1994/95
|
73 364
|
52 389
|
71.4%
|
1995/96
|
81 168
|
59 019
|
72.7%
|
1996/97
|
83 591
|
65 634
|
78.5%
|
- As
for access, participation and system effectiveness in general secondary
education, although some EP2 graduates have the chance
to continue their studies
in industrial and commercial technical schools, transition rates to the first
cycle of secondary education
are low. Every year there are EP2 graduates who do
not continue their studies because of a lack of places in secondary
schools.
- The
transition rate from the first to the second cycle of general secondary
education fell until the early 1990s, due to the increase
in the number of
firstcycle graduates, and the fact that the school network was very small.
Transition rates at this level are now
higher than in the mid1980s, due to the
opening of new secondary schools, as illustrated by the following table:
Table 16. Transition rates 1980-1997
School year
|
Graduates
|
ESG2 entries
|
Transition rate
|
1980/81
|
1 035
|
445
|
43.0%
|
1984/85
|
1 824
|
908
|
49.8%
|
1989/90
|
3 611
|
1 522
|
42.1%
|
1993/94
|
2 311
|
1 666
|
72.1%
|
1994/95
|
2 532
|
1 866
|
73.6%
|
1995/96
|
3 130
|
2 510
|
80.2%
|
1996/97
|
3 661
|
3 132
|
85.6%
|
- In
addition to transition rates, attendance in the two cycles of secondary
education is also an important indicator of access. In
principle, the first and
second cycles of secondary education should be attended by pupils aged 13 to 15
years and 16 to 17 years,
respectively. However, as in the case of primary
education, there is also a striking difference between the theoretical and the
real enrolment ages in secondary education. Furthermore, the school network
pyramid, with its broad base and an abrupt narrowing
in the intermediate area,
has a direct effect on the composition of the school population, access and
participation.
- A
breakdown of secondary school pupils by sex clearly shows a drop in girls’
participation between the preceding level and this
one. In the first cycle
girls account for 38.6 per cent of total pupils, while in the second
cycle the figure drops to 34.8 per
cent. The internal effectiveness
of secondary education is low due to, among other reasons, high dropout and
repetition rates.
- Those
who pass 12th grade of general education or its equivalent are regarded as
eligible for higher education in universities, higher
institutes, higher schools
and academies. As from 1991, Ministerial Decree 86/90 introduced higher
education admission examinations
in order to impose norms, harmonize access
conditions and criteria, guarantee equal opportunities for all citizens, and
select candidates
for the various courses with greater rigour. Access to each
course thus came to be conditional on the candidate’s preferred
choice,
his/her level of scientific knowledge and skills, and the capacity of the
respective institution.
- In
order to permit enrolment in higher education and attenuate discriminatory
effects arising from economic and regional inequalities
or from prior social
disadvantages, under the law on higher education the State is committed to
guaranteeing scholarships, with preestablished
quotas and other forms of support
for lower income candidates, and for each region. These scholarships may be
granted to students
in private higher education institutions, which may also
provide scholarships from their own funds. In publicly owned higher education
institutions, there are quotas for the above-mentioned groups and
individuals.
- In
1996/97, the three public higher education institutions admitted 1,244 new
students - 770 to Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM),
448 to the Pedagogical
University (UP), and 26 to the Higher Institute of International Relations
(ISRI). These new entries accounted
for 17 per cent of the 7,212
students in these three institutions in the 1996/97 academic
year.
- Despite
the progress made in this area, the breakdown by sex of the student population
in public higher education continues to favour
men. Overall, women account for
26 per cent of all students, a percentage that reflects the female
presence in pre-university education.
There are strong imbalances in the
distribution by course, with women accounting for between 40 per cent
and 68 per cent of students
in medicine, veterinary sciences and
languages, but less than 10 per cent of those in the technological
sciences.
- The
war had a strong impact on the school network and thus the need for
rehabilitation. In 1992, the year of the General Peace Agreement,
of the 5,886
primary schools in 1983, only about 40 per cent were operational.
Since then the Government has given priority to the
rehabilitation and
restoration of the school network so as to gradually restore 1983 coverage
levels and increase access to educational
services. Thus, in 1998 it is
envisaged that the recovery of the school network will reach
100 per cent, with levels in some provinces
above the national
average, such as Manica (137.3 per cent), Tete
(109.2 per cent) and Zambezia
(119.4 per cent).
- In
1997, the overall recovery of the school network was about
97 per cent, with forecasts of some provinces surpassing 1983 coverage
levels. These results have been possible thanks to the commitment of the
population, the assistance and support of national and
foreign NGOs, and the
work of the Government itself in rehabilitating schools and building new
learning spaces. At the moment an
average of 1,100 new classrooms are being
built each year, a sizeable quantity but insufficient to reach the target of
around 1,500
classrooms per year needed to reach planned admission and enrolment
levels.
- As
for school books and educational manuals, the school book policy immediately
after independence established that curriculum planning
was one of MINED’s
areas of responsibility. Since that time it has thus been MINED’s job to
design the curriculum for
all types and levels of education, to draw up
education programmes and book lists, and to test and distribute them through a
company
set up for this purpose. The sale price of textbooks was heavily
subsidized. All pupils bought books at the same price, regardless
of the
specific economic conditions of each family. However, problems related to the
weakness of the Mozambican printing industry,
defective distribution channels
and lack of purchasing power, particularly in rural communities, and despite the
policy of a general
subsidy for the consumers, meant that the distribution of
textbooks to all pupils was never guaranteed.
- MINED
has now redefined its school book policy and books are sold at their real cost,
with a support system for the neediest pupils
through the mechanism of a school
social welfare fund, better known as the School Fund. Through this fund, at
least in primary education,
measures were taken in 1996 to distribute books and
manuals free to all pupils and teachers. Over the past three years it has been
possible to guarantee a book for each pupil.
- School
equipment remains insufficient for requirements. There are significant
shortages of basic equipment such as blackboards, various
auxiliary educational
material, and desks in primary education. In general secondary and technical
education, there is a notorious
shortage of laboratories, audio-visual equipment
and computers. As for the number of classrooms available, despite the
substantial
increase there is still a growing demand. In primary education, the
evolution of the number of classrooms is shown below:
Table 17. Evolution of primary education classrooms
1992-1997
Year
|
No. of classrooms
|
1992
|
12 792
|
1993
|
14 023
|
1994
|
15 302
|
1995
|
16 298
|
1996
|
17 964
|
1997
|
18 959
|
- Out
of the total number of 18,959 primary education classrooms in 1997, about
32 per cent were built of flimsy materials, which means
that they will
need to be replaced by permanent buildings in the short or medium
term.
- The
various training models used to deal with the shortage of teachers has resulted
in a wide variety of professional qualifications
for primary school teachers.
The various categories of teachers in primary education are as
follows:
Post teachers (4th grade plus four years of training), trained in the old
pre-independence schools for post teachers (EHPP). Candidates
were admitted
with four years of schooling (the old 4th grade), and were then given four years
of psycho-pedagogical training;
Teachers from the pre-independence and immediate post-independence Primary
Training College, with the former high school 5th grade
- that is, nine years of
schooling, plus two years of teacher training;
Teachers from the primary teacher training centres (CFPP), with 7th grade
plus three years of training. In the same centres teachers
were also trained
with 6th grade plus one year; and 6th grade plus six months.
- Because
of the way in which second level primary education, EP2, is organized, with
independent subjects, specific teacher training
courses were designed, which
fall into the following categories:
Teachers from the Mid-level Pedagogic Institutes (IMP), with 10th grade plus
three years of training;
Teachers for 5th and 6th grade courses, trained at the Education Faculty of
Eduardo Mondlane University. Entry requirements were
9th grade with one
year’s training in the psycho-pedagogical field.
- The
qualification of teachers for general secondary education is as
follows:
Teachers for 7th to 9th grade, trained at the Education Faculty of the
Eduardo Mondlane University. Entry requirements were 9th
grade plus two years,
training in two subjects;
Teachers for 10th and 11th grade, trained at the Education Faculty of the
Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM). Entry requirements
were 11th grade plus
two years training in two subjects;
Teachers from the Physical Education Teacher Training courses of the
Physical Education Institute. Candidates should have possessed
9th grade plus
two years of training, after which they were qualified to teach this subject at
EP2 and ESG levels.
- In
addition to the various categories of teacher described here, there is also a
significant group of teachers who have no minimum
teacher training
qualifications but have been recruited to overcome shortages in the system. The
table below details the number
and type of primary and secondary school
teachers.
Table 18. Categories of primary and secondary teachers –
1997
|
EP1
|
EP2
|
ESG1
|
ESG2
|
Overall total
|
28 705
|
3 965
|
1 292
|
263
|
Total Mozambicans
|
28 696
|
3 954
|
1 271
|
248
|
Total with training
|
20 207
|
3 117
|
1 036
|
226
|
Primary TT College
|
70
|
27
|
9
|
1
|
EHPP
|
1 026
|
25
|
-
|
-
|
CFPP 6th+1
|
11 033
|
74
|
2
|
-
|
7th + 3
|
7 646
|
146
|
3
|
-
|
6th+2 or 8th+2
|
113
|
502
|
37
|
-
|
9th+2 years
|
50
|
580
|
93
|
-
|
9th+3 IMPs
|
64
|
1 387
|
246
|
3
|
UEM/CFPP 5th/6th
|
4
|
12
|
32
|
-
|
7th/9th
|
4
|
23
|
336
|
8
|
10th/11th
|
5
|
3
|
14
|
26
|
Physical Education
|
1
|
153
|
60
|
14
|
UP Bach.’s Degree
|
3
|
19
|
50
|
33
|
Licenciatura
|
-
|
12
|
62
|
118
|
Other courses
|
188
|
154
|
92
|
23
|
No teacher training
|
8 489
|
837
|
235
|
22
|
- The
training of teachers for technical and professional education stresses technical
subjects, since the general subjects in the teachertraining
system are common to
all types of education. Teachers are trained in technical subjects in the
Industrial, Commercial and Agricultural
Pedagogical Mid-level Institutes,
respectively, for the industrial, commercial and
agricultural areas. The courses last two years, and include
psycho-pedagogical training and teaching practices. The qualification
demanded
of candidates is the conclusion of a mid-level or higher technical-professional
course in the area in which they will teach.
- In
higher education there is no initial teacher training. Recruitment is from
among higher education graduates with the academic
degree of licenciatura
(corresponding to 12 years of schooling, plus 5 years of university training, or
7 years in the case of medicine). In the past,
recruitment for university
teaching was undertaken also from among students who had a Bachelor’s
degree. After joining the
university staff with the category of assistant
lecturer, the future teacher is given an in-service training programme that
culminates
in post-graduate courses in the country or abroad. The following
table shows the breakdown of the teaching staff in the country’s
three
public institutions of higher education.
Table 19. Full-time national teaching staff by level of
training and institution, 1996/97
Academic qualification: teachers with:
|
UEM 66.5%
|
UP 29.3%
|
ISR I4.2%
|
Total 100.0%
|
Doctorate Master’s/Licenciatura
Bachelors Total
|
75 412 5 492
|
7 210 - 217
|
1 29 1 31
|
83 651 6 740
|
Source: MINED.
- The
initial training of teachers for primary schools is done at mid-level, or even
lower. The current academic requirements for entry
into primary teacher
training schools are 7th grade for the CFPP (EP1 teachers) and 10th grade for
the IMP (EP2 teachers). The Pedagogical
University trains secondary
teachers.
- One
of the models for training primary teachers advocated by government policy for
the two levels of primary education entails a single
two-year training course in
the Primary Teacher Training Colleges for candidates with 10th grade.
Recognizing the strategic importance
of the initial training of teachers, MINED
has stated:
“... as the material, human and financial conditions are created, so
the current courses of 7th grade + 3 will be eliminated,
and gradually replaced
by courses given in the Primary Teacher Training Colleges, where candidates will
enter with 10th grade. In
coordination with the Pedagogical University courses
for a bachelor’s degree or ‘licenciatura’ in primary education
will be designed and implemented, both for the trainers of teachers of this
level, and for primary education teachers in general”.
- Other
measures for the initial training of teachers envisaged in the educational
policy include changes in the structure of EP2 teacher
training, so that it will
be possible to use only two or three teachers per class, and to provide teachers
with skills for dealing
with multiple classes. The curriculum for the new
training courses in Primary Teacher Training Colleges is organized into five
areas:
− Social Sciences (Civic Education, History and
Geography);
− Educational Sciences (Pedagogy, Educational Psychology, and School
Administration);
− Communication and Expression (Portuguese, English, Musical Education,
Artistic/Visual Education, and Physical Education);
− Manual Activities;
− Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
The workload is 37
hours per week.
- In-service
training is understood as the training of teachers who have taught for several
years but do not have a complete solid and
professional academic training.
There are teachers of this kind at all levels of the education system, which is
why government policy
envisages inservice training activities. Specifically,
MINED envisages the following strategic
measures:
(a) Continuous in-service training of teachers,
through intervention centred on the
ZIPs,[31] and with the
support of the teacher training institutions;
(b) Enhancing current
initiatives by the Institute for Teacher Improvement (IAP) for in-service
upgrading of teachers through distance
learning, starting with the category
“E” teachers;
(c) Establishment of a specific set of rules
for scholarships for teacher training courses.
- It
is expected that the profile of a teacher trained under an in-service training
system will closely approximate that of one trained
under an initial training
system, especially as regards scientific skills (mastery of Portuguese,
mathematics and science) and pedagogy
(understanding educational sciences,
special educational needs and teaching methodologies), as well as current topics
of national
and world importance, such as education for peace, for solidarity,
for citizenship, for the protection of the environment, etc.
- Continuous
training, on the other hand, is defined by UNESCO and UNDP as the type of
training aimed at all teachers, whether qualified
or not, and its main
objectives should not be principally anchored in wage or career considerations,
but in educational, methodological
and scientific upgrading that can improve or
even modify educational practices. MINED understands that this is the kind of
training
to which all teachers should be entitled, and that all teachers have
the duty to attend. It is based on the need to follow, coherently
and
continuously, the gradual on-the-job development of teachers’ skills and
their adaptation to changes in the curriculum
or in attitudes.
- The
systematic and continuous training of teachers scarcely exists in Mozambique.
Government policy in this area advocates its gradual
decentralization through
distance learning methodologies, using the potential of the ZIPs or IAP. It
should be regulated such that
each teacher has the right and the duty to
participate diligently, successfully and regularly in national or local
activities designed
to address general or specific shortcomings in
training.
- The
model for the continuous training of teachers has the current CFPPs, IMPs, the
new primary teacher training colleges and the Pedagogical
University as the
enrolment and research entities, and the ZIPs as structures linked to the
dynamics of schools and of teachers.
- Given
the great need for in-service training, distance learning is regarded as one of
the effective methods for improving the professional
competence of the teaching
body. Since 1996 IAP’s in-service teacher training programme has used
this method to reach 3,000
teachers. In this first phase, the course is running
in five provinces, and will be extended to the others later. It is intended
to
involve 15,000 category “E” working teachers by the year
2000.
- The
course has 50 modules and lasts four years, although, depending on his/her pace
of learning, a teacher may conclude the course
in just two years. Professional
skills account for 62 per cent of the course structure and the
remaining 38 per cent is dedicated
to the content of the various
subjects. Practical pedagogical work will be assured through pedagogical
workshops held on Saturdays
and Sundays in the Pedagogic Nuclei, where teachers
undergoing training can clarify their doubts with a tutor, the key to this
entire
process.
- In
addition to the in-service training of teachers, MINED is studying how to use
distance learning for the post-primary, secondary
and technical-professional
levels, using radio, television and the Internet.
- The
current educational planning system establishes norms for the use of teachers in
the various levels of education, which are expressed
in the compulsory number of
hours to be worked in a week. There are also norms on the minimum number of
teaching hours for teachers
with other responsibilities in school management -
the school director, the pedagogical director, the grade directors, and the
teachers
responsible for delegates.
- The
weekly workload for each EP1 teacher is 24 teaching periods. However, the
existence of schools working three shifts in the country’s
main cities,
combined with the shortage of teachers in these areas, means that in practice
the workload of a teacher responsible
for two classes is doubled. Indeed, in
schools operating in two shifts (the majority), the weekly workload per teacher
is 42 periods,
comprising 30 for direct contact with the pupils, and 12 for
preparatory and support work.
- The
influence of double or triple shifts on the use of teachers is reflected in the
pupil/class and pupil/teacher ratios - 48:1 and
58:1 respectively. In EP2
teachers are organized according to the subjects that they teach. The weekly
workload for a teacher at
this level is 38 teaching periods, of which 24
correspond to classes taught during the week, and 14 are devoted to preparatory
and
support work. In practice, in some instances the shortage of teachers for
some subjects creates an excessive burden, while in other
instances they are
underutilized and have to complete their compulsory teaching periods in another
class or school. EP2 school directors
teach at least one class, while deputy
directors have a reduction of 12-14 teaching periods, depending on the size of
the school.
The pupil/class ratio is 45:1, and the pupil/teacher ratio
is 41:1.
- In
the first cycle of general secondary education (ESG1), the stipulated weekly
workload per teacher is 24 teaching periods. As it
is not compulsory for the
director of the school to teach, some do and others do not. The deputy
directors have a reduction in their
teaching load of 12 periods, and teachers
responsible for subjects have a reduction of 4 periods. The pupil/teacher ratio
at this
level is 19:1, and the pupil/class ratio is 46:1.
- Teachers
in the ESG2 have a weekly workload of 20 teaching periods, and should also
devote 4 periods to the compulsory preparation
of lessons, assessing pupils and
other related activities. The pupil/teacher ratio is 22:1 and the pupil/class
ratio is 40:1. In
technical professional education, the weekly workload is 24,
24 and 18 teaching periods for teachers at the elementary, basic and
middle
levels respectively. At any of these levels, it is recommended that the
director of the school should teach a class.
- Recruitment
for teacher training covers candidates with varying levels of qualification,
depending on the level that they intend to
teach. The following table
summarizes the entry conditions, the current structure of the courses, and the
diplomas granted to the
various courses.
Table 20. Structure of teacher training courses
|
Institution
|
Entry conditions
|
Study structure
|
Diploma
|
EP1
|
CFPP
|
7th grade
|
3 years
|
EP1 teacher
|
EP2
|
IMP
|
10th grade
|
3 years
|
EP2 teacher
|
EP1/EP2
|
IMAP
|
10th grade
|
2 years
|
EP1/EP2 teacher
|
ESG
|
UP
|
12th grade
|
4 years
|
ESG teacher
|
- The
General Statute of Civil Servants establishes the framework of rights and duties
for teachers as public officials. There is also
a Teachers’ Statute, a
legal instrument that defines the mechanisms for integrating teachers. Both the
General Statute of
Civil Servants and the specific Teachers’ Statute grant
equal treatment to teachers of both sexes in questions of wages, training,
holidays and other rights.
- Apart
from their annual leave, pregnant teachers have an additional 60 days maternity
leave, which can be started 20 days before the
probable date of the birth. In
this situation the teacher maintains the rights inherent to her activity, and
after maternity leave
for six months she is entitled to 30 minutes in the
morning and afternoon to nurse her child. The education policy approved by the
Government also envisages incentives to increase the number of girls in teacher
training courses in order to correct the current
gender imbalance in the
teaching body.
- Evaluation
studies are gaining impetus. A number of important studies in the early 1990s
include: pedagogical evaluation of primary
education school books; evaluation
of the administration and management of the national education system, and an
evaluation of parents’
school book purchasing power. Between 1991 and
1993, Mozambique took part in an
international study on Performance in Mathematics. The country is currently
taking part in a study coordinated by UNESCO, in the
framework of Education for
All, on the performance of 5th grade graduates, the last EP1 grade.
- Educational
research faces financial constraints, and the small amount of funds available
are donated by international agencies.
Educational researchers work in
isolation and their findings are rarely used in policy formulation. There are
programmes to encourage
research on the effectiveness of schools, identifying
factors that could influence the quality of education, particularly in primary
education and in a context of poverty; on sociology and the culture of education
through the study of relationships between the school,
the community, the pupils
and the teachers; on linguistics and education given the country’s
multilingual situation; on psychology
with particular emphasis on conceptual
studies; on the environment, population and education; and research on policy
analysis with
a view to strengthening policy formulation in
education.
- Education
suffered severe cuts in its share of the General State Budget (OGE) following
the implementation of the structural adjustment
measures that began in 1987.
From 1980 to 1986 the recurrent education budget was between
17 per cent and 19 per cent of the total
State recurrent
budget; in 1987 it fell sharply to 9 per cent (MINED, 1990). The
reduction in educational expenditure mainly affected
the real wages of teachers,
which fell by about 50 per cent between 1986 and 1987. No less
important were the cuts in expenditure
on goods and services, which had a strong
effect on the quality of education.
- In
1997, the education recurrent budget was 17.2 per cent of the total
government budget. Wages accounted for 75 per cent of total
expenditure on education and sought to ensure the admission of new teachers,
particularly in primary education, given the Government’s
policy of
prioritizing expansion of access to this level of education. The share of the
recurrent budget by level of education was
as follows:
Primary education
|
46.0%
|
General secondary education
|
10.2%
|
Teacher training
|
0.3%
|
Technical-professional education
|
6.7%
|
Higher education
|
22.0%
|
Central and provincial administration
|
4.8%
|
Total
|
100.0%
|
- MINED
(1990) also indicates that from 1980 to 1986 education’s share of the
investment budget was between 4 per cent and 1 per
cent. In 1987 this
percentage was just 0.3 per cent. But in 1997 education as a whole received
10.7 per cent of the total State
investment budget. That year the distribution
of the investment budget by level of education was as
follows:
Primary Education 38.0 per cent
Secondary
Education 31.0 per cent
Technical-Vocational (including Teacher
Training) 19.0 per cent
Higher Education 12.0 per cent
Total
100.0 per cent
- Despite
increased public expenditure on the education sector in current terms, when
converted into US dollars the value of public
expenditure fell sharply between
1990 and 1994, when it began to recover somewhat. Nevertheless, the total
amount in 1997 still
only amounted to 75 per cent of the 1994 value.
Consequently, since school enrolment has increased considerably over the last
four
years (1994-1997), unit spending per pupil has been
falling.
- Although
the percentage (of total expenditure on general education, excluding higher
education) spent on EP1 and EP2 rose from 53
per cent in 1990 to 59 per cent in
1997, expenditure per pupil fell from US$ 16 in 1990 to US$ 9 in 1995, before
rising to US$ 11
in 1996. Over 90 per cent of the expenditure in EP1 is for
wages, while in EP2 this percentage is 76 per cent.
- This
same trend can also be seen in ESG1 and ESG2. Although the proportion spent on
these levels rose slightly over the period 1990-1997,
the sharp rise in school
enrolment completely wiped out this increase in resources. In 1997 expenditure
per pupil was a little more
than half the 1990 figure. In ESG1, expenditure per
pupil fell from around US$ 100 in 1990 to US$ 55 in 1996 and was US$ 63 in
1997.
More than three quarters of the expenditure at these levels is for
wages.
- The
proportion of expenditure going to technical education fell significantly
throughout the 19901997 period, from 8.9 per cent in
1990 to just 6.8 per
cent in 1997, which was probably due to the growing priority allotted to basic
education and the growing pressure
for the introduction of cost recovery
measures in technical education.
- Public
higher education, taught in only three institutions, is attended by about 7,000
students and absorbs about 20-22 per cent of
total recurrent expenditure in the
education sector. The number of students has increased significantly in recent
years. In Eduardo
Mondlane University, for instance, the number of students
rose from 2,800 in 1990 to 5,200 in 1995/96. Unit costs in UEM are high
compared to the other levels of education, but tended to decline between 1990
and 1995, from US$ 5,682 to US$ 2,943. It is estimated
that in 1997 the unit
cost was US$ 3,400.
- The
structure of expenditure by level of education changed significantly between
1990 and 1997, due to a reduction in the relative
weight of the central and
provincial administration. All levels of education increased their relative
weight in expenditure, primary
education in particular, reflecting the priority
given to basic education. At sector level, 74 per cent of expenditure goes for
wages and 26 per cent for goods and services. Primary education is responsible
for almost 60 per cent of expenditure. In analysing
educational expenditure, it
is also important to stress two aspects:
(a) There is no
systematic information on the Government’s overall effort in the education
field, since in addition to the
budget directly allocated to the Ministry of
Education, other Government bodies carry out training activities using State
budget
funds, but these expenses are not counted as part of the overall
education budget;
(b) As can be seen in the distribution of funds for
recurrent and investment expenditure, there is a real concern to prioritize
primary
education in the programming of expenditure, given its priority in
Government and sector policy and strategy.
- In
higher education, more than 60 per cent of recurrent expenditure in 1994/95
(excluding technical assistance) were non-wage costs.
Support for students (28
per cent), international cooperation (16 per cent) and boarding (14 per cent)
are the most important components
of foreign aid. The sources of funding for
higher education in Mozambique are thus the General State Budget,
international cooperation
funds, and revenue generated by the institutions
themselves.
- Foreign
aid has played an extremely important role in funding education. In 1993, the
nonwage costs funded by external sources surpassed
domestic funding and
represented half the total of recurrent aid. But these contributions only
covered some costs inherent to the
production of school books, food aid,
assistance with import duties, freight and other costs in central and provincial
administration.
Many other important school resources, such as teachers’
manuals and basic equipment for classrooms, are considerably
under-financed.
- There
are no systematic data on which to quantify the importance of the direct
contribution by households to education. However,
there is evidence that in
most urban and peri-urban schools, excluding wages, which are all paid by the
State, funds for non-wage
expenditure come from cash contributions the level of
which is decided upon by joint agreement between parents and the
schools.
- Until
now, private education has been basically funded by non-Governmental sources.
But in 1995 the Government began to finance a
small number of community schools
by paying teachers’ wages and providing books for the pupils. Under
Decree 11/90 of 1 June,
the Government authorized private education for all
types and levels of education, both fee-paying and free of charge. With this
legal provision, the Government proceeded to decentralize one of its functions
in order to create additional capacity that would
expand opportunities for
access to the education system.
- There
are currently 132 private primary, secondary and technical schools. About 53
per cent of these are primary schools, and 70
per cent of the private primary
pupils are concentrated in the major cities (Maputo, Matola and Beira).
Numerically, the pupils
taught in private schools are only equivalent to 2 per
cent of those taught in public schools. Three private higher education
institutions
are operating: the Catholic University (UC), the Higher
Polytechnic and University Institute (ISPU), and the Higher Institute of
Science
and Technology of Mozambique (ISCTEM).
- There
are two types of private schools: those which undertake their activities almost
free of charge and are managed by humanitarian
organizations, communities, NGOs
and other segments of civil society, and those that are profit-making. In both
cases, by law the
curriculum used in private schools is that approved by MINED
for the official schools, although they also have the possibility of
teaching
other subjects. Pupils from private schools sit the national public exams. The
teachers who work in private education
have usually been trained in State
teacher-training establishments. Government policy towards private education is
to encourage
its expansion and development, particularly to areas not covered by
public education. As part of this approach, the Government is
considering
identifying fiscal incentives for this sector to stimulate its qualitative and
quantitative growth.
- Given
the shortage of domestic resources and the importance of foreign assistance for
national development programmes, international
cooperation is a matter of high
priority in the administration of the educational system. In order to improve
efficiency in the
management of its international cooperation, MINED has set up
a forum for dialogue and coordination with the donors that has made
it possible
to develop a consensus in the formulation of the strategies to implement sector
policies.
- Under
the activities programmed by the Association for the Development of Education in
Africa, MINED has obtained a number of benefits
from its participation in
working groups, resulting in improved articulation and coordination in a
perspective of partnership. The
drafting of a strategic plan for the education
sector is under way, presenting an overall view of long-term education needs and
the
financial effort required, domestically and from funds mobilized from
outside sources.
- International
cooperation in higher education has covered the areas of teaching, research and
extension. In teaching, cooperation
activities include the exchange of
teachers, researchers and bibliographic material. Furthermore, given the
concern of educational
institutions to train their teaching staff, the number of
scholarships for post-graduate studies has grown significantly. In future,
international cooperation should concentrate on activities considered priorities
for sector policies. It should prioritize the training
of human capital in
areas where there is no domestic capacity, with a view to strengthening
institutional capacity and sustainable
development.
- Because
of the huge financial constraints, the absolute poverty of the majority of
the population, the low school enrolment rates,
the growth of the
school-age population, and the high drop-out and repetition rates, Mozambique
faces the challenge of improving
the quality of education while expanding the
system. Access to education faces significant constraints, particularly in the
rural
areas and for children from poor backgrounds, and in some regions for
girls. The quality of education is prejudiced by:
− The poor quality and insufficient quantity of school books and
educational materials;
− Teachers with poor general preparation and professional
training;
− Inadequate educational infrastructures;
− A very short annual school timetable, with less than 3.5 hours of
teaching per day, and classrooms that are overcrowded with
children of differing
ages, skills and talents.
Additionally, more than a decade of
war has had negative consequences for the emotional and psychological State of
children and young
people.
- The
low internal efficiency of schools is another important problem for the
educational system. As already mentioned, of 1,000 1st grade pupils,
only 67 graduate five years later. The high rates of school wastage not only
block the entry of more pupils into the
system, but also increase unit education
costs.
- At
the various levels of administration there is a crucial need to improve the
institutional capacity of the education sector - in
terms of skills,
administration and management, and educational planning. Special attention
should be paid to schools, as the centre
of the teachinglearning process, and
where there is an urgent need for professional training, in-service training and
the specialization
of staff at central, provincial and district levels in order
to guarantee and allow the formulation of realistic policies, compatible
with
the objectives of the system. This will also allow a gradual and progressive
decentralization of some functions to provincial
and district
authorities.
- In
order to manage the educational system efficiently, the administrative services
need to improve their vertical and horizontal coordination
and their information
system. National education policy advocates combining a strategy of expanded
access and equity focused on
primary education, with improving the quality and
relevance of education. To this end, the diagnosis of the current State of the
education system recommends an overall reform of the structure and content of
education. This would involve in particular decentralization
of the
decision-making and management system; community involvement in operational
responsibility and authority for the management
of education and its resources;
introduction of the concept and practice of school management, through
appropriate training for school
leaders, and appropriate modification of
curricula so as to make them more useful and relevant to the various learning
contexts.
B. Objectives of education (art. 29)
- As
mentioned above, the objectives of education Stated in article 29 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child are recognized in
the Constitution and in
the Mozambican educational system, which has been explained in detail in the
previous chapter.
- The
aim of Law 6/92 of 6 May on the National Education System was to adjust the
general framework of the education system and bring
the provisions of Law 4/83
of 23 March into line with the country’s social and economic conditions,
from both the educational
and the organizational points of view. Among the aims
of education it stresses the eradication of illiteracy and the guarantee of
basic education for all citizens, in accordance with the development of the
country, through the gradual introduction of compulsory
schooling and the
training of cadres for the needs of the country’s socio-economic
development.
- The
Government’s five-year programme for 1995-1999 advocates that education is
the key instrument for improving living conditions
and raising the technical and
scientific level of workers. It is also the basic resource for understanding
and participating in
the tasks of social development, and in the struggle for
peace and national reconciliation. The Government’s fundamental
objectives
for education stress equal opportunity in access to all levels of
education - emphasizing promoting greater participation by women
and citizens
from low-income families, and special attention for the reintegration into the
education system of school-age children
living under difficult circumstances,
particularly orphans, children abandoned due to the war, children traumatized by
the war and
children with abnormal development.
- To
this end, the mechanisms of curriculum and material incentives have been created
to ensure that all poor pupils have access to
textbooks through the School Fund,
with priority for those in EP1. As for higher education, the Government’s
objectives are
to promote access by a growing number of Mozambicans by expanding
this level of education to other parts of the country, supporting
and
stimulating initiatives to set up higher education establishments, particularly
in the centre and north of the country.
473. In this context, special mention should be made of innovations in the
content of education programmes. Mozambique took part
in the World Conference
on Education, held in March 1990 in Jomtien, Thailand, which unanimously adopted
the Universal Declaration
on Education for All and a Programme of Action. The
conference resolutions include the pledge to ensure access for all to basic
education, which should be regarded as a right of citizenship and also because
development, however it may be conceived, requires
an educated
population.[32] In
collaboration with the partners who signed the World Declaration on Education
for All, MINED has taken several initiatives to
mobilize public opinion and
prepare the necessary conditions for introducing changes into the design and
functioning of the educational
system. These activities include the formation
of eight Technical Commissions covering vital areas of the education system:
Structures
and Decentralization, Curriculum Development, Assessment and Exams,
Textbooks, Training and Institutional Development, Teachers’
Conditions,
Privatization and Non-Formal Education.
- The
studies by these commissions show that the main problems of the education system
are located in the sphere of structures, of the
curriculum and of teaching
methods. At the end of 1992, it was concluded that the strategic reform to be
followed would have four
interdependent elements (MINED,
1994):
(a) Raising awareness of the objectives and targets of
Education for All, by making public opinion, and the opinion of parents, aware
of the importance of basic education;
(b) Expanding the system, by
increasing its infrastructure and human resources
capacity;
(c) Reforming structures, in particular through
decentralization, privatization, the reorganization of teacher training, the
revitalization
of the Zones of Pedagogic Influence (ZIPs), the creation of
community committees and community schools, the reorganization of available
resources, simplification of assessment procedures, restructuring inspection and
supervision, the creation of a capacity for intervention
and support in the
District Directorates of Education;
(d) Introducing curriculum changes
to accommodate, among other things, new and more relevant areas and teaching
methods.
- Following
these recommendations, the National Education System is being reformed with
emphasis on the areas identified as vital for
its effectiveness and efficiency.
The reform aims to develop a flexible curriculum relevant to the varying
learning needs and contexts,
and to simplify its structure, making it more
dynamic and amenable to participation by other education agents and partners.
The
National Education Policy establishes objectives to be achieved through the
following actions and measures.
- Given
the importance of environmental education for new generations, the national
bodies concerned with curriculum planning are working
to integrate the
environmental dimension into the teacher training curriculum, and the curricula
at all levels of education. Thus,
environmental education is not treated as an
independent subject, since its content is covered in all subjects of a
scientific nature,
such as Natural Sciences and Geography, as well as through
appropriate themes in language teaching. These programmes contain various
different themes on ecology, which progresses according to the level of
education, and achieves greater depth in the teaching of
biology in secondary
education.
- The
Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Action (MICOA) was set up with
the aim of formulating appropriate policies to defend
the environment and ensure
sustainable development. In January 1995, MICOA began a pilot project, to be
gradually expanded to other
parts of the country, aimed at establishing
environment clubs. In an initial phase, clubs were set up in the Maputo
Commercial Institute,
in the Boane Agricultural Institute, in the Northwest 1
Secondary School, and in Marracuene. The objectives of these clubs
are:
− To provide general knowledge about the environment, ecosystems, ecology
and natural resources;
− To create new attitudes towards the relationship between mankind and the
environment;
− To learn to love nature, by participating in conservation and
environmental preservation activities in each person’s
community;
− To establish models of good practice in participatory environmental
management with the communities, including school
communities.
- The
objective of this theme is to include in primary and secondary curricula
knowledge and attitudes about population and family life.
As from second-level
primary education (grades 6 and 7), population matters and family life are
dealt with in greater depth in Biology
and Geography. The inclusion of themes
on population and family life corresponds to the educational policy objective of
developing
knowledge about health and nutrition.
- Mozambican
society is in transformation and transition from a conflict situation to
stability. According to education policy, one
of the objectives of the
education system is to catalyse social reconciliation through the creation and
development of a culture
of peace, tolerance of different ideas and building
democratic values.
- The
curriculum reform under way centres on interaction between the content of
education and its main purpose: to contribute towards
tolerance, understanding
and national solidarity, and to develop a sense of belonging to a “global
village” in peaceful
and lasting coexistence. The languages of
instruction, together with subjects such as History and Geography, make a
substantial
contribution to transmitting these noble values and attitudes.
Other activities which seek to combat exclusion and develop a spirit
of peace
and tolerance are student excursions, debates organized around themes of
interest, school games, etc.
- The
objectives for education and for culture are intimately linked and contribute to
the overall formation of citizens. The cultural
dimension of education
programmes is expressed by the presence of notions of culture, and values of our
national heritage and of
our universal heritage, in subjects such as languages,
history and geography. Cultural and linguistic interchanges are thus encouraged
with the aim of consolidating linguistic knowledge, and raising awareness of the
cultural values of other countries. Other activities
include visits by artists
to display their talents, the participation of artists in the teaching of
artistic themes, and the organization
of libraries, cultural centres,
exhibitions, etc.
- Given
the prevailing gender imbalances in educational access, participation and
success, education policy strongly and clearly formulates
measures of equitable
treatment for boys and girls in the education system. These measures to
establish equitable opportunities
for students of both sexes,
include:
− The creation of a gender-sensitive school environment, through the
identification and definition of ways of organizing the
educational process and
changes in teachertraining programmes;
− The promotion of alternative systems for providing education for girls,
such as the organization of non-formal education
programmes
(NFE);
− An increase in the number of women teachers, recruiting them in their
respective communities and improving their living and
study conditions in
training centres;
− Establishing agreements with NGOs, religious bodies and other partners
for their involvement in carrying through the girls’
education
programme.
- Studies
throughout the country by MINED in 1996, under the Education of Girls project,
revealed the following gender constraints:
− Parents attribute less importance to the education of girls than boys,
because of girls’ lower social status;
− Parents, guardians and the community in general perceive a low
cost-benefit ratio for girls’ education;
− Excessive domestic work for girls;
− Tension between traditional education and formal education, including
premature marriages and pregnancies, initiation rites,
bride price and other
aspects;
− Poverty, which aggravates the lack of participation of girls to the
benefit of boys;
− Having to leave school due to pregnancy and childbirth, whether in or
out of wedlock, resulting in a rise in the drop-out
rate for
girls;
− The distance between home and school, and lack of opportunities for
access to subsequent levels of education;
− Lack of women teachers as role models and to protect
girls;
− Tension between formal and religious education, caused in some cases by
a clash between the timetables of public and Koranic
schools.
- In
order to deal with these measures and constraints, MINED designed the Gender and
Education project, with the aim of achieving a
gender balance in the education
system in the medium term, i.e. 50 per cent women or girls and 50 per cent men
or boys, at all levels.
- Education
policy recommends strengthening the connection between education and manpower
training and the job market. To attain this,
educational policy indicates that
technical and professional courses will be planned so as to reflect the
development needs of the
national economy. The involvement of social partners
is considered fundamental, and it is thus advocated that there should be more
coordinated work with employers on curriculum development by establishing
multisector curriculum planning teams for the various areas
of
training.
- Employers
and trade unions are called upon to play an important role in the reintroduction
and development of a system of assessment
and professional certification,
through exams of professional aptitude and the identification of professional
careers.
C. Free time and cultural activities (art. 31)
- The
right of children to rest and leisure is not explicitly established in the
constitutional text. It is regulated in the Declaration
of the Rights of the
Mozambican Child, which establishes the following principle in the second part
of Right Four: “... you
have the right to play and to practise sport so
that your body may grow full of energy and health”.
- Article
4, paragraph 6, of Presidential Decree 10/96, the Basic Law of the Ministry of
Education, is of interest in that it establishes
the Ministry’s functions
in the field of physical education and school sport, namely “to promote
and guide physical education
and sport in the institutions of
education”.
- Council
of Ministers resolution 4/96, establishing the Government’s policy on
young people, takes these principles into consideration,
stressing the
Government’s concern “to promote the occupation of young
people’s free time by encouraging the organization
of holiday camps [and]
competitions for young innovators, through the practice of sports and gymnastics
and other intellectual and
leisure activities”.
- The
various guiding principles advocated in the Government’s 1995-1999
five-year plan adopted by resolution 4/95 include the
Government’s
undertaking to encourage the practice of physical education and sport and
establish the legal framework for its
development. Thus, in the field of
physical education and sport, the Government plan advocates that measures be
taken to:
(a) Promote the rehabilitation, improvement and
conservation of sports installations and equipment;
(b) Create
conditions, in collaboration with local Governments, for the country to have the
infrastructures necessary for the practice
of sport;
(c) Encourage the
generalized practice of physical education and sport in residential areas, in
schools, and in the defence and security
forces; to value and publicize
traditional games.
- As
for free time, the Government’s plan establishes activities to promote the
occupation of the free time of children and young
people by encouraging the
organization of holiday camps, competitions for young innovators, and through
the practice of sports and
gymnastics and other intellectual and leisure
activities. The plan also undertakes to dedicate special attention to
establishing
conditions whereby young people from the countryside may have
access to education and recreation.
- Presidential
Decree 11/96 established the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) with
the aim of coordinating, guiding and supervising
policies and strategies in the
sphere of culture, youth and sport. The establishment of this institution
sought to promote culture
and the harmonious physical development of young
people, and to strengthen national unity. MCYS guidelines for its various
fields
of intervention include the following on sport and
leisure:
“To prepare new generations of Mozambicans, turning them into
competent men and women with creative initiative, capable of
undertaking tasks
in the country’s reconstruction and development”;
“To organize physical activities and sports on a mass basis so that
all citizens may benefit from them”;
“To encourage the development of sport for children, recreational
sport and competition sports”.
- As
for Adolescents and Young People, the MCYS gave priority to the formation of
youth associations. There are currently some 300
associations of a social,
humanitarian, professional, cultural and recreational character. In recognition
of the benefits of music,
dance and song for the complementary formation of the
individual and for promoting the development of capacities of perception,
thought
and discipline among children and adolescents, MCYS encourages
adolescents to participate in programmes and attend the various schools
of
music, dance, the visual arts and physical education and sport that operate
under its tutelage.
- In
order to maintain close links with the community, the children who attend these
schools - about 3,500 a year - also develop circles
of interest for children,
thus facilitating the right of young people to participate fully in the
country’s cultural and artistic
life in conditions of
equality.
- Two
national civil society bodies have also been set up to deal with issues relating
to the problems of children and young people
- the National Youth Council (NYC)
and the Inter-Sector Support Committee for the Development of Adolescents and
Young People (CDAY).
- The
NYC, which includes young representatives of various youth organizations from
all parts of the country and various political tendencies,
seeks to build a
space for dialogue and for interchange of positions and views among the
different organizations. It seeks to become
a valid spokesperson in relation to
the authorities, with the right to be consulted on all matters that concern
young people. The
Council should also reflect on the aspirations of young
people, promoting debates and discussions on their situation and
problems.
- For
its part, CDAY brings together representatives from the main Government
ministries whose action impacts upon children and young
people. The Committee
has objectives and interventions in the areas of information, education,
communication, health, employment,
the environment, vocational training and
income generation. The constructive use of young people’s free time
through the organization
of activities that provide leisure and recreation, as
well as discovering and enhancing talents in cultural, sporting, scientific
and
technological fields, is one of the committee’s priorities. Thus, in
collaboration with cultural and sporting agents and
education and research
institutions, various activities have been undertaken including the
following:
− Provincial youth music festivals involving about 150 young artists and
attended by more than 18,000 young people;
− Organization of provincial holiday camps for young people in which over
500 young people took part;
− Facilitating the participation of young Mozambicans in international
artistic and cultural exhibitions;
− The annual organization of children’s championships in physical
education and sport, involving more than 60,000 children
over the past four
years.
These activities have contributed to youth
interchanges in the country and also made it possible to improve their
knowledge, since
during these activities there are lectures and discussions on
the main agenda of youth today, and on the implementation of the rights
of the
child.
- Schools
and the country’s education system are the main base for promoting the
right of children to rest and to the practice
of cultural and sporting
activities. Physical Education is a subject taught in all levels of education
throughout the country.
In addition, every year during the holidays there is a
national sports festival, the School Games. However, their cost and the
logistical
apparatus required to organize the festivals led to their suspension
for several years, but efforts are currently under way to revive
them.
499. Also worthy of mention are initiatives by youth organizations and other
private institutions to assist minors through the organization
of holiday camps,
sports championships, exhibitions, or other kinds of activities intended to
provide children and young people with
the right to rest and to leisure. The
organization “Continuadores” of
Mozambique,[33] for example,
regularly organizes national holiday camps which allow children from various
parts of the country to meet each other
and to socialize for several days. Many
centres for street children also promote sporting or cultural events intended to
provide
the children with some moments of happiness and to help develop their
personalities.
- At
community level, however, it is still difficult to satisfy children’s
right to leisure and rest. On the one hand, a large
number of minors from
vulnerable households are obliged to take part in paid work, and spend much of
their time selling goods, doing
domestic work, or helping their relatives in
agricultural production. They are therefore unable to enjoy the right to play
or to
practise sport. On the other hand, and as mentioned in chapter III.B,
there is an increasing shortage of protected spaces in urban
areas where
children can play and undertake the recreational, cultural and sporting
activities to which they have a right.
- As
regards special measures to protect minors from the pernicious effects of some
forms of entertainment that are prejudicial to the
formation of their
personality, and the minimum age for attending shows, Decree 10/88 of 9 August
classifies shows as follows (art.
7):
(a) Shows for all
ages;
(b) Shows for those over six;
(c) Shows for those over
12;
(d) Shows for those over 18.
- As
for regulations on the use of machines for playing entertainment games, article
12, paragraph 1, of Decree 60/94 of 16 November
establishes an important
principle for the protection of minors, when it stipulates that children under
12 may not play games on
machines covered by that decree. Article 39, paragraph
2 (a) of Law 8/94 of 14 September, which establishes the legal framework
for
gambling, particularly in casinos, prohibits people under 18 from entering
gaming rooms.
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES
A. Children in situations of emergency
1. Refugee children (art. 22)
- The
right to asylum is guaranteed by the Constitution, which States that the
Republic of Mozambique shall grant asylum to foreigners who are persecuted
because of their fight for peace,
democracy, national and social liberation, and
the defence of human rights (article 64, paragraph 2, of the
Constitution).
504. The Republic of Mozambique adhered to the 1951 Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees on 22 October 1983, and has also
ratified the OAU Convention
on Specific Aspects of Refugees problems in Africa, of September 1969
[34] as well as the Protocol
to the Geneva Convention, of 31 January 1967.
- In
order to implement these international instruments, as well as the
constitutional demands relating to refugees, in 1991 the Assembly
of the
Republic passed Law 21/91 establishing the appropriate procedural mechanisms to
be followed in attributing refugee status.
Under article 1 of this law, the
following are regarded as refugees, and are thus eligible for refugee status in
Mozambique:
(a) Those who have a well-founded fear of persecution
because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social
group, or political opinions, and who are outside the country of their
nationality, and may not return or request the protection
of that country
because of the persecution to which they are subject;
(b) Those who are
Stateless, who are outside the country where they normally reside, and who do
not wish or are unable to return
for fear of persecution;
(c) Those who
are obliged to leave their places of habitual residence, because of foreign
aggression, occupation, or other events
which seriously alter public order in
part or all of their country of origin, as a result of which they are obliged to
seek refuge
outside this country of origin or of nationality.
- After
the beneficiary has obtained refugee status, if they wish to join the
beneficiary the law allows members of his/her family to
enter Mozambique. The
category of family member includes the spouse and children under the age of 18
as well as the parent(s) of
the beneficiary or his/her spouse (art. 4). The
granting of asylum to children arises from this legal provision; there is no
explicit
legislation on unaccompanied children who attempt to obtain refugee
status. However, the country guarantees protection and humanitarian
assistance
that allows refugee children to enjoy the rights granted to them by the
Convention, by the various other international
instruments on human rights or of
a humanitarian character and to which the Mozambican State is party, and by the
internal legislation
and principles on the protection of minors which have been
dealt with in this report.
- The
protection measures granted by Mozambique to refugees include in particular
respect for the principles of non-discrimination and
of non-expulsion
(non-refoulement) of refugees to a territory where their lives, physical
integrity or freedom are threatened for
the reasons which led them to seek
asylum, established in article 14 of Law 21/91. Furthermore, the law forbids
sending a candidate
for asylum to any other country before a definitive decision
on his/her request for asylum has been taken (art. 15).
- As
regards the legal conditions of refugees, by law they enjoy the rights and
duties of foreigners resident in Mozambique. Fundamentally,
they are obliged to
respect and observe the laws in force in the country, including any restrictions
related to the maintenance of
public order, and to abstain from any subversive
activities against a foreign State. The country may also authorize the
beneficiaries
of refugee status who so desire, to obtain Mozambican nationality
by naturalization, as long as they meet all the requirements of
the legislation
on nationality.
- Refugees
may also benefit from other rights not applicable to foreigners in general and
which arise from the international instruments
that have been ratified,
including the issuing of an identity document providing proof of refugee status,
and a travel document when
they have to leave the country (art. 5, paras.
1-3).
- The
authority that is usually competent to decide upon requests for asylum is the
Ministry of the Interior, after consulting its Consultative
Commission for
Refugees. There may be an appeal against this decision to the Administrative
Tribunal. After receiving the request
for asylum, a provisional residence
authorization is generally granted in favour of the petitioner and the members
of his family.
It is important to note that after the presentation of the
request for asylum, article 11 of the law in question grants the suspension
of
any criminal or administrative proceedings that the petitioner and his relatives
may be subject to, arising from illegal entry
into the country. In the case of
a favourable decision, and the granting of asylum, such proceedings are
definitively shelved.
- The
Refugee Support Nucleus (NAR), previously known as the Support Nucleus for
Refugees and Liberation Movements, was established
in 1975 to provide support to
liberation movements and foreign citizens who sought refuge in Mozambique. Due
to the constant warinduced
instability throughout the country, which resulted in
the massive flight of Mozambicans to neighbouring countries, from the 1980s
onwards the NAR represented the Government in attending to the needs of
Mozambican refugee populations in their countries of asylum,
in coordination
with UNHCR and the Governments of these countries. During this process, the NAR
played a key role in establishing
appropriate mechanisms for the repatriation of
about 1.7 million refugees and their subsequent reintegration into Mozambican
society.
More recently, as the lives of refugees returned to normal and this
responsibility was transferred to the new National Reintegration
Commission, the
Nucleus has returned to its traditional activity of dealing with requests for
asylum and assisting foreigners who
have taken refuge in
Mozambique.
- After
the end of the war in 1992, Mozambique became a place of temporary or definitive
refuge for people from various parts of the
world. Those from African countries
are the most numerous, with increasing numbers of citizens of countries in
conflict, in particular
people from Angola, the Great Lakes region and the Horn
of Africa. There are also some European citizens (from the Balkans), and
some
from Asia (Afghanistan, Chechnya, etc.). These citizens and their families
generally enter the country over the land borders,
sometimes illegally. A small
percentage enter legally, through the airports. Niassa province in the north of
the country, which
borders Malawi and Tanzania, is the entry point for the
majority of African refugees. For example, data from Niassa indicates that
32
children (accompanied by their parents) of Burundian and Congolese (ex-Zaire)
nationality requested refugee status in 1997/98.
- But
the final destination of the vast majority of refugees is the Republic of South
Africa, and they enter Mozambique merely in transit.
The Mozambican authorities
find it difficult to legalize and provide adequate assistance to most of these
foreigners, since it is
sometimes difficult to distinguish between those who are
genuinely seeking asylum and adventurers looking for better living conditions
in
South Africa and Mozambique. It should be noted that the groups of citizens
expelled every week from South Africa and repatriated
to Mozambique (see the
description of this phenomenon in chap. IV.H) sometimes includes non-Mozambican
citizens who were living illegally
in South Africa.
- The
full process that culminates in the granting of refugee status is very complex
and is regarded as slow, both by the petitioners
and the authorities themselves.
Indeed, there are cases where refugee status is only granted two years after the
request has been
made. In an attempt to resolve this problem, the NAR recently
announced the Government’s pledge to adopt new mechanisms and
procedures
for granting refugee status. This should speed up the treatment of pending
cases. This Statement was made by the NAR
during the inauguration of a new
centre for refugees in Maputo province.
- In
Boane district, Maputo province, a centre for refugees has been established in
Massaca II village, where refugees and their families
are offered protection and
the possibility of settling down and developing their lives. Several NGOs are
providing multifaceted
assistance in the areas of health, education,
agricultural production and vocational training. In collaboration with UNHCR
and NAR,
primary education (EP1 and EP2) is being provided for 23 school-age
children (7 girls and 16 boys), out of the 42 children living
in the camp.
There is also a health post that handles the simpler cases. Patients are
transferred to the district hospital or to
Maputo (about an hour’s journey
away), if necessary.
- Since
there was no further land for cultivation in the vicinity of the village, some
refugee families without school-age children
were transferred to Bobole
locality, in Manhica district, also in Maputo province. During a visit there by
the provincial team collecting
information for this report, the refugees said
they were satisfied with the way the local people had accepted their presence,
and
by the fact that they had not suffered any discrimination, which had
facilitated their integration. However, the refugees’
representatives
complained about the lack of educational material for their children in school,
and the lack of transport to evacuate
sick people in the event of an emergency.
As for their legal situation, many of the residents already had refugee status,
or the
matter was being dealt with through NAR and UNHCR. The team noted that
there was a single unaccompanied male child who had requested
asylum, and who at
the time was continuing his studies in Maputo city.
- The
issue of the rights of refugee children requires special mention of the role
played by Mozambique in protecting its own refugee
children during the last war.
Mozambican refugee children in neighbouring countries, particularly Zimbabwe,
Swaziland, Zambia and
Malawi, benefited from a series of activities by
international organizations that in some cases operated on both sides of the
border,
sometimes receiving support from the Governments of both Mozambique and
the countries of asylum.
- The
existence of dialogue and good relations between Mozambique, the countries of
asylum, UNHCR and other international organizations
made it possible to plan and
coordinate timely responses to the needs of this group, thus avoiding the
catastrophes characteristic
of largescale refugee influxes, particularly in
Africa.[35] The refugee
assistance programme always considered children a priority within the group of
“vulnerable people”, thus
ensuring - to the extent possible - a
degree of special protection and attention for them. In general, and as a
result of this broad
coordination, Mozambican refugee children benefited from a
package of protective measures that ensured their survival, and mitigated
their
emotional and developmental setbacks. These included:
− access to basic health care, including mother and child health and
immunization;
− guaranteed food and improved nutrition by encouraging production, when
possible, and through the free distribution of food
rations;
− access to pre-school, primary and, in some cases, secondary education,
using Mozambican teachers and curricula, as well as
the books used in the
Mozambican education system;
− identification and documentation services for unaccompanied children,
and the subsequent search for their relatives and family
reunification
(activities that took place both within the various refugee camps and also
inside Mozambique);
− vocational training in a vast range of artisan activities, which in some
cases included the provision of tools and production
materials.
- The
main agreements signed in this area envisaged assistance for children, adults
and the elderly in general; these were essentially
tripartite agreements between
the Government of the country of asylum of the refugees, the Government of the
country of origin of
the refugees, and UNHCR representatives in both countries.
Tripartite meetings between these entities, also attended by NGOs as
observers,
were one of the best forms of cooperation between the various actors in the
process, enabling important activities to
be planned and programmed, such
as:
− the timetable for the repatriation organized in the various countries of
asylum;
− the forms of resettlement in the country of origin;
− the forms of food aid;
− the definition of policies to raise funds for the
programme;
− priorities and proposals for using the funds made available by the
international community.
- The
fruits of this tripartite collaboration were evident in the repatriation and
resettlement of the refugee population. As mentioned
above, this involved about
1.7 million people in one of the largest operations in which UNHCR has been
involved in its entire history.
Considering the level of destruction suffered
by Mozambique, combined with the overall environment at that time, with a
further
4.5 million internally displaced people also being resettled as well as
over 90,000 demobilized soldiers, repatriation and resettlement
went
surprisingly well, without any major problems.
- This
process took place over the 30 months following the signing of the Peace
Agreement in 1992, and made possible the return of citizens
who had had
sought refuge in South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.
The vast majority of refugees returned
to the country spontaneously and by their
own means. About 375,000 benefited from transport and reception facilities
organized by
UNHCR. This massive return of citizens had an impact on seven of
the country’s provinces, and required an enormous effort
by the Mozambican
authorities and UNHCR in establishing all the necessary conditions. It cost the
United Nations about
US$ 100 million.[36]
- Throughout
the process, children were one of the so-called vulnerable groups that merited
special attention, and were always accompanied
by their families. It is highly
significant that there were no recorded cases of children being separated from
their families during
repatriation, and that no residual groups of unaccompanied
children remained in the former refugee camps after repatriation ended.
On the
contrary, good organization and collaboration between the agencies involved,
UNHCR and the now defunct “Children and
War” project made it
possible for many children to be reunited with their relatives upon the arrival
of the trains, buses and
other vehicles carrying repatriated refugees back to
Mozambique.
2. Children in armed conflicts (art. 38), including physical
and psychological recovery and social reintegration (art. 39)
- Mozambique
has ratified the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, and
in its internal legal order is also applying
norms from other international
conventions relevant to civil protection in situations of armed conflict already
mentioned in this
document, and ratified or approved by the country. Protection
of the civilian population, children in particular, in such emergency
situations
is thus a national duty.
- The
Mozambique Red Cross was established after independence. Its mandate stresses
the protection of citizens in situations of armed
conflict. Over the years, the
work of this humanitarian association has been strongly supported by the
presence in Mozambique of
its partner international institutions, such as the
International Committee of the Red Cross, and representatives of other
international
societies affiliated to the League of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies.
- As
mentioned in the first chapter of this report, in Mozambique it is forbidden by
law to conscript children under the age of 18 into
compulsory military service.
This same prohibition was in force during the last war, which was noted for the
involvement of children
in military actions, as discussed below. The duty of
doing military service and compliance with the ensuing military obligations
are
applicable to all citizens from the age of 18, the age when it is compulsory for
young Mozambicans of both sexes to present themselves
for military
registration.
- Under
current military service legislation (Law 24/97), incorporation proper into the
armed forces normally only occurs in the year
of the citizen’s twentieth
birthday. As 18 is also the age when voluntary recruitment for military service
is accepted, it
is clear that under no circumstances may citizens under 18 take
part in military actions. This clause is only broken in situations
of war.
Article 2, paragraph 2, of the law on military service allows the possibility of
age limits being altered “in time
of war”. This provision has
sparked debate among various Mozambican bodies, since it raises the possibility
of recruiting
people younger than 18 into military activities.
- For
the first time in the past 35 years, since the last war ended in 1992 the
country has experienced seven consecutive years of peace.
Indeed, several
cycles of violence have shaken Mozambique since 1964, when the national
liberation struggle started, passing through
wars of aggression waged by the
former regimes of Southern Rhodesia and of apartheid, and culminating in the
armed conflict that
ended in 1992. Despite the legal and humanitarian
principles mentioned above, the nature and brutality of the military actions
that
characterized the last civil war made effective protection of the civilian
population impossible. It had a devastating effect on
children, given their
total vulnerability, particularly in the countryside. The number of children
killed as a direct result of
armed actions remains unknown, although estimates
indicate
that about 45 per cent of the victims of the war, estimated at a
million dead, were children under 15 years of
age.[37] Studies in 1987
were already indicating that a third of newborn Mozambican children would die
before they reached the age of
five.[38]
- The
psychological and social impact of the violence to which most civilians in
waraffected areas were exposed also had a strong effect
on children. Subjected
to violence, brutality and other traumatic experiences, many children witnessed
the death of other people
and, totally vulnerable, they became victims and
instruments of war actions. At the end of the conflict, it was estimated that
about
6 million Mozambicans had been forced to abandon their homes and areas of
residence: 4.5 million were displaced internally, and
1.7 million were refugees
in neighbouring countries.
- Various
studies and research were carried out throughout the duration of the conflict,
by the Government, international organizations,
and Mozambican and foreign
academics. This work was undertaken in centres for displaced people, in
institutions, in refugee camps,
and among communities affected by the war. Of
special note are the studies that covered aspects of the war’s
psychosocial
impact on children, and those focusing on the traditional methods
whereby families themselves and communities resolve these problems.
These
studies include the Lhanguene initiative (1988), work by the Ministry of
Education (1989), the Ministry of Health (1983),
Save the Children USA (1991),
the Mozambican Red Cross (various), and other institutions. These studies
played an important role
in defining strategies, assessing and improving
programmes, and acquiring the resources to implement them.
- The
studies were unanimous in noting that the children affected developed social and
psychological problems directly associated with
their experiences, namely
nightmares, sadness, depression, aggressive behaviour, isolation, loss of trust
in adults, etc. These
are effects that could have long-term repercussions on
their lives. Of the children who survived, in 1989 UNICEF estimated that
about 250,000 had been orphaned or separated from their families as a result of
the war. Throughout 16 years or so of violence,
the right to basic health care
and education was denied to the great majority of children living in war zones,
because the health
and school systems and networks were devastated. One of the
studies mentioned above, covering both boys and girls, presented the
following
results:[39]
92 per cent were forcibly separated from their families;
77 per cent witnessed killings, usually in large numbers;
88 per cent witnessed physical abuse and/or torture;
51 per cent were physically abused or tortured;
63 per cent witnessed kidnapping and sexual abuse;
64 per cent were kidnapped from their families;
75 per cent of the kidnapped children were forced to work as porters;
28 per cent of the kidnapped children (all boys) were trained as
combatants.
- From
the time they were separated from their families, these children were subjected
to a sequence of physical and psychological abuses.
They were the targets and
victims of abduction, torture, aggression, rape and forced labour, in war zones,
in centres for displaced
people, and even in refugee camps: in some cases,
young children were forcibly used in military actions. The factor common to
many
of these children was the fact that they were separated from their
families. Consequently, the main focus of the assistance provided
has been to
seek all means of resolving this problem through family location and
reunification programmes.
- The
official response of the Mozambican Government as regards caring for the growing
number of unaccompanied children due to the war
took shape in 1985, following a
national seminar that adopted a programme to support “children in
difficult circumstances”.
Judiciously, this policy recognized that in
defence of their best interests, priority should be given to helping these
children
to be reunited with their families as soon as possible. If this was
not possible, they should be housed with appropriate foster
families. The
use of institutional forms of accommodation in orphanages and centres was
strongly discouraged, and only used as a
last resort. This policy was
implemented by the Ministry of Health though its National Directorate of Social
Welfare was later transferred
to the State Secretariat for Social Welfare and
finally to the Ministry of Social Welfare Coordination, as and when these
institutions
were established.
- In
addition to the initiatives by Social Welfare, the Ministry of Health
established special strategies on care for children affected
by the war that,
with the resources available, attempted to counteract the causes of the high
mortality rate within this group.
For example, supported by several national
and international institutions, and in coordination with the emergency
programme, nutrition
rehabilitation centres were set up in displaced
people’s camps, hospitals and health posts, and special immunization and
mother
and child health programmes and programmes to combat epidemics were set
in motion. A further important initiative was the physical
rehabilitation
programme and the supply of artificial limbs for war-disabled people.
Humanitarian organizations were encouraged to
rehabilitate and operate clinics
in poor and remote areas, while at the same time community health brigades
attempted to reach isolated
households and communities, despite the dangers and
constraints imposed by the war: the contribution made by the members of the
Doctors Without Borders organizations (Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, France)
deserves special mention in this respect.
- The
Ministry of Education also drew up special policies and strategies on support
for this group of children. Through its Special
Education Department, a
national programme was set in motion that sought to train primary teachers to
seek out and assist children
with psychological problems, while at the same time
giving priority and facilities for the transfer and enrolment of children from
war zones or from refugee camps. In an effort to guarantee the right of
displaced children to education, the opening of schools
was encouraged in the
major displaced people’s centres, and in refugee camps in neighbouring
countries. These guaranteed primary,
and in some cases secondary, education,
with special pedagogical accompaniment from MINED.
- As
mentioned in the previous chapter, Mozambican refugee children in neighbouring
countries also benefited from multifaceted and coordinated
assistance, which
culminated in the repatriation and satisfactory resettlement of most of the 1.7
million refugees.
- The
context in which attempts were made to assist children during the war - an
emergency situation, a generalized shortage of human,
technical and material
resources and access difficulties - makes the Mozambican response positive,
albeit insufficient, given the
scale of the problem. In general, the
sector policies of Education, Health, Social Welfare and Emergency included
affected children
on their agendas, stressing that activities in favour of this
group should have priority. Wherever circumstances and location permitted,
attempts were made to attenuate and reverse the effects of the war and to
safeguard some basic rights of children, especially primary
health care, family
reunification and education.
- Good
coordination of efforts and collaboration between government bodies, NGOs,
donors and intergovernmental agencies greatly facilitated
implementation of the
major assistance strategies. Spontaneous initiatives by families and
communities in search of survival alternatives
and the restoration of their
lives also contributed. Indeed these sui generis responses of the Mozambican
population were responsible
for the success of the main initiatives to get life
back to normal, such as family reunification, repatriation, the reintegration
of
demobilized soldiers and resettlement, where the best formal efforts only
constituted a small percentage of the overall
response.[40]
- In
recognition of the negative effect of institutional care on the development of
waraffected children, and because it is a form of
care foreign to traditional
Mozambican practices, the accommodation of unaccompanied children and orphans in
institutions such as
orphanages or centres was always discouraged, and was only
adopted as a (last) temporary resort, while efforts were under way to
look for
relatives or find foster families. This approach had the virtue of preserving
and strengthening traditional and spontaneous
community mechanisms for
supporting children separated from their families, the most appropriate response
to the problem, while at
the same time freeing the State from the difficult and
burdensome task of providing accommodation and care for these
children.
- Thanks
to the Family Location and Reunification Programme (FLRP), during the first year
of the implementation of this strategy dozens
of centres established by district
authorities to accommodate children separated from their families were closed.
At the same time,
the number of children living in State orphanages was reduced.
In some provinces only one orphanage remained open in the provincial
capital
caring on average for no more than 50 children (Nampula, Zambezia and Tete,
prior to the opening of the SOS village), while
in Cabo Delgado, for example,
there was never any need for care of this sort.
- The
Mozambican experience shows that reunification with the family is one of the
main priorities of children and families who are
victims of armed conflict. It
is of great psychological and social importance for their recovery, and for
their future performance
in society. In a situation of war, drought and hunger,
separated families were reunited thanks to special motivation in the mutual
search for contact, facilitated by informal and community networks of
communication and solidarity. The official family reunification
programmes were
only successful because they managed to identify and collaborate with these
traditional networks.[41] By
1994, the data gathered by the Family Location and Reunification Programme
indicated that over 20,000 children had been returned
to their
families.
- Children
separated from their families during wars, refugee movements or natural
disasters are subject to additional psychological
risks, which can be made worse
if other adversities occur, such as exposure to violence, death, abuse and
hunger.[42] In Mozambique,
where this cycle was experienced by thousands of children, the separation from
and loss of relatives constituted
their greatest trauma, to the point of acting
as an obstacle to the children’s psychosocial recovery, even in cases
where they
benefited from the best forms of psychological assistance.
Reunification with relatives, even if living under precarious socio-economic
conditions, opened the door to solving many of the emotional and behavioural
problems expressed by these children in the period when
they were alone or in
institutions.
- The
number of children who were directly involved in armed conflict is unknown. In
the definition generally used in Mozambique, this
group comprises those children
who during the war had contact with the military apparatus, that is, who were
trained, learnt how
to use instruments of war, took part in combat, acts of
espionage, the movement of military material or other operations of military
logistics.
- Official
data indicate that about 28 per cent of the demobilized soldiers (around 25,000)
- mostly from the Government - were under
18 years old at the time they were
recruited, and a 1996 study noted that 42.4 per cent of soldiers interviewed and
officially demobilized
after the peace agreement were students before being
recruited. The real number of children used in the ranks of Renamo is also
unknown. With the relaxation of control in the former Renamo bases shortly
after the signing of the peace agreement, many children
fled and returned
spontaneously to their zones of origin, or benefited from programmes that sought
out relatives and promoted family
reunification. About 2,000 of these children
were documented, 850 of whom were later reunited with their families. The
number of
children and young people involved in the traditional self-defence
groups, the “naparamas”, is also unknown. It is merely
known that
most of the young people currently aged between 14 and 20, and living in vast
areas of some districts of Nampula, Zambezia
and Cabo Delgado, took part in the
“naparama” army.
- From
the start of the war several psychological rehabilitation programmes were
implemented, both in Mozambique and in refugee camps.
But it was soon
demonstrated that the psychological treatment approach of the Western type,
quite apart from the resources required
for its characteristic individualized
treatment, did not fit the traditional African perspective on the interpretation
of trauma,
and thus caused the rejection of families or the stigmatization of
children assisted by these
programmes.[43]
- Behavioural
and emotional malfunctioning, generally diagnosed as symptoms of psychological
trauma, take on another explanation in
the traditional African context. These
disturbances are generally associated with the ancestors, with spirits of war,
or even with
the spirits of the victims. Treatment therefore involves reuniting
the child with his biological and spiritual family, and performing
ceremonies of
purification, reconciliation and homage to the ancestors. For example, the
negative consequences of participation
in the war by “naparama”
children, were treated by traditional leaders who submitted the
muharossi[44] and
other guerrillas to a special therapy which included vaccines, supposedly to
make them invulnerable to bullets and “the
evil spirits of war”
(this category could include the psychological effects of trauma).
This protection was strengthened by
ceremonies of farewell and of
accountability to Nacuro,
the protective spirit, before and after each military operation. At the
end of the war, the “naparamas” also organized
collective ceremonies
to thank the Nacuro, offering gifts at a tree that symbolizes his home.
- The
programmes that had the greatest success in this context were those that were
able to associate Western techniques with traditional
methods of purification
and reconciliation, creating opportunities and collective alternatives of life
for all children living in
the same geo-family space, without any kind of
distinction.
- The
care provided for child victims of the armed conflict in Mozambique was always a
matter for strong coordination between ministries
(especially between Health,
Social Welfare and Education), between the Government and its international
partners, and among NGOs.
These coordinated efforts produced very satisfactory
results in reducing the impact of the war on children. The role of
Governments
and bilateral and multilateral agencies in financing programmes and
in technical and institutional capacity-building was also crucial
for programme
implementation, especially in emergency care, and in creating basic conditions
for the survival of the affected population.
The role of international agencies
should also be mentioned, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross,
the members of
the Save the Children International Alliance (United States,
United Kingdom, Redd Barna), the various United Nations agencies, the
members of the Doctors Without Borders family, Handicap International, Ibis and
many others. As for the Mozambican NGOs, they continue
to play a key role in
supporting communities and children in various parts of the country, and their
work is indispensable for the
continuation and development of activities in
support of this group of children.
- The
needs of children formerly affected by the war continue to warrant special
concern on the part of the Government and its national
and international
partners. A study in 1997 by the Community Development
Foundation[45] showed that,
despite the passage of time and the positive responses, there are still a large
number of adolescents and youth, in
both urban and rural areas, who lack
opportunities and alternatives in life. The study thus recommended that new
strategies and
interventions be designed to encourage the involvement of all
actors in programmes that address the specific needs, characteristics
and
interests of this group, particularly through training, and the establishment of
income-generating projects.
B. Children in conflict with the law
1. The administration of juvenile justice (art. 40)
- Although
the Constitution does not focus specifically on the administration of justice
for minors, it does establish the legal framework under which general
measures
of criminal protection are taken, arising from some principles enshrined in the
country’s fundamental law, namely:
(a) The principle that
in Mozambique no one may be arrested and put on trial except in accordance with
the law; the principle that
persons charged with an offence have the right to
presumption of innocence until final judgement has been passed (art. 96); the
principle
that no citizen may be punished for an act that was not considered a
crime at the time it was committed and that criminal laws may
only be applied
retroactively in favour of the accused (art. 99);
(b) The guarantee by the
State of the access of citizens to the courts, and the right to defence and to
legal assistance and representation,
including the pledge by the State that
justice shall not be denied for lack of resources (art. 100);
(c) The
principle that preventive detention may only be permitted in cases provided for
by the law, which shall fix the time limit
for this detention, and that citizens
held in preventive custody shall be brought, within the period fixed by law,
before the judicial
authorities who alone have the power to decide on the
validity and continuation of imprisonment (art. 101);
(d) The right
of the citizen to interpose a writ of habeas corpus, in the event of illegal
imprisonment or detention, with the habeas
corpus writ interposed before a
court, and its procedures fixed by law (art. 102).
(e) The guarantee
that Mozambican citizens cannot be expelled or extradited from the country,
while the extradition of others may
only take place by court decision, and never
for political motives (art. 103).
- As
regards criminal protection measures under ordinary legislation, of relevance
are the principles established in the Penal Code,
particularly the principle
established in article 42, paragraph 1, according to which children under 16
years old are not criminally
liable. This legal provision means that no person
aged under 16 can be subjected to criminal liability, that is, the person may
not be subject to penal measures depriving him/her of his/her
liberty.
- Article
43 of the Penal Code also establishes that minors aged between 10 and 14
who acted without knowing what they were doing and
all others who, for any
other motive independent of their will, were accidentally deprived of the
exercise of their intellectual
faculties at the moment of committing the
punishable act, may not be held criminally liable.
- Deprivation
of liberty is covered by the principle established in article 107 of the
Penal Code, whereby if the criminal is under
21 at the time of the crime,
he or she will never receive a punishment greater than a prison term of 12 to 16
years. If the criminal
is under 18 at the time of the crime, he/she shall never
receive a punishment greater than a prison term of between two and eight
years
(art. 108).
- The
Statute on Jurisdictional Assistance to Minors (SJAM), which is an integral part
of Decree 417/71, establishes the parameters
for assistance to minors in the
field of crime prevention, through the application of measures of protection,
assistance or education
as alternatives to detention. The Statute grants the
Juvenile Court and the civil sections of the law courts the power to decree
civil preventive measures (article 34 of the SJAM) and crime prevention measures
for minors, under the conditions described below.
- The
country currently has no institutions or authorities exclusively dedicated to
looking after children who are suspects, accused
of, or recognized as guilty of
offences under the Penal Code. There is also no adequate system allowing
the application of measures
of assistance and education, as advocated under the
law. Given the lack of such provisions, the current
practice of the police and judicial authorities in dealing with children
involved in infringement of the law is limited to warnings
and reprimands, and
in some cases to holding their parents responsible. The children are released
and handed back to their families.
2. Treatment of children deprived of their liberty, including
any form of detention, imprisonment or placement in custodial settings
(art. 37
(b), (c) and (d))
- As
mentioned above, minors under 16 years of age fall under the jurisdiction of the
Juvenile Court, and only assistance, education
or corrective measures envisaged
in special legislation, the Statute of Legal Aid to Minors, may be taken. As
regards criminal protection
measures, the provisions of article 16 of the
Statute give the Juvenile Court the power to determine measures for those minors
under
16 who:
(a) Through their condition, their behaviour or
their tendencies reveal serious difficulty in adapting to normal social
life;
(b) Are beggars, vagrants, prostitutes or
promiscuous;
(c) Are the agents of an act described as a crime or
misdemeanour in penal law.
- The
measures envisaged under article 17 also apply to minors over 16 who show
themselves incapable of respecting family or work discipline,
or the discipline
of the educational or care institution where they are living. If, during the
application of the measure, a minor
aged 16-18, commits a criminal offence,
and if the personality of the minor and the gravity of the act so advise,
the Juvenile Court
may take this into consideration and review the measure
(art. 18).
- As
regards the specific measures applicable to minors under 16 years of age,
article 21 of the SJAM stipulates that only the following
measures, individually
or cumulatively, shall be applied:
(a) A
warning;
(b) Delivery to the parents, tutor, or person charged with
looking after the minor;
(c) Attended liberty;
(d) Good conduct
bail;
(e) A deduction from income or salary;
(f) Placement in a
suitable family, or in an official or private education establishment;
(g) Placement in an apprenticeship or work regime in any official or private
body;
(h) Placement as a semi-boarder in an observation
centre;
(i) Assistance from a medical/psychological
institute;
(j) Confinement to an educational institution.
- Procedural
rules, particularly those concerning prevention of criminality, contain some
essential principles aimed at protecting minors,
both at the moment the offence
is committed and in the future, since the secrecy of the entire proceedings is
guaranteed, even after
the case has been filed away. Thus, under article 49 of
the SJAM, the prevention of criminality process is secret, even if it has
been
filed away, and may not be requisitioned by other bodies, nor may any papers be
extracted from it, except when stipulated in
special
provisions.
- Article
53 also makes it compulsory that each prevention of criminality case can only
concern one minor, even if he/she is accused
of several acts committed on the
same or on different occasions, or if he/she acted jointly with others. It can
be deduced from
this article that in this sort of case there are no
co-accused.
- More
recently, thanks to advocacy and public education work by national bodies
concerned with human rights and children’s rights,
training activities and
publicizing legislation on minors and the Convention on the Rights of the Child
itself (see paras. 38-39
above) among the police and legal authorities,
there has been a significant improvement in the treatment of children who break
the
law. This improvement is reflected in the reduction in the number of minors
detained and imprisoned, as well as a reduction in the
number of cases of
aggression and torture by the police. Action by the Attorney-General’s
Office has ensured that a number
of minors detained in prisons have been
released during inspection visits.
- Despite
these efforts, reports indicate that the detention of minors persists in various
parts of the country. This is due to the
poor training and ignorance of legal
norms on the part of the policemen involved. Furthermore, it is more difficult
to implement
the principles of protection and absence of criminal liability of
minors in the districts, particularly when there are no courts
to permit speedy
intervention on behalf of the minors detained. During the preparation of this
report, the provincial commissions
involved in collecting data identified the
following cases of the detention of minors.
- In
Cabo Delgado 10 minors, all boys aged 15, were detained in the Pemba Civil
Prison. Seven had been detained in 1998. As they had
no identification papers,
it was only discovered that they were minors when they went for trial, after
being deprived of their liberty
while awaiting
trial.[46] In Manica, 38
cases were cited of children deprived of their freedom for various crimes.
Their ages ranged from 11 to
16.[47]
- In
Tete province, 20 cases were reported of children detained in the provincial
capital. The total for the province was 59 boys detained,
aged between 11 and
16. The crimes committed by these minors were mostly theft, but there were also
five cases of vagrancy and two
of
consumption of narcotics. The Tete report also states that a commission has
been set up with representatives from the provincial
attorney’s office,
social welfare and the police, which makes regular visits to the prisons to
record and follow the cases
of detained children, so as to guarantee legal aid
and health care for the children concerned, as well as a speedy resolution of
their cases.[48]
3. Sentencing of juveniles, in particular the prohibition of
capital punishment and life imprisonment (art. 37 (a))
- It
has already been mentioned in the chapter on the right to life that under
article 70 of the Constitution, there is no death penalty in the Republic of
Mozambique. As for life imprisonment, reference was also made to the principle
established
in article 108 of the Penal Code, which forbids any punishment
greater than a two- to eight-year prison term for individuals who
were aged
under 18 at the time they committed the crime.
- It
is clear that under current legislation, exhaustively listed in previous
chapters, and in accordance with the precepts of the main
international human
rights instruments to which Mozambique is a party, society guarantees protection
for children against torture
and cruel and arbitrary treatment. However, there
is still a need to strengthen legal provisions and ethical procedures in order
to ensure that, in cases where detention is inevitable, treatment appropriate to
the age and needs of the minors involved is guaranteed,
they are allowed
frequent contact with their family, they have immediate access to all necessary
legal assistance, and they have
the freedom and right to ensure their
defence.
- During
the preparation of this report, it was the unanimous opinion that there is a
need to strengthen training in national and international
legislation on minors
for all those involved in the administration of juvenile justice, as well as the
managers and staff of the
units where children may eventually be subject to
detention measures.
4. Physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration (art. 39)
- The
justice administration system for juvenile offenders does not yet possess
mechanisms for the physical and psychological recovery
and social reintegration
of children who infringe the law. As mentioned above, children under 16 years
of age are not submitted
to any detention measure, and are returned to the care
of their relatives. There is a need to create alternatives to detention,
particularly with a view to providing the relevant assistance to which the child
is entitled, as well as greater coordination with
other social sectors such as
Social Action, Education and civil society organizations that are able to
incorporate such children
into their juvenile rehabilitation
programmes.
- There
is also an identified need to establish mechanisms of cooperation between the
authorities responsible for justice administration
for minors and communities,
which have the potential to support the recovery and reintegration of juvenile
delinquents. There is
also an urgent need to fill the vacuum by creating
occupational and recreational centres as well as special services that can
respond
to the needs of children at risk.
C. Children in situations of exploitation, including their
physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration (art.
39)
1. Economic exploitation, including child labour (art.
32)
- The
right of Mozambican citizens to work, regardless of their sex, is based on the
Constitution, in particular articles 88 and 51. As regards ordinary
legislation, it is important to note the principles established in Law 8/98
of
20 July, the Labour Law. Article 79 of this law forbids employers from
employing minors under 15 years of age, except in cases
of derogation determined
jointly by the Ministers of Labour, Health and Education, and with the
authorization of their legal representatives.
This legal provision allows
minors aged between 12 and 15 to work under special conditions. Under the terms
of the General Statute
of Civil Servants (Decree No. 14/87), the minimum
age for admission to the civil service is 18.
- As
regards the right of minors to special protection to ensure their all-round
physical, mental and social development, Article 80
of the Labour Law urges
those employing minors to adopt measures for their education and professional
training and to provide them
with working conditions appropriate to their age,
avoiding any damage to their physical and moral development, in coordination
with
the trade union committee in the workplace. The same law forbids the
involvement of workers under 18 years of age in unhealthy or
dangerous tasks or
those requiring great physical effort, as defined by the relevant authorities,
after consultation with the trade
union organizations and the
employers.
- The
normal period of work for minors aged between 15 and 18 shall not exceed 38
hours a week and a maximum of seven hours a day.
Employers are required not to
pay less than two thirds of the adult wage for the same
occupation.
- Article
81 also establishes that minors shall not be employed unless they have first
undergone a medical examination to assess their
physical strength and mental
health. This examination must pronounce them fit for the work on which they
shall be engaged, and presentation
of a medical certificate of aptitude for
employment is mandatory.
- The
law also requires (art. 82) that the aptitude of minors for employment should be
subject to annual medical verification. Labour
Inspection officers are
empowered to demand medical examinations, in order to certify whether the work
these minors are obliged to
undertake, through its nature or through the working
conditions, is prejudicial to their age or physical condition. If it is found
that the minor is working in conditions that are particularly dangerous to
his/her health or morals, the law allows him/her to be
transferred to another
job or, should a transfer not be possible, the work contract to be annulled with
just cause, with the right
to compensation.
- The
defence of school attendance has been a constant feature in labour legislation
in the Republic of Mozambique. A variety of provisions
forbid the employment in
any kind of work of young people whose ages fall within the limits of compulsory
education. The information
provided by employment centres on the demand for
jobs by minors aged 15-18 show that there were 5,740 such applications in
1997.[49]
- Socio-economic
aspects are a determining factor in the effectiveness of current legislation on
child labour. Despite the legal restrictions,
given their extreme poverty and
the shortage of schools and professional training centres, particularly in rural
areas, their situation
obliges many Mozambican parents and guardians to put
their children to work (from the age of seven) in order to complement the
income/subsistence
of the household.
- In
urban centres and peripheral areas there are increasing numbers of school-age
children and youths who are not studying or are unable
to study, and who sell
various products and services in the streets or markets, or provide services
under precarious and difficult
conditions in private transport vehicles and the
hotel and catering industry.
- Analysis
of the results of the demographic survey undertaken in 1991 shows that under the
socio-economic and cultural conditions of
Mozambique, it is not possible to
determine a homogenous working age for both rural and urban areas. On average,
in urban areas
the 714 schoolage population that is economically active is
under 7 per cent; in rural areas it is over 30 per cent. This is because
young people in urban areas are mostly studying or
inactive.
- The
Government is making an effort to deal with this situation. Council of
Ministers resolution 6/97 of 4 March, on labour policy,
contains the following
objectives:
(a) Implementing the principle of the right to work
established in the Constitution, which presupposes economic and social
development to resolve the employment problem in a sustained manner, to create
healthy labour
relations and to develop effective social security
systems;
(b) To promote full employment, guarantee labour legality,
protect the workers and consolidate social consultation on labour
matters;
(c) To promote the creation and expansion of productive and
freely chosen job opportunities for all citizens, without discrimination
of any
kind, and enhancing and developing social and economic resources, having in mind
the organization and balance of the employment
market;
(d) To promote a
harmonious relationship between workers and employers, better working
conditions, labour legality, and the creation
and development of activities to
prevent professional risks and protect the physical and mental integrity of the
workers, in order
to bring about dignified work, peace and social
progress.
- The
strategic objectives of the resolution include the introduction of professional
training activities aimed at the unemployed in
general, but with particular
emphasis on training young candidates for their first job, providing them with
professional skills that
enable them to apply for jobs.
- To
implement the principles on the contracting of minors, Ministerial Decree 17/90
of 14 February regulates labour inspection in the
following
fields:
(a) Controlling the conditions for the admission of
minors, apprentices, and workers undergoing training;
(b) Verifying
compliance with the provisions concerning the work of women and
minors;
(c) Verifying the existence and activities of the assessment
commissions, amongst others.
- As
regards the work of minors, at harvest time children younger than the age
established in Law 8/98 of 20 July are employed in agriculture
and paid less
than the statutory minimum wage. In some vehicle repair and carpentry workshops
the jobs are not paid at all, as they
are treated as apprenticeships requested
by parents or guardians. When wages are paid, they are only 60 per cent of the
national
minimum.
- The
issue of child labour remains a phenomenon that is very difficult to measure
merely through inspection activities. Hence the
efforts of the Labour Ministry
to obtain support for a household survey.
- The
situation with regard to hygiene and safety is characterized by the failure of
some companies to observe the requirements for
compulsory collective insurance,
lack of protection for workers, and absence of fire extinguishers. Measures
aimed at resolving
this situation will include stronger demands by the Labour
Inspectorate, as well as studies on the reasons behind violations of health
and
safety norms at work, in order to identify the most acceptable
solutions.
- Law
8/85 of 14 December established restrictive, incomplete and inadequate norms on
collective bargaining rights at the various levels
of collective employment.
The judicial process for solving labour disputes is slow, expensive, excessively
bureaucratic and inappropriate
for the interests of the parties
concerned.
- The
law was incomplete in its coverage of international labour norms, particularly
those relating to freedom of association, the right
to organize and collective
bargaining, and the right to strike. The law did not consider the principles,
rights, freedoms and guarantees
for work established in the 1990 Constitution.
It was ill-adapted to the new political, economic, social and cultural context
and the new economic system pursued by the Government.
- The
new Law 8/98 of 20 July gives priority to free and voluntary collective
bargaining with minimum interference by the labour administration
and the
courts. It promotes extending the right of collective bargaining to all levels
of organization: unions, federations or
confederations of trade unions and
employers’ organizations. It contains clearly defined express provisions
on trade union
rights, and on the organization and exercise of collective
bargaining and strikes. It establishes a simplified system for conflict
resolution which includes conciliation, mediation and arbitration, which are
speedier and less expensive than resorting to the courts.
This law better corresponds to the fundamental principles, rights, freedoms
and guarantees established in international labour conventions
and other
normative instruments of the ILO and the other organizations of which Mozambique
is a member.
- The
law conforms to the precepts of the Constitution as regards the right to
productive and freely chosen work and job security; the right to just
remuneration and to the protection
of wages; the prohibition of discrimination
in the opportunity to choose and exercise a profession; protection and safety at
work;
the right to social security; the rights to professional organization,
collective bargaining and strike.
- The
new Labour Law promotes justice in labour relations between employers and the
workers they employ. It covers national and foreign
employers in the country,
whether they be private, public, State-owned, Cooperative or non-governmental,
in all sectors of economic
and social activity. It covers all workers - men,
women, youths, minors aged 12-15, disabled people - whether Mozambicans or
foreigners.
The law does not apply to civil servants, the armed forces and the
police as they have their own statutes, given the nature of their
activities at
the service of society as a whole.
- As
regards the regulation of child labour, the Ministry of Labour is responsible
for making public opinion aware of the harmful effects
of child labour, and
guiding and coordinating actions aimed at reversing the current situation in the
country. It is drafting specific
regulations on the work of
minors.
- These
regulations will prohibit work in the streets, squares, stalls and other public
places, unless previously authorized by a judge
in the Juvenile Court, who must
verify whether this occupation is indispensable to the child’s subsistence
or that of his parents,
grandparents or brothers and sisters, and whether it
might not be harmful to his moral character. In establishments situated in
places a long way from schools, an appropriate place shall be maintained where
the minors may be given primary or compulsory education.
- Despite
these government efforts, the Mozambican school network is insufficient; there
is a shortage of infrastructures for the training
and integration of thousands
of children, mostly from poor families, and orphans. They are thus exposed to
degrading forms of child
labour, with no opportunity to study or to acquire a
decent profession. It is our belief that regulating child labour will eradicate
degrading forms of work for minors, and will develop the rights of children in
Mozambique.
2. Drug abuse (art. 33)
- The
increasing consumption of, and trafficking in, drugs and narcotics among the
younger sections of the population, and the confirmed
existence of international
networks of drug traffickers operating through Mozambican territory led to the
adoption of a new law in
1997 intended to improve the legal instruments to fight
illicit drug trafficking and consumption.
- Law
3/97, passed by the Assembly of the Republic in March 1997, attempts to
transpose into domestic law the norms and principles of
international public
law, particularly the
provisions of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988), strengthening
the principles
of the existing Penal Code and the Code of Penal Procedure.
- Under
this law, penalties are stipulated for unauthorized individuals who take part in
the production, transport, distribution and
consumption of substances and
derivatives mentioned in the tables adopted by the same law. When these acts
involve minors, the penalties
may be increased, and can reach prison sentences
of 25 to 30 years.
- The
protection of children is also guaranteed by the provisions of this law. It
raises by a quarter the minimum and maximum penalties
for offenders in cases
where the substances or derivatives were delivered to or intended for minors
(art. 40), in cases where the
offence was committed on the premises or in the
immediate surroundings of social welfare bodies, educational establishments, or
other
places where educational, sporting, recreational or social activities are
practised (art. 40 (h)), or when the offender uses, in
any way, the
collaboration of minors or disabled people (art. 40 (l)).
- Incitement
to use narcotics or psychotropic substances, whether in public or in private, is
punished with a two- to eight-year prison
sentence and a fine of between 10 and
40 million meticais (art. 43 of Law 3/97). The minimum and maximum limits of
these penalties
are increased by half when, among other aggravating
circumstances, the crime was committed in relation to a minor, a disabled
person,
or someone in the care of the offender for treatment, education, or
supervision.
- As
for consumption, article 55 exempts from punishment offenders who are minors, if
they are not repeat offenders and if they voluntarily
agree to undergo medical
treatment if they are addicted. Anonymity is guaranteed for minors (this is
reiterated in art. 56, para.
2). In cases involving minors, article 73 of Law
3/97 remits the matter to the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court for protection,
assistance and education measures, to apply the measures envisaged in the law,
with the necessary adaptations, when the person subject
to them is under 16
years old.
- The
Republic of Mozambique has adhered to the following instruments of international
public law:
Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs through resolution 8/90 of the now-defunct People’s
Assembly;
United Nations Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances of 1988, adopted through resolution
11/96 of the
Assembly of the Republic.
- At
regional level, the Head of State was a signatory to the Protocol on Combating
Illicit Drug Trafficking in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC).
At the level of civil society, representatives of Mozambican non-governmental
organizations signed
the Bangkok Declaration, adopted in 1994 at the World Forum
of NGOs on the Reduction of Drug Use.
- In
compliance with the provisions of the above-mentioned international instruments,
and on the basis of updated recommendations by
the Commonwealth and Interpol,
the Ministry of Justice is working on a bill on extradition and is concluding a
bill on money-laundering.
Through this Ministry, the country also participated
in preparing a draft extradition agreement with South Africa, and in
coordination
with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation, forms part of the team assessing the programme
to
implement the SADC Protocol.
- Through
the Ministry of Education, the Republic of Mozambique has adhered to the
Salamanca Declaration on Special Needs Education,
the text of which lays
particular stress on the problem of drug consumption among
students.
- A
special preventive measure adopted by the country was the creation, under Law
3/97, of the Central Office for Drug Prevention and
Combat. The essential aim
of this office is to centralize information that facilitates investigations into
the illicit trade in
narcotics and psychotropic or related substances, to
coordinate the planning of actions to repress this trade, to collaborate to
this
end with the relevant investigating and repressive authorities, and to cooperate
with similar services in other countries.
The Office also has the task of
participating in the formulation of policies and strategies aimed at repressing
the consumption of
these products.
- It
is also incumbent upon the Central Office for Drug Prevention and Combat to
establish and maintain close contacts with the governmental
institutions
directly responsible for the struggle against the traffic in and use of drugs,
with the specialized services of the
Ministries of Health and Social Action,
with the police and customs authorities, and with the administrative authorities
responsible
for controlling and monitoring activities related to narcotics,
psychotropic substances and their precursors.
- In
conformity with the provisions of international instruments adopted by the
country and listed below, the law gives this Office
the responsibility of
providing the United Nations with annual reports on the application of these
conventions, detailed reports
on cases and methods of illicit traffic of an
international character, and any other information on the illicit traffic that
may
be requested by the various bodies of the United Nations. In the 1988
report,[50] the Government
states that work is under way to set up drug prevention and combat offices in
the provinces, in order to expand the
activities of the Central Office. Also in
hand is the preparation of regulations pertaining to Law 3/97, and the
preparation of
policies and strategies for the prevention and repression of the
illicit traffic in and the consumption of narcotics.
- A
new strategy by the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), currently being
implemented throughout the country, seeks to strengthen
constant surveillance of
suspect places that may be used as corridors for drug trafficking and
consumption, namely ports, airports,
frontier areas and public road and rail
terminals. Anti-drug brigades have also been set up in all the provinces. A
brigade using
trained dogs to search for drugs in luggage and vehicles is under
experimentation. The PRM has affiliated itself with the regional
drug combat
network and collaborates closely with Interpol.
- The
customs authorities have adopted procedures to improve control over the illicit
import and export of drugs. Customs officers
are being trained in techniques
for identifying these substances. The customs authorities are also promoting a
regular exchange
of information with their counterparts in the region,
particularly with South Africa and Zimbabwe. There is especially strict control
and inspection of merchandise originating in the Far East and in
South America.
- Thanks
to these provisions, important cases of international drug trafficking have been
detected in recent years, and the local people
involved have been prosecuted.
Of particular significance were the seizure of 40 tonnes of hashish in 1997, the
dismantling of premises,
equipment and materials used to manufacture mandrax in
the Trevo neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Maputo, as well as the seizure
of a
further 14 tonnes of hashish and the dismantling of a gang of traffickers in
Quissanga, in the coastal zone of Cabo Delgado
province in the north of the
country. In Mavalane airport, in Maputo, in 1998 a foreign citizen was arrested
for possessing 6 grams
of cannabis resin and 47 squares of paper impregnated
with LSD.
- According
to the above-mentioned government report, in 1998 130 traffickers were arrested.
Of these, 39 were convicted, an 83 per
cent increase on the previous year when
only 71 individuals were accused, charged and convicted. As regards
consumption, the report
says that in 1998 1,327 criminal proceedings were begun
concerning the consumption of narcotics of which 400 were sent to the courts.
Various quantities of hashish, cannabis, heroin and Diazepan pills were seized
from sellers and consumers, and 34 fields of cannabis
were
destroyed.
- Primary
prevention activities are set forth in article 90 of Law 3/97, which grants the
Government, in coordination with the Attorney-General’s
Office, the power
to plan, implement and assess specific actions, measures and programmes to
prevent drug use and consumption. In
the same article, the Law urges the
Government:
(a) To include in the school curriculum basic
health education programmes, including the prevention of drug
consumption;
(b) To provide for the initial and continual training of
teachers, giving them the skills to monitor and develop the actions described
earlier;
(c) To undertake specific programmes of primary prevention of
drug addiction in schools.
- A
drug prevention and combat commission is being established which will try to
arrange anti-drug assistance, particularly among students,
and help the recovery
and reintegration of pupils who may be addicted. The activities of the
commission will focus on public and
private educational establishments, as well
as all institutions under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.
There have
been a number of initiatives to prepare the Provincial Education
Directorates to set up structures for the prevention of addiction
and drug
trafficking. Technical advice has been requested from UNESCO, WHO and UNICEF
for anti-drug education and the social reintegration
of addicts. At the same
time, anti-drug propaganda material - posters, calendars and educational
leaflets - are being designed.
- Preventive
activities by the Government in 1998 included the organization of a march
against drug consumption that took place in the
main avenues of Maputo city, the
production of placards, T-shirts and caps printed with anti-drug information,
and lectures on the
drug problem in municipal offices in three of Maputo
city’s urban districts. There were also door-to-door campaigns to make
people aware of the evils of drugs.
- Although
the statistics indicate high levels of drug consumption and addiction among
adolescents, there are as yet no specific institutions
in the country to treat
drug-addicted children. As an alternative, they are treated in the general
services for patients at the
Infulene Psychiatric Hospital, on the outskirts of
the capital, at Maputo Central Hospital, and by mental health staff working in
various hospitals of the country. The Infulene Psychiatric Hospital also plays
an important role in caring for drug-addicted prisoners
who request the
hospital’s services.
- Hospital
care can entail a voluntary or compulsory in-patient system, or an out-patient
system, with external consultations and follow-up.
Individual assistance is
provided through an initiative promoted by the Psychotechnical Centre, and there
is also group therapy
every week on Thursdays, involving addicts’
families.
- Some
Provincial Social Action Directorates have departments to counsel addicts, and
carry out prevention and social readaptation activities
in collaboration with
the families of the addicts and their respective communities.
- Meanwhile,
a multidisciplinary technical commission was recently established to design the
first project to set up a centre for the
rehabilitation and social reintegration
of addicts at Chihango, on the outskirts of Maputo. Contacts are under way with
UNDP to
obtain funding to extend these activities to the
provinces.
- Civil
society also plays a significant role in caring for drug-addicted children and
youths. A centre of the Sisters of Charity,
in Mahotas, provides rehabilitation
opportunities for addicts, and a non-governmental organization called REMAR
facilitates the detoxification
of addicts without using pharmaceuticals, using
social reintegration and spiritual support. Access to these services is free of
charge, in weekly sessions held every Thursday. So far, more than 600 young
people have sought out these services, 65 of whom have
received in-patient
detoxification treatment.
617. There have been regular studies by civil society on drug consumption among
young people, so as to better observe the incidence
of narcotics consumption
among this group and to understand the origins of the phenomenon. For example,
a study by the organization
Kubessa in seven schools in Maputo city and its
suburbs, three of them primary schools and four secondary, covering 225 pupils
and
20 households,[51] showed
that 70 per cent of those surveyed consume alcohol and 26.9 per cent
consume illicit drugs: among the latter, the most common
is cannabis (Cannabis
sativa), followed to a much lesser degree, and in descending order of
importance, by hashish, heroin and morphine.
- The
study also found that
girls[52] too consume alcohol
and drugs, albeit to a lesser extent (21 per cent). Of those surveyed, 26 per
cent began taking drugs at the
age of 13. The highest level of drug consumption
was among the 15-18 age group, and 7th grade was the group with the largest
number
of consumers (29.8 per cent).
- Other
initiatives by civil society, particularly in the areas of prevention and of
care for drug victims, include the following:
The television programme “Telecrescer”, for counselling (aimed
especially at students), and promoted by the Mozambican
Association for Family
Development;
Spiritual cures, detoxification, counselling and professional training for
former addicts, by the organizations REMAR and Desafio
Jovem (Youth
Challenge);
Making street children aware of the dangers of drugs, as part of the various
projects caring for this group;
Public education and publicity, organized in communities and prisons by the
organizations Kubessa, Prolide, Mavalane Nucleus;
Discussions on the evils of drug consumption, promoted by the Mozambican
Scout League;
A radio programme on Maputo City Radio, promoted by Kubessa.
- Similar
initiatives by civil society organizations at provincial and district levels are
still very weak. The National Network of
Organizations against Drugs is
planning publicity activities and attempts to stimulate partner organizations
outside Maputo city,
so as to strengthen the coalition of efforts in the
struggle against the consumption of drugs and psychotropic
substances.
- The
main legislative measures to protect children against the consumption of alcohol
and tobacco are contained in article 7 of Law
6/97, which prohibits the sale, in
any public place, of alcoholic drinks and tobacco to children under the age of
18. There is no
specific ban on the sale to or use by children of solvents and
other products that are toxic or otherwise prejudicial to children’s
health. Their handling and use are governed by the ethical and legal rules
stipulated for each case. Unfortunately, the practice
of inhaling glue and
other solvents, common among street children in many countries, is also starting
to appear among minors in Mozambique.
- Despite
the various above-mentioned prevention and combat initiatives, the current
situation with regard to the traffic and consumption
of drugs and narcotics in
Mozambique continues to be a source of concern for the authorities. In its 1988
report, Government recognized
that drug trafficking and consumption networks are
increasing rapidly and are using meticulous forms of organization and operation,
with a degree of sophistication that sometimes makes it difficult to bring
criminal charges against those involved. This situation
demands, among other
things, improved methods for fighting this phenomenon, including more technical
training for staff involved in preventing and combating drug abuse, reducing
the vulnerability of Mozambique’s borders and other
entry and exit points,
institutional-capacity building, and strengthening the anti-drug education
strategy at all levels.
3. Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation (art. 34)
- The
right of minors to protection against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse is
not recognized in the Constitution. However, at the level of ordinary
legislation this right is protected in several diplomas.
- In
a generic form, article 391 of the Penal Code imposes a prison sentence on
anyone guilty of a sexual offence carried out with violence
against a person of
the other sex, whether to satisfy lascivious passions, or for any other motive.
As regards children, this article
specifically establishes that if the person
offended is under the age of 16, the penalty will be the same, even if it is not
proved
that violence was used. In article 392, the Penal Code also establishes
that seduction leading to the deflowering of a virgin girl
aged between 12 and
18 shall be punished by a prison term of between two and eight years. Under
article 394, this sentence shall
be increased to between 8 and 12 years for the
rape of a child under 12 years of age, if none of the circumstances mentioned in
the
previous article are proved.
- Some
provisions of the Penal Code advance the protection of minors against incitement
or compulsion to engage in illegal sexual activity,
or to be exploited for the
purposes of prostitution or other illegal sexual practices. The penalties laid
down for this type of
practice are increased when those guilty are the
child’s parents, teachers or people charged with educating, guiding and
looking
after children, who use their influence or fear for their own lascivious
purposes or illicit desires.
- Inciting,
promoting or facilitating prostitution or corruption of any minor by someone
responsible for him or her, to satisfy the
dishonest desires of another person,
will lead the parent concerned to a prison term of one to two years and a
corresponding fine,
and the suspension of political rights for 12 years (art.
405 of the Penal Code). Should a guardian or any other person charged
with
educating or looking after a minor under 21 commit the same crime, he will be
punished with a prison term of between six months
and two years and a
corresponding fine, as well as the suspension for 12 years of the right to be a
guardian or member of any family
council, and the right to teach, direct or
apply for office in any educational establishment.
- As
regards protection for minors against the activity of any person who habitually
promotes or facilitates sexual abuse, article 406
lays down a prison term of
three months to a year, a corresponding fine and the suspension of political
rights for five years for
anyone who habitually favours or facilitates the
debauchery or corruption of a minor under the age of 21, to satisfy the
dishonest
desires of another person.
- The
right to protection against sexual abuse is also covered in the Jurisdictional
Statute of Assistance to Minors (Decree 417/71),
concerning people who exercise
parental power over minors. This decree determines that sexual abuse of the
minor is just cause for
restraining
parental power. Article 108 establishes that partial or total limitations on
parental power may be requested, amongst other things,
in cases where parents
“incite their children to crime and to corruption”.
- As
regards pornography and similar material, article 9 of this law subjects the
exhibition, sale, hire or projection of films on video-cassettes
to the
prevailing rules covering the examination and classification of shows according
to the minimum age of people who may watch
them. It also requires
establishments that display, sell or rent out films on video-cassettes to ensure
that those banned to under-18s
should be displayed in a strictly reserved area,
where minors may not enter (art. 10).
- As
for access to places authorized to show films on video-cassettes, it is also
compulsory to display, in a highly visible place,
the classification of the film
concerned and the fact that it is prohibited for under-18s whenever this is the
case (art. 11). Those
who violate this article will be fined 10 million
meticais and will lose their licence for a period of six months (art. 21). If
a
second offence is committed, the punishment is a prison sentence of up to three
months, a fine of between 10 million and 40 million
meticais, and the closure of
the establishment.
- There
was a great deal of prostitution in Mozambique during the colonial period. The
golden period for prostitution was in the 1960s,
with the advent of the National
Liberation Struggle and the consequent growth in the size of the colonial army
in Mozambique, as
well as the large-scale presence of ships’ crews and
tourists.
- After
independence there was a policy of fighting prostitution. Brothels were closed
and prostitutes were sent to re-education camps,
resulting in an apparent
interruption in the phenomenon. But in the 1980s, prostitution re-emerged
openly, due to the intensification
of the war, the consequent overcrowding of
the cities, the concentration of large military contingents in the localities
and on the
roads along development
corridors,[53] and the
generalized poverty, also worsened by the impact of the economic recovery
programme on the lives of the most vulnerable households.
- It
was in the 1990s that the phenomenon of prostitution began to take on worrying
proportions, particularly in the country’s
main urban centres, because it
brought with it a phenomenon previously unknown in Mozambican society - the
growing and generalized
use of children. Studies on child prostitution and the
sexual abuse of minors indicate that the main causes of these phenomena are
related to poverty, the deterioration of social and moral values, cultural
alienation, and the decay of the family structure. Most
of the children
involved are girls from large families and who thus face great difficulties in
surviving. The studies also confirmed
the presence of adults, and even of
organized networks of individuals who control the income from child
prostitution, in which children
from the age of nine upwards are
involved.
- A
study on sexual abuse in
1997[54] noted that it is
mainly perpetrated by relatives, through forced marriage, or through rape within
marriage, or even as part of magical-religious
practices. Sexual abuse by
outsiders is normally rape with or without violence. Sexual abuse accounts for
most cases of abuse against
minors recorded in all the country’s
provinces.
- By
way of example, data from the Nampula Provincial Court show that between 1991
and 1996 seven individuals were detained on charges
of raping girls aged between
3 and 14. The Attorney’s Office in this province reports that in 1996
alone a further 16 individuals
charged with indecent assault and rape against
the same number of minors, aged between 10 and 16, were sentenced to prison
terms
ranging from two to eight years. In these cases, the perpetrators were
known to the children, either through kinship, or because
they were neighbours
or otherwise known to the family. The same year, in Maputo city, the Forensic
Medicine Department of the Maputo
Central Hospital recorded a total of 87 cases
of rape of girls aged between 3 and 18, which resulted in deflowering and
genital injuries.
The records of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
of the same hospital show that, over the same period, it attended to
56 child
rape victims.
- The
Child and Youth Psychological Rehabilitation Centre (CERPIJ) at the Maputo
Central Hospital provides psycho-social rehabilitation
activities for children
and young people in clinical consultations. Children who are victims of sexual
abuse are also treated in
this centre. A statistical survey by the centre in
1997 found that, of 149 cases involving various types of violence (physical,
sexual, domestic), more than half (81) involved sexual violence against
children, most of whom were girls (there were only two cases
of boys), aged
between 2 and 18. The age group that suffered most cases was that of
13-year-old children, followed by 12yearolds.
In all, there were four
cases of sexual violence against 2-year-old children. In 1998, CERPIJ handled
129 new cases, of which 96
(74 per cent) involved victims of sexual violence and
abuse. This is a substantial rise - about 20 per cent - compared to the
previous
year.
- In
1995, the Ministry for the Coordination of Social Action held the first seminar
on prostitution and the sexual abuse of minors
in
Chimoio.[55] The seminar was
held at a time when child prostitution had reached worrying levels because of
the presence of large United Nations
military contingents, after the signing of
the General Peace Agreement. Attended by representatives of the Social Action,
Justice,
Education and Interior Ministries, and national and international
non-governmental organizations, the seminar recommended the following
actions:
(a) The revision of legislation on child prostitution
and the sexual abuse of minors, and the implementation of this in such a way
as
to guarantee greater protection for children, and the application of severe
punitive measures against abusers, promoters and facilitators;
(b) The
development of public education programmes to alert families and society,
including the children themselves, on the risks
involved in child prostitution
and sexual abuse, and calling for an attitude to protect
children;
(c) The inclusion of themes related to this phenomenon in
schools;
(d) The guarantee of legal, psychological and medical support
services for victims.
- Alongside
these recommendations on legislation, a new law was adopted by the Assembly of
the Republic in 1998 that partially filled
the legislative vacuum in the
protection of minors against sexual exploitation. This new Law 6/99 regulates
the access of minors
to public places of nocturnal entertainment. It forbids
children under 18 years of age from entering cabarets, night clubs and similar
places normally associated with the hotel and tourism industry, the purpose of
which is to carry out entertainment, including songs
and dance. This provision
seeks to protect children against their growing participation in entertainment
shows, particularly in
dance, song and striptease shows to entertain clients.
Article 3 of this law also bans minors under 16 years of age from discotheques
and similar places providing nocturnal entertainment
activities.
- There
are heavy penalties for those who break the law, penalties envisaged in the
penal legislation on crimes of corruption and depravity.
The penalties are
increased when the offenders are responsible for the children, or in charge of
these places of entertainment.
Thus, article 14 establishes that these
penalties apply to the father, mother, legal representative or any other person
who facilitates,
promotes, or in any way instigates the entry or presence of
minors in the public places mentioned in the previous paragraphs, as
well as
their participation in activities to entertain clients. When the instigator is
the owner or manager of the respective public
place, he will suffer the
additional penalty of the suspension of his activity and the closure of the
establishment for a year.
In the event of a second offence, the offender shall
lose his licence.
- Also
in response to the Chimoio seminar, as well as the recommendations of the World
Congress against Commercial Exploitation of Children,
held in Stockholm in
1996,[56] a Campaign against
Child Prostitution and the Sexual Abuse of Minors began in 1997, involving the
Ministries of Social Action, Health,
Justice, the Interior and Education, the
Attorney-General’s Office and non-governmental organizations, under the
slogan “Break
the silence and end child prostitution”. The
President of the Republic launched the campaign officially during the
celebrations
of 1 June 1997. The President told the nation that the Government
was prepared to act against the phenomenon, and urged all of society
to commit
itself to protecting children.
- In
order to make families and society aware of the need to protect children, as
part of the campaign meetings were held with associations
and NGOs linked to
children and to women, with representatives of religious bodies, and with
journalists. These meetings sought
to inform the participants about the
phenomena and persuade them to take part in the campaign. The response to the
appeal was satisfactory:
the issue was raised in the media, particularly on
Radio Mozambique and Mozambican Television which provided free air time for
debates
on these issues. Religious bodies organized lectures for young
people.
- The
campaign also produced and broadcast announcements in Portuguese and in
Tsonga[57] on the national
station of Radio Mozambique and on the Maputo and Gaza interprovincial station.
There were a total of 45 such announcements.
Four publicity spots were shown by
Mozambican television to alert the public about protecting children. Public
figures took part
in these announcements, including Graça Machel, the
widow of Mozambique’s first President, a well-known musician, and
Catholic
Church dignitaries. There were 50 broadcasts of these spots during peak viewing
time on the country’s main television
stations.
- Another
important part of the campaign was the organization of several debates with
members of youth associations. About 300 young
members of these associations
took part. The meetings discussed the phenomena, their causes and consequences,
and the role of the
youth associations in preventing them. Following the
debates, and in coordination with the same youth associations, a festival
against
child prostitution and the sexual abuse of minors was held in
Polana-Caniço, one of the most populous neighbourhoods of Maputo,
involving about 150 children. During the festival a small debate was held, and
dances and theatre about the subject were presented
and leaflets and educational
posters distributed. The same activities were later repeated in a secondary
school, in the Maputo suburbs
of Mafalala and Chamanculo, and in the city of
Matola.
- In
these debates and consultations with youth associations and groups of parents
and community leaders, the participants confirmed
that the main causes were the
deterioration in moral values and the weakened role of the family in educating
children. It was also
felt that the laws protecting children and the
performance of the agents of law and order need strengthening in order to
guarantee
more effective protection of children against prostitution and sexual
abuse.
- The
Ministries of Social Action and the Interior, in coordination with the
AttorneyGeneral’s Office, also held a seminar for
63 policemen from 18
Maputo city police precincts on matters related to the rights of children and
the causes, consequences and evolution
of child prostitution and the sexual
abuse of children in the country. The same seminar analysed the legal aspects
of the problem
and discussed ways of dealing with it, emphasizing the role of
the police in protecting children, especially the victims of sexual
abuse.
- In
addition to staff from MICAS and the Ministry of the Interior, other
participants in the seminar included a psychologist from the
psychological
rehabilitation centre at Maputo Central Hospital, a jurist from the Maputo City
Law Court, and an official from the
minors’ section of the City Court.
The seminar confirmed the police’s poor knowledge of the main legislation
protecting
children from prostitution, as well as their ignorance of
children’s rights, particularly the right to protection. In addition,
there was also lack of guidance on the role of police intervention in this
field, as well as an absence of institutions dedicated
to the recovery of the
child victims.
- The
ignorance of the police on legal matters was confirmed, for example, by their
tendency to hold the child responsible for situations
of sexual abuse. This
ignorance was clear in the statements from some participants that
“it’s the children who incite,
and the men are unable to resist
...”. To continue work with the police and ensure that measures are taken
to protect children,
actions to follow up and monitor the work of the
participants were envisaged, including further training sessions. In
collaboration
with civil society bodies and organizations, four plays were
produced and presented, and the first volume of a brochure to publicize
legislation protecting children against child prostitution and sexual abuse was
published. Entitled “Sexual Abuse is a Crime!”,
2,000 copies were
printed and distributed free of charge. In addition, 5,300 copies of various
texts containing the legislation
on the subject were distributed to public
officials, policemen, students and the public in general. Some 10,000 copies of
two posters
containing the messages “Abusing Children is Abusing Your Own
Future”, and “Break the Silence and End Child Prostitution!”,
10,000 stickers and 2,000 calendars were also produced and distributed to public
and private institutions and associations and displayed
in public
places.
- In
order to better understand the scale of the prostitution problem and the sexual
abuse of minors, a coordinated survey was undertaken
in Maputo city and
province, centres of child
prostitution, involving social action staff, street educators and
representatives of other bodies. This work also involved other
sectors, such as
Health, Education, Tourism, the police and the courts.
- Preliminary
data indicate that 98 per cent of the children interviewed are girls,
and 26 per cent of the children are aged between
10 and 14. Only
14.1 per cent attend school. Of the remainder, 69 per cent dropped out for lack
of money to continue their studies.
Only 12 per cent of these
children attended second-level primary education, and 7.4 per cent attended
secondary school. Of the
children attending school, only 6 per cent went to
secondary school. Asked about their first sexual relationship, it was found
that
22 per cent of the children had been raped, most of them by close relatives
(fathers, brothers-in-law, godfathers, etc.), or by neighbours
or school
colleagues. Of those children whose sexual life began with rape, 39.3 per cent
had their first sexual relationship when
they were less than 15 years
old.
- As
for what they do with the money they earn from prostitution, 46 per cent of the
children said they used the money to buy clothes
and shoes, and 37 per cent say
they use it to feed themselves and their families. Asked what they know about
sexually transmitted
diseases, it was found that 91 per cent of the children
have some knowledge, and that 48 per cent had already contracted STDs, mostly
gonorrhoea. The children’s views on their future hold out a certain hope,
in that some wish to continue studying, and to acquire
a profession and a home.
Only 14 per cent said they had no aspirations for the future.
- The
survey is still ongoing, in order to obtain information about cases of the
sexual abuse of children being cared for in various
institutions, as well as on
the type of services provided. Meanwhile, activities to address the problem are
being implemented in
several parts of the country, in an attempt to guarantee a
healthy occupation and offer alternatives to the children involved. With
the
support of various international partners, religious bodies and civil society in
general, several projects for vocational activities
are under way, such as the
enrolment of 70 children in typing, needlework and batik courses in Tete
province. They are also benefiting
from credits for income-generating
activities, with the financial support of a Norwegian NGO.
4. Sale, trafficking and abduction (art. 35)
- The
constitutional text indirectly protects citizens against sale, traffic and
abduction, since these are assaults against the human
person, and article 70
establishes the right of citizens to life, to physical integrity and not to be
subjected to cruel or inhuman
treatment. The abduction of a human being, of
whatever age, is regarded as a crime against his or her freedom, and is
therefore
punishable in terms of the law. Apart from this constitutional
provision, all the principles on protecting citizens against these
crimes,
arising from the international instruments on human rights and children’s
rights mentioned throughout this report,
are applied in
Mozambique.
- Relevant
legislation on minors establishes that the deliberate denial of a minor’s
right to a family is considered a crime.
Article 342 of the Penal Code imposes
a prison sentence of two to eight years on anyone who, by violence or by fraud,
takes, or
has someone else take, a child under seven years of age from his or
her house or the place where, with the authorization of
parents or guardians, he or she is staying. When the minor concerned is
under 21, the individual will receive a prison term, but
without prejudice to a
heavy penalty for the crime of private imprisonment, if this took place (art.
343).
- Keeping
a minor hidden, exchanging one minor for another, or leading a minor astray are
offences carrying prison sentences of two
to eight years if the victim is under
18. Those who refuse to reveal the whereabouts of such minors may be sentenced
to prison terms
of between 16 and 20 years (art. 344). In cases where
individuals entrusted with looking after a minor do not present him to those
who
have a right to demand the minor’s presence, and do not justify the
minor’s disappearance, they may be sentenced
to two to eight years’
imprisonment, under the same article (para. 3).
- Under
article 395, paragraph 1, of the Penal Code, the abduction of a minor under the
age of 12 for dishonest purposes is always regarded
as a violent act. The
abduction of a virgin girl aged between 12 and 18 is regarded as an aggravating
circumstance in cases of rape;
should the rape not be consummated, abduction by
seduction is punished with up to a year’s imprisonment.
- A
further legal provision concerning the protection of children in this context is
contained in article 340 of the Penal Code. This
punishes any childless woman
who claims the child of another as her own, or who replaces her own child, live
or stillborn, with another.
The penalty for these crimes is a prison term of
between two and eight years. The same penalty is imposed for complicity by the
woman’s husband or anyone else who, knowing about the offence, consented
to it.
- The
abduction of minors was a very common practice during the last war, and was one
of the main causes of the separation of children
from their parents and their
families. The abducted children were generally used to carry goods looted
during attacks by the rebel
forces. They were later used for various activities
in the bases of these forces. In some cases this included military training
and
participation in combat, as described in chapter VIII.A.2 above. Even with the
reestablishment of freedom of movement after
the war, and after troop
demobilization and the massive return of people who were displaced or held
captive by the rebels, more than
16,000 disappeared children were being sought
by their
parents.[58]
- In
the years following the establishment of peace, there were frequent rumours
about children who had disappeared. They were reportedly
murdered and their
body parts sold in neighbouring countries, allegedly for use in traditional
rituals related to the acquisition
of power and wealth. In some Mozambican
cities on occasion citizens suspected of kidnapping minors have been lynched,
but no case
of such an abduction has been fully clarified and confirmed by the
police and judicial authorities. But the recent detention in
Maputo of an
individual who was carrying a human head, as well as the case of a child
murdered and dismembered by a relative (described
in IV.H above) confirm that
such horrific acts do indeed take place in Mozambique.
5. Other forms of exploitation (art. 36)
- During
the drafting of this report, the growing phenomenon of the exploitation of child
beggars was reported in several provincial
capitals. Except for cases in which
the children are accompanying elderly or disabled members of their own families
who are begging
for alms, the practice has caused concern. Children of poor
families are being “contracted” to accompany neighbours,
or other
disabled and elderly people who are not members of their family, with the
promise of a certain percentage of the money gained
at the end of the day. In
many of these cases, the child does not benefit, at least not directly, from the
income obtained and the
activity sometimes prevents children from attending
school. A further negative aspect is that it brings children into permanent
contact with the underworld of street life, exposing them to the dangers of this
situation, and could make a child a potential candidate
for living in the
street.
- The
exploitation of domestic work also deserves attention in this chapter.
Children, particularly girls, are taken from rural areas
to the cities in order
to look after the younger children of their relatives in exchange for food,
clothing and, in a very few cases,
school attendance.
- In
some parts of the country, mainly the rural areas, it is frequent for child
labour to be used in schools, and for the respective
teachers to use child
labour. This use of the pupils’ labour is quite separate from the case in
which manual labour is an
educational and productive extracurricular activity
(for instance, cleaning classrooms and playgrounds, planting trees and flowers,
etc., normally on Saturday mornings). The phenomenon mentioned here comprises
work that benefits the teachers, such as fetching
building materials for the
teacher’s house, agricultural work on the teacher’s field, fetching
water and washing clothes,
among other activities.
- In
addition, in some centres and projects caring for supposed street children, the
children resident there are employed in producing
articles for sale and for
raising funds for the institution. Once again, this goes beyond the simple
educational and formative character
of manual work, since the activities are
undertaken during a great part of the day, in the name of providing the
sustainability of
the centre.
D. Children belonging to a minority or to an indigenous group
(art. 30)
- As
already mentioned, the Constitution establishes the equality of rights of
citizens, regardless of their colour, race, ethnic origin, place of birth,
religion, or social
position. This immediately eliminates discrimination
against children for any reason.
- Although
there is great cultural and religious diversity in Mozambique, characterized by
the existence of various ethnic and linguistic
groups, no special forms of
discrimination against any social group are known in the country. As mentioned
in the relevant chapters
throughout this report, citizens are guaranteed their
rights to cultural life, to profess their own religion, and to use their own
language. Indeed, bilingual teaching was recently introduced into the
country’s educational system.
Notes
[1] Project on Legislation
on Minors, Terms of Reference, MICAS 1998.
2 The
situation where in certain circumstances legal rights of adulthood are
authorized by parents or guardians.
[3] Demographic and Health
Survey (DHS) NIS/MISAU, 1998.
[4] The minimum age for
military service is the same as under the previous law in force during the last
war.
[5] One significant lesson
is the way in which Mozambican communities affected by the war, who were
sometimes on opposite sides during
the conflict, met again in an environment of
peace, tolerance and reconciliation. There were no conflicts or serious cases
of discrimination
against either former soldiers and their children or children
and families who returned from exile or from displaced person’s
camps.
[6] B. Walker and A.
Sultan. Children with special needs in Zambezia and Inhambane, Save the
Children Foundation UK, Maputo, 1996.
[7] One of the possible
symbolic outcomes of this could be the gradual abandonment of the common
deprecatory term that used to be applied
to street children in urban areas in
the south of the country - moluenes, meaning “delinquents”,
“those who sweep up the rubbish”, and “dirty”.
[8] The National Action
Plan for the Child described in paragraph 26 is still being discussed, and is
not clear on this aspect.
[9] Demographic and Health
Survey, 1997.
[10] Speech by
Mozambique’s Minister of Defence at the Maputo Demining Conference,
3 May 1999.
[11] Source:
National Campaign Against Mines, the Problem of Mines in Mozambique, Message on
the occasion of the First Conference of States
Parties to the Ottawa Convention,
Maputo, May 1999.
[12] In 1988 children
from Lhanguene were taken to Germany and Zimbabwe where they recounted the
horrors they had experienced. In 1993
a former child soldier reunited with his
family in a remote rural area of Gaza and who had been filmed by a team from the
ABC News
television station was taken to the United States of America, without
receiving any benefit, merely to be present at a ceremony in
honour of the
film’s director.
[13] Source:
“Adoptive mother tries to kill children in SOS village”. DEMOS
newspaper, 25 February 1988, p. 11 and Maputo Directorate
for the
Coordination of Social Action, memorandum to MICAS, ref. 179/AEAS-6/99.
[14] Preliminary report
of the Subcommission on the Reform of Family and Inheritance Law, Ministry of
Justice, February 1999.
[15] See the chapter on
adoption below.
16 Decree 16/88 of 27 December -
Regulations of the Social Fund for Drugs and Child Food Supplements, article
9.
[17] Estimated to be
around 250,000 - UNICEF, 1988.
18 Cases of children
who were admitted when they were very young, have been resident for a long time
and whose family reintegration
was not possible.
[19] SEAS activity
report, 1990-1993.
[20] Despite the fact
that this attitude is liable for punishment under articles 347 and 348 of the
Penal Code.
21 During the preparation of this report, some
Provincial Directorates of Social Action denounced the refusal of some centres
to allow
them access to the centres and to information about how they were
functioning.
[22] The differences
between the two sources are due to different data collection methodologies.
[23] Source:
HIV/AIDS estimates using EPIMODEL for Mozambique and the provinces, taking into
account various scenarios, according to 1994 Epidemiological
Surveillance
data.
[24] Understanding
Poverty and Well-Being in Mozambique: the First National Assessment (199697).
Ministry of Planning and Finance, Eduardo
Mondlane University, International
Food
Policy Research Institute. December, 1998.
[25] National Human
Development Report, UNDP, 1998.
[26] Ibid.
[27] DHS 1997.
[28] Relatório de
Balanço, Ministério das Obras Públicas e
Habitação, 1998.
[29] DHS 1998.
[30] Relatório de
Balanço do MOPH.
[31] A Zone of Pedagogic
Influence is a series of schools located in a particular catchment area, whose
teachers jointly benefit from
continual upgrading in the school that operates as
the ZIP headquarters.
[32] World Declaration of
Education for All, 1990.
[33]
“Continuadores” means “those who continue”.
[34] Approved by
resolutions 11/88 and 12/88, of 25 August, respectively.
[35] Before the outbreak
of genocide and the ensuing conflicts in the Great Lakes region, the movement of
Mozambican refugees was considered
the largest in Africa (UNHCR 1992).
[36] Rebuilding a
War-Torn Society, A Review of the UNHCR Reintegration Programme for Mozambican
Returnees, 1996.
[37] UNDP, Rebuilding
Mozambique, Maputo, 1990.
[38] Children on the
Front Line: the Impact of Apartheid, Destabilization and Warfare on Children in
Southern Africa, UNICEF, New York.
[39] Boothby, N., Sultan,
A., Upton, P., “Children of Mozambique, the Cost of Survival”,
Oxford University Press, 1991.
[40] The Family Location
and Reunification Programme (FLRP), for example, assisted only about
20,000 children out of the estimated 250,000;
organized repatriation was
used by less than 40 per cent of the refugees, with the majority
returning spontaneously.
[41] In early 1994, the
now defunct “Children and War” project had a register of more than
10,000 people linked to these
networks, with whom it established contact in
several of the country’s provinces.
[42] Ressler E., Boothby
N., Steinbock D., “Unaccompanied Children, Care and Protection in Wars,
Natural Disasters and Refugee
Movements”, Oxford University Press,
1988.
[43] A psychosocial
rehabilitation project named “Consolation” intended for Mozambican
refugee children in Malawi was soon
being described as “a school for crazy
kids” by the other refugee children.
[44] The
muharossis were boys aged 10-15 sent by their parents to join the
“naparama” armies, and thus help defend their communities.
[45] Assistance to
Children Affected by the War Today: Programmes, Priorities and Perspectives.
CDF, Maputo, 1997.
[46] Source:
Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in
Cabo Delgado province. Government of Cabo Delgado
Province, Pemba,
1998.
[47] Source:
Provincial Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, Government of Manica Province, Chimoio, 1998.
[48] Report on the
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Tete, 1998.
[49] Source:
Department of Employment Analysis.
[50] Report of the
Government on the Evolution of the Consumption and Illicit Traffic in Drugs
during 1998.
[51] Impact of Drug
Consumption on the Student Population in Maputo city, Kubessa, 1998.
[52] Among those
surveyed, girls accounted for 25 per cent of those who consumed alcohol
and 34 per cent of those who took illicit drugs.
[53] The Nacala corridor
in the north, the Tete and Beira corridors in the centre and the Maputo corridor
in the south.
[54] Bagnol, Brigitte,
Diagnosis of the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children in Maputo and
Nampula, 1997.
[55] Chimoio, which lies
on the Beira corridor, is an area known for a high incidence of child
prostitution, and where there is also
a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
[56] Where the Mozambican
Government was represented by the Deputy Minister of Social Action.
[57] The main language
group in southern Mozambique.
[58] Children and War
Project, 1994.
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