Mozambique: Human Rights Watch condemns enslavement of more than 600 women – AIM

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Mozambique: Human Rights Watch condemns enslavement of more than 600 women – AIM

10:08 CAT | 08 Dec 2021

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The international NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), on Tuesday denounced the kidnapping and enslavement of more than 600 women by the Islamic State-linked terrorist group in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

Human Rights Watch pointed out that whilst the Mozambican defence and security forces and their allies have rescued some of the women, many remain missing.

According to the statement, “the group, known locally as Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASWJ) and Al-Shabab (or mashababos) forced younger, healthy-looking, and lighter-skinned women and girls in their custody to “marry” their fighters, who enslave and sexually abuse them. Others have been sold to foreign fighters for between 40,000 and 120,000 Meticais (600 to 1,800 US dollars)”.

The Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Mausi Segun, demanded that “Al Shabab’s leaders should immediately release every woman and girl in their captivity” and added that “they should take all necessary steps to prevent rape and sexual abuse by their fighters, end child marriage, forced marriage, and the sale and enslavement of women and girls at their bases and areas of operation”.

Read: Mozambique: Hundreds of women, girls abducted – Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch carried out research between August 2019 and October 2021, and interviewed 37 people, including former abductees, their relatives, security sources, and government officials, and monitored media reports about kidnappings. This found that Al-Shabab abducted women and girls during attacks in parts of Cabo Delgado, including Mocimboa da Praia in March, June, and August 2020, and Palma in March 2021.

A former abductee from Mocimboa da Praia told the researchers that he was forced to select the women and girls for sex with the fighters on their return from military operations, pointing out that “those who refused were punished with beatings and no food for days”.

The statement notes that the Mozambican authorities have made progress rescuing hundreds of kidnap victims from the terrorists’ bases. However, Human Rights Watch laments that those rescued are kept “incommunicado for weeks or longer without access to relatives, ostensibly for security screenings”. It explains that an official in the Cabo Delgado governor’s office told them that the army was holding people, mostly women and children, freed from the group’s bases in order to separate civilians from suspected fighters. The official said that those held were receiving medical attention, including psychosocial support.

Human Rights Watch stresses that “Mozambican authorities and international and regional partners, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), should provide rights-respecting, gender-sensitive, child-sensitive, and dignified reintegration and rehabilitation services, including comprehensive post-rape care, to rescued women and girls”

It adds that “the authorities should fully investigate and appropriately prosecute Al-Shabab leaders and fighters for abductions, child and forced marriages, rape and sexual violence, enslavement, and other gender-based crimes in violation of international and Mozambican law”.

Mozambican defence and security forces along with their allies from Rwanda and the Southern Africa Development Community (SAMIM) are continuing to clear conflict-affected areas and people are slowly returning to their homes.

Source: AIM