Mozambique: Call for First Lady to take position against “silent massacre” of gender violence

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Mozambique: Call for First Lady to take position against “silent massacre” of gender violence

8:43 CAT | 18 Sep 2025

FILE - “According to the Women’s Observatory, 43 femicides and 42 sexual violations of women and minors have been documented since January. Behind each number there is a face, a name, a life brutally snatched away,” reads the open letter to the First Lady Of Mozambique Gueta Chapo by Civil Society Movement of Mozambicans in the Diaspora – Indignados. [File photo: Jornal Moçambique]

A group of Mozambican citizens in the diaspora has called for the intervention of the First Lady, Gueta Chapo, asking for action and a “firm and public stance” against the “silent massacre” of gender violence, with 43 femicides this year.

“Every day of silence is another coffin to be carried. Every omission is complicity. It’s time to say enough. Enough blood. Enough pain. Enough violence. The future of Mozambique depends on the courage to act today,” reads the open letter from the self-styled Civil Society Movement of Mozambicans in the Diaspora – Indignados.

In the letter, made public on Wednesday and also sent to the Minister of the Interior, Paulo Chachine, the Minister of Labour, Gender and Social Action, Ivete Alane, and the Secretary of State for Gender and Social Action, Esmail Razak, the group states that “Mozambique is bleeding” and that “its daughters are being murdered, raped, mutilated and disrespected”.

“According to the Women’s Observatory, 43 femicides and 42 sexual violations of women and minors have been documented since January. Behind each number there is a face, a name, a life brutally snatched away,” they say.

They say that “history will not forgive indifference”, and therefore demand “a firm and public stance against gender violence”, immediate action “to protect women and children, with shelters, effective reporting lines and psychological support”, as well as “swift and exemplary justice for aggressors, murderers and rapists”, but also national campaigns “that break the silence, educate men and empower women”.

Addressing the First Lady, the group says that “it’s no longer just about domestic violence or isolated crimes”, but that the country is experiencing “a silent massacre, a war on women”.

“Bodies turned into merchandise, lives crushed by impunity, families plunged into eternal mourning. How many more have to die before the State wakes up? How many girls will have to be raped before society shouts in unison: ‘Enough’?” they also point out in the same appeal.

Source: Lusa